LaTonya R. Jackson
Twitter: @artsy_mommy • Facebook: latonyarjacksonartstudio • Website: latonyarjacksonartstudio.com • Instagram: latonyar.jacksonartstudio/ • LinkedIn: LaTonya Jackson
LaTonya R. Jackson is the doting mother of one son, a portrait artist, author-illustrator, and a member of SCBWI, Author’s Guild, and Storyteller Academy.
LaTonya was born and raised in the rural outskirts of Jonesboro, Louisiana, to which she attributes her artistic background and early creative influences. Rummaging through her grandmother's old photographs was a favorite childhood pastime; she was fascinated by early African American photography's poise and timelessness which soon became the inspiration behind her portraiture. LaTonya also gleans inspiration from an eclectic group of artists including Gordon Parks, Charles White, Kadir Nelson, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, and Amy Sherald. Her body of work represents a plethora of media including pencil, pen, collage, and most recently, fabrics.
LaTonya received formal art training at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana (B.A. in Visual Arts, 2003) and The Graduate Center of the City University of New York in New York City (M.A. in U.S. Modern Art History, 2009). From 2009 to the present, she has taught elementary and middle school students. Her art has been exhibited throughout Louisiana and has received honorable recognition including a Critic’s Choice Award at Shreveport’s inaugural Critical Mass Exhibition, featured artist for the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation’s Cultural Connections newsletter (2013), and the 2020 commissioned award artist for Louisiana’s Art Education Association.
LaTonya has been writing for over fifteen years, but her greatest wealth of inspiration comes from her son’s quirky and wondrous, sometimes upside-down, and inside-out views of the world around him. She looks forward to writing and illustrating picture books that are bridges into new worlds and new joys for all children—with a special place in her heart for children who lack the means to physically travel beyond their own neighborhoods.
Please visit her author’s page.