Dedicated professional with more than 20 years combined experience as a fine artist, photographer and administrative professional in various fields. Rafaelina Tineo was born in Hispaniola. She immigrated to the U.S. and became a permanent resident, making her home in New York City since 1990. A seasoned research traveler, Tineo has worked internationally in Haiti, South Korea, Greece, Holland, Cuba and Costa Rica. In the early 1980’s she studied at the Cultural Center of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic, where she was mentored by the master photographer, ‘Apeco’ Natalio Puras Penzo (b. 1933 – d. 2010), until his passing; and where she engaged in a professional artistic collaboration with Dominican photographer and mixed media artist Marivel Liriano. 

In addition to her work as a photographer, Tineo became a student of paleographic anthropology at the Dominican Studies Institute under the mentorship of scholars and historians Anthony Stevens and Lissette Acosta Corniel in 2014. In 2015, Tineo was invited by the renowned anthropologist, Dr. Patricia Tovar of City University of New York, to accompany her to Hispaniola to research and document the leadership roles of women in the history of Caribbean colonization. 

Ever diverse in her myriad interests, Tineo completed her B.A. degree at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY with a major in Gender Studies and minor degree credits in both Forensic Psychology, photography (under the master Brazilian photographer, Prof. Cyriaco Lopes). Additional artistic influences include art historian, curator, and Distinguished Professor Lisa Farrington, award-winning sculptors, art historians, and Anthropology professors Sarah Haviland, Roberto Visani, Stephanie Hightower, Mary Ting, Thalia Vrachopoulos, Sana Musasama, Raul Zamudio, Dr. Patricia Tovar, E.A.Burlingame. Furthermore, as a student at the historic Art Students League, Tineo studied with professional artists Anita Steckel, Barney Hodes (as his artist assistant), Martha Bloom, and Faith Ringgold. 

Tineo is a member of the Collective Artist Dominican American – CAVDA and the Anyone Can Fly Foundation (dedicated to raising awareness of the contributions of African American artists to American history and culture, and founded by Faith Ringgold). 

Work Experience

2021 – Present

Highbridge Gardens Cornerstone: Alianza Division, Bronx, NY

Program Assistant Director

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2020

Costa Rica San José La Alajuela, Basilica of the Our Lady of the Angels, Cartago Costa Rica

Independent Researcher

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2020

Broadway Housing Communities (BHC), Rio Galleries, The Plywood Project, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling NYC

Photographer / Videographer Artist

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2019

Cultural Enrichment Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center NYC

Supervisor / Teacher

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2019

Dr. Lisa Farrington of John Jay College Cuny, Dean Howard University, Studies in Afro-Cuban culture, Cuba

Research Assistant and Interpreter

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2018

Professor Sana Musasama Art Department, John Jay College of 

Criminal Justice 

Ceramics Class Intern

Education

2015 – 2018

CUNY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York

Bachelor of Arts in Gender Studies, Minor in Fine Arts, Forensic Drawing and Professional Photography

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[ start date ] – 1998

CUNY, John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York

Associates Degree in Forensic Psychology

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[ start date ]

The Art Students League of New York

Art Student