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Tina Lynn Harris

Artist | Educator | Descendant Storyteller

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Tina Lynn Harris (Johnson), known professionally as Art by Tlynn, learned early that names carry weight. Not just surnames, but the ones given before the world gets a say. “I go by Tina Lynn because my first and middle name will never change. I was born a Johnson, but I have known since middle school that I would become a Harris. My husband and I have been together since the summer of 1999 — starting as friends and eventually becoming husband and wife.”

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Raised in Princess Anne, Maryland, Tina Lynn grew up in a place where history settles quietly into the land and into families. Her grandmother, Mary Armwood Braxton, was the first cousin of George Armwood, the last recorded lynching victim in the state of Maryland (1933). As a child, Tina Lynn sensed the weight of that history long before she fully understood it.

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At ten years old, after a Black male family member was falsely accused in a racially charged situation, her grandmother told her the full story of George Armwood — the accusations, the mob violence, the terror, and the grief that followed. That conversation became a turning point. Years later, it would shape both her art and her public voice.

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Though she was widely known in school for her dancing, Tina Lynn spent hours at home drawing — sketching friends and family, studying movement, and turning everyday life into cartoons and character studies. She even earned a full scholarship to Brooks College in California. But during her senior year of high school, life shifted.

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She gave birth to her oldest daughter in 2004 after doctors at Johns Hopkins warned that the child might not live past one year. Tina Lynn left school to focus entirely on her daughter’s survival — but she refused to fall behind academically. She completed her testing requirements and earned her high school diploma on time in 2004. Her daughter is now 22 years old and thriving — a testament to faith, determination, and advocacy.

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From 2007 to 2011, Tina Lynn worked as a bank teller, building stability for her growing family. On January 1, 2010, while pregnant with her youngest child, she was assaulted by a Princess Anne police officer. The traumatic incident profoundly impacted her life, reshaping her understanding of safety, power, and systemic injustice. Her youngest child was born in early May 2010, and by June of that same year, Tina Lynn enrolled in college.

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She began at Wor-Wic Community College studying Applied Human Studies, concentrating in Substance Abuse Counseling, with the intention of entering Social Work. After graduating, she transferred to Salisbury University as a Social Work major focused on policy. While there, she rediscovered her lifelong connection to art. Encouraged by faculty, she changed her major and ultimately earned a Bachelor of Arts in 2017, concentrating in 2D Studio Art and oil painting.

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Under the name Art by Tlynn, her work centers Black life, motherhood, memory, resilience, and Eastern Shore history. Many of her figures are intentionally faceless, inviting viewers to see themselves reflected in the story. Her senior exhibition explored social justice themes, including women surrounded by caution tape and political imagery addressing police violence and collective identity.

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While at Salisbury University, Tina Lynn formally researched the history of George Armwood after encountering limited and impersonal textbook references. Determined to honor her family’s legacy, she combined historical research, community collaboration, and visual storytelling to preserve and humanize his story. Her work connects personal memory to public history.

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She later testified before the Maryland Lynching Truth & Reconciliation Commission (2022) as a descendant witness, sharing family memory and advocating for historical accuracy and remembrance. She also contributed as a descendant voice in a documentary featured in the Lynching in Maryland exhibit at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.

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Her professional philosophy is rooted in:

• Art as Activism

• Truth-Telling

• Community Healing

• Historical Preservation

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Through exhibitions, workshops, and speaking engagements across Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Tina Lynn Harris continues to bridge art and advocacy — honoring the memory of George Armwood while creating space for dialogue, reflection, and healing in the present.