Oletha's profile
Oletha DeVane, born in Baltimore, Maryland, earned her B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art and her M.F.A. in painting from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. As a multidisciplinary artist, DeVane’s practice encompasses social, political, and spiritual themes. Her first major exhibition was held at the Springfield Museum of Art in Massachusetts in 1976. Since that time, she has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both locally and internationally.
In 2003, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture in Baltimore commissioned DeVane to produce a video installation titled "Witness," documenting Maryland’s history of lynching. This work followed an earlier silent video installation on the same subject presented at Maryland Art Place in 2002. Her art is represented in permanent museum collections, and she has exhibited at esteemed institutions including the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Museum of the Bible (New York), and Museum of the Americas (Washington, D.C.), among others. Coverage of her work has appeared in B’more Art Magazine, Johns Hopkins University periodicals, the Baltimore Sun, and The Washington Post.
DeVane was one of the first African-American artists invited to serve as Artist-in-Residence in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and has also completed residencies in Banff, Canada, and Lecce, Italy. Her global travel and research continue to inform her creative approach.
Active within the Baltimore arts community, DeVane engages as an exhibiting artist, curator, and educator. 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 on the board of the Build Haiti Foundation. From 1979 to 1992, DeVane was Program Director for the Maryland State Arts Council’s Individual Artist program, as well as the Visual Arts programs from 1990 to 1992.
As an accomplished artist and educator, DeVane previously led the visual arts department in the Upper School at McDonogh School in Owings Mills, where she received the Rollins/Luktemeyer Chair for Distinguished Teaching in 2007. She is also a recipient of the Ruby Arts Award (2015), the Trawick Prize (2019), the Art Matters Grant (2018), and “Anonymous Was A Woman” (2020). In 2017, supported by a grant from the Ruby Foundation, she initiated a mosaic project in Camp Coq, Haiti, collaborating with local artisans and students. DeVane currently resides in Ellicott City, Maryland, where she maintains her studio practice.
