Oletha's profile
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Oletha DeVane received her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art and M.F.A. in painting from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. As a multidisciplinary artist, her social, political and spiritual concerns are the content of her art practice. Her first major exhibition was at the Springfield Museum of Art in Massachusetts in 1976. Since then, she has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions locally and internationally. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore commissioned DeVane to create a video installation documenting Maryland’s history of lynching in 2003 entitled "Witness". The piece was inspired by an earlier silent video installation of the same subject at Maryland Art Place (2002).
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Her work is in permanent museum collections and she has exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of the Bible in NY, Museum of the Americas, DC. Articles about her work have appeared in issues of the B’more Art Magazine, JHU's periodical, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. She is among the first African-American artists invited to be an Artist-in-Residence in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was an Artist in Residence in Banff, Canada and Lecce in Italy. All of her travel and research informs her work.
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She is involved in the Baltimore arts community as an exhibiting artist, curator and educator in the arts. She has served on the board of Maryland Art Place, School 33 visual arts panels, as vice-chairperson of Wide Angle Community Media, a non-profit youth media organization in Baltimore and the board of the Build Haiti Foundation. She was the Program Director for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Individual Artist (1979-92) and Visual Arts programs (1990-92).
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An artist and educator, DeVane is the former head of visual arts in the Upper School at McDonogh School in Owings Mills and was honored in 2007 as a recipient of the Rollins/Luktemeyer Chair for Distinguish Teaching. She is a recent recipient of the Trawick Prize 2019 and Art Matters Grant 2018 and 2020. She started a mosaic in Camp Coq, Haiti with the help of local artisans and students 2017 with a grant from the Ruby Foundation. She currently resides in Ellicott City, MD where she maintains her studio practice.
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Her work is in permanent museum collections and she has exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of the Bible in NY, Museum of the Americas, DC. Articles about her work have appeared in issues of the B’more Art Magazine, JHU's periodical, the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. She is among the first African-American artists invited to be an Artist-in-Residence in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was an Artist in Residence in Banff, Canada and Lecce in Italy. All of her travel and research informs her work.
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She is involved in the Baltimore arts community as an exhibiting artist, curator and educator in the arts. She has served on the board of Maryland Art Place, School 33 visual arts panels, as vice-chairperson of Wide Angle Community Media, a non-profit youth media organization in Baltimore and the board of the Build Haiti Foundation. She was the Program Director for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Individual Artist (1979-92) and Visual Arts programs (1990-92).
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An artist and educator, DeVane is the former head of visual arts in the Upper School at McDonogh School in Owings Mills and was honored in 2007 as a recipient of the Rollins/Luktemeyer Chair for Distinguish Teaching. She is a recent recipient of the Trawick Prize 2019 and Art Matters Grant 2018 and 2020. She started a mosaic in Camp Coq, Haiti with the help of local artisans and students 2017 with a grant from the Ruby Foundation. She currently resides in Ellicott City, MD where she maintains her studio practice.
