Dehejia Maat

Winter Poem #8

Wind chime 

singing again 

hanging on the edge 

letting the wind love her 

not afraid of bittersweet 

chills 

and icy kisses 

Watching them 

in harmony 

My divine reflection 

come inspire me 

I won’t run away from 

shivers down my spine 

Letter to the Community

This is the letter, written by the director of my school, addressed to the parents teachers and staff of Lowell. This event is open to the public. You are welcome to come and I’d love to see you there.

Dear Lowell Community,
 
Once again, I am pleased to invite you to an exhibit and sale of faculty and staff artwork in the Parkside Gallery. This year David Vickers, Loriann Signori, Dehejia Maat, Meaghan Seelaus, Mario Argueta, Jackie Pliskin, and I will be exhibiting. 

This gala family occasion is a good opportunity to show your children that their teachers also make and exhibit work. This is also a chance to purchase art for your home and support Lowell. 20% of the proceeds from the sales of work by teachers and staff and 100% of the proceeds from my work go to Lowell’s Stretch for Success campaign. 

Opening
Friday, Dec. 2: 6:30-9:30 PM

Parkside Gallery Hours
Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 3-4, 1-3PM
Monday-Friday, Dec. 5-9, 3:30-5PM
Saturday, Dec. 10, 1-3 PM

I hope to see you there!

Debbie

About the Artist…

Dehejia Maat’s paintings are unfinished inventories of fragments: objects, drawings, photographs, and other found things. They are improvisational sites in which the constructed and the ready-made are used to question our making of the world through language and knowledge. Her arrangements are schematic, inviting the viewer to move into a space of speculation. She relies on our desires for beauty, poetics and seduction.

“I’ve never liked to explain a certain piece of work - if you’ve made a picture and that’s how you wanted it to be - hopefully it can speak for itself and whatever it says to the viewer - it’s the right message because there isn’t a wrong message. Each person takes something a little different from the same picture and I’m happy with that.”

Teaching all forms of art at Lowell School’s, after school program has allowed her to get back to the youthful joy of unbiased creating.

Being self-taught never stopped this artist from making her mark on the world. Her art and poetry has graced The Smithsonian African Art Museum, The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, Art-O-Matic, and HerStory Baltimore exhibit. In 2010 Dehejia published two books, Deep Rooted Soul Sista Poems and The Yes that Leads to Infinity. Painting makes her an artist, not her qualifications, something she shares with all of her students. She is inspired by the art of her native people, yoga, and nature. Her favorite artists include, Frida Khalo, Georgia O’Keefe, and Krista Franklyn.