Work samples

  • Return to Self
    Return to Self

    "Return to Self." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Photography, Digital Painting.

  • Expressive Eyes
    Expressive Eyes

    "Expressive Eyes." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024.  Fabric, Acylic paint, Watercolor paper.

  • Pause
    Pause

    "Pause." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Mixed Media. 18" x 24".

    Available for Purchase
  • Sally
    Sally

    "Sally." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Painting.

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About JaVon

Baltimore City   2024 OTW Artist  

JaVon L. Townsend is a narrative artist whose work centers love, joy, and connection. She is a storyteller who uses words and images to help celebrate the beauty and full humanity, primarily, of Black and Brown people. Her artwork is primarily figurative, working across media, and is often seeking to connect the personal with the universal. JaVon is formally trained as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, supporting people from diverse backgrounds in re-telling their own stories through… more

Jump to a project:

Portraiture

In exploring creating beautiful images of Black and Brown people, I experiment with multiple media to express aspects of the subjects' personhood.  This collection includes self-portraits and images of others.  The images were created with digital media, wax print fabric, acrylic paint, and photography.

  • Abundance
    Abundance

    "Abundance." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Wax Print Fabric, Acrylic Paint, Canvas. 12" x 12".
    Photo reference by Abel Kayode.

  • Return to Self
    Return to Self

    "Return to Self." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Photography, Digital Painting.

  • Expressive Eyes
    Expressive Eyes

    "Expressive Eyes." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024.  Fabric, Acylic paint, Watercolor paper.

  • My Grandmothers' Hands
    My Grandmothers' Hands

    "My Grandmothers' Hands." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Photography, Digital Painting.

  • Sally
    Sally

    "Sally." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Painting.

  • Missy Misdemeanor Elliott
    Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott

    "Missy 'Misdemeanor' Elliott." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Painting.

    Photo reference taken by Paras Griffin at the Urban One Honors in 2019, sourced from NBCNews.com

  • Bisa Butler
    Bisa Butler

    "Bisa Butler." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Painting, Mixed Media. 
    Photo reference from a photo taken by John Butler, sourced from ChicagoMag.com, Nov. 12, 2020

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    • Go Lay Down - Black Bodies at Rest

    "Go Lay Down" is a portrait series of Black people of diverse ages in various postures of rest within everyday scenarios.  The action of taking rest is represented not only as recovery, but as a means to access peace, pleasure, and freedom without shame or discomfort.  Displaying the figures this way serves to reinforce a narrative of Black people’s full humanity – not as sub- or super-human, but as needing, deserving, and enjoying rest.  The everyday contexts featured are intended to support the viewer in identifying themselves and their own rest in the image.

    Portraits are completed in acrylic and mixed media (acrylic, pastel, digital) on canvas or mixed-media paper using monochromatic and analogous color palettes.

    This series is in progress and is intended to be a multisensory installation upon completion.  

    • Pause
      Pause

      "Pause." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Mixed Media.

      Available for Purchase
    • Rest is My Birthright
      Rest is My Birthright

      "Rest is My Birthright." JaVon L. Townsend, 2022. Mixed Media.

      Available for Purchase
    • Resting My Eyes
      Resting My Eyes

      "Resting My Eyes." JaVon L. Townsend, 2022. Mixed Media.

      Available for Purchase
    •

    • Illustration

    With illustration, I create images that celebrate warmth, joy, and connection.  Illustration work include commissioned work, personal projects, informational/editorial images and children's book illustration.

    • Children's Book Illustration
      Children's Book Illustration

      Children's Book Illustration. JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Digital Painting.

    • Snow Day
      Snow Day

      "Snow Day." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Digital Illustration.

      Holiday card design.

    • Tapping Points
      Tapping Points

      "Tapping Points." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Digital Illustration.

      Informational illustration.

    • Noemi
      Noemi

      "Noemi." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Digital Painting.

      Nursery commission.

    • Happy New Year
      Happy New Year

      "Happy New Year." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Illustration.

      Holiday card commission.

    • Character Turnaround
      Character Turnaround

      "Character Turnaround." JaVon L. Townsend, 2023. Digital Illustration.

      Children's book character design turnaround.

    • Let It Snow
      Let It Snow

      "Let It Snow." JaVon L.Townsend, 2023. Digital Painting.

      Holiday card design.

    • Like Water
      Like Water

      "Like Water." JaVon L. Townsend, 2024. Digital Painting.

    • Bibliophile
      Bibliophile

      "Bibliophile." JaVon L. Townsend, 2022. Digital Illustration.

      Online icon design.

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