Janet Stiles Tyson is an independent researcher and writer who holds a PhD in early modern history from Birkbeck University of London, as well as Masters degrees in history of art and in printmaking. Over the course of her professional life, she has maintained a focus on visual art and material culture, which she has addressed via public and academic lectures; writing for popular and specialist publications; curating small group and one-person exhibitions; and in exhibitions as a practicing artist.
As a curator, Tyson has employed a range of exhibition venues, among them academic galleries, municipal libraries, storefronts, and school cafeterias. Her curatorial focus has been placing works by artists of diverse ages, and racial, ethnic, and gender backgrounds into exhibitions that explore identity without taking specific issues of identity as subject matter. Her own practice as an exhibiting artist has prioritised installations that combine etching and other graphic works with sculptural assemblage.
Tyson’s interest in British art centres on the eighteenth century, particularly on intaglio prints, illustrated books, domestic interiors, and gardens. For the past five years, she has commuted between Britain and the United States. Her present and future curatorial goal is to organise exhibitions of eighteenth-century graphic art in a variety of settings in the UK and US.
