Cheyenne Tobias-Bamson
With over nine years of professional experience and nearly a lifetime of artistic creation, Cheyenne is an artist, designer, and storyteller from Brooklyn, New York passionate about identifying and sharing emotionally resonant perspectives.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Cheyenne Tobias-Bamson developed a passion for the creative arts at the young age of 8. Cheyenne attended Vassar College, where she majored in Africana Studies. Her interest in Afrofuturism and Black feminist theory culminated in her thesis project, “...in search of,” which was displayed at the Vassar Hackensack building in May, 2018. The project included watercolor paintings, writings, and oral histories of her matrilineal family, telling the stories of the women in her family—both living and deceased—through their relatives. During this time, she also co-led Ujima, an interdisciplinary performance group that focuses on music from the African diaspora.
After Vassar, Cheyenne worked at several creative agencies in entertainment, fashion, and architecture, including Driven Society, Milk Studios, CA Creative, Kaleidoscope Consulting, and Blue Medium producing creative events and experiences for high-profile clients such as HBO, Fujifilm, Vogue, Nordstrom, New York Fashion Week, and The Wall Street Journal.
Throughout this time, Cheyenne continued creating art through painting, illustration, and graphic design. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, she refocused on her creative practice, engaging social media as a platform to connect with other artists and host live painting sessions. She taught herself Adobe Photoshop and Procreate, and began showcasing her work at local art shows and events around New York.
In 2021, Cheyenne relocated to Chicago, where she worked at architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) as a Communications Specialist. During her three and a half years at SOM, she coordinated architecture and design events, and produced content for international projects, collaborating across global offices, thinking deeply about unique ways to tell stories about the firm’s work.
Currently, Cheyenne is pursuing her Masters in Fine Arts in Visual Communication Design at the School of the Art Institue of Chicago (SAIC) as a Presidential Scholar.
contact:
cheyennetobias@gmail.com