About Me

My life's goal as an artist is to unlock the secrets to the oldest stories and create new ones.

OLETHA DeVANE is an accomplished multidisciplinary artist who explores diverse political, social identities and cultural interpretations. Her work has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and in the United Arab Emirates. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum commissioned her to create a permanent video installation documenting Maryland’s history of lynching. The piece was inspired by an earlier silent video installation of the same subject at Maryland Art Place (2002). Her work is in permanent museum collections and she has exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Museum of the Bible in NY, Museum of the Americas, DC. Homewood Museum at JHU recently purchased a “Harriet Tubman” print for their collection. Born in Baltimore, DeVane received a B.F.A. from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and M.F.A. from the University of Mass, in Amherst. Articles about her work have appeared in issues of the B’more Art Magazine, JHU’s periodical in MD. and 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, Banff, Canada and Lecce in Italy. All of her travel and research informs her work. She lives in Ellicott City, MD with her family where she maintains her studio.

She has been involved in the Baltimore arts community as an exhibiting artist, arts administrator, curator and educator in the arts. She has served on several boards including Maryland Art Place, School 33 visual arts panels, vice-chairperson of Wide Angle Community Media, a non-profit youth media organization in Baltimore and 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).

An artist and educator, Ms. DeVane, is currently the Director of Tuttle Gallery and the former head of visual arts in the Upper School at McDonogh School in Owings Mills. She was honored in 2007 as a recipient of the Rollins/ Luetkemeyer Chair for Distinguish Teaching. Ms. DeVane is the recipient of 2017 Ruby Foundation Grant, Art Matters Fellowship, NY in recognition of her work involving communities for social change. She is also a Sondheim Semi -Finalist (2011) and exhibited works at the Meyerhoff Gallery at Maryland Institute College of Art.

Exhibitions Through The Years

1979

Afro-American Women in Art

FAMU Gallery – Tallahassee, FL

Ten Abstract Painters

Springfield Museum of Fine Arts – Springfield, MA

1980

One Person Exhibition

Catonsville Community College Gallery – Baltimore, MD

1984

Group Exhibition (Olivia Georgia-curator)

Maryland Art Place – Baltimore, MD

Joyce Scott & Oletha DeVane

Ohio State University Gallery – Wilberforce, OH

Group Exhibition

Meridith Art Gallery – Baltimore, MD

2000

Women’s History Exhibition

J.E. Lewis Museum Morgan University – Baltimore, MD

Artafexus-Artscape

Pinkard Galleries, MICA – Baltimore, MD

1990

Visual AIDS (George Ciscle -curator)

Museum for Contemporary Arts – Baltimore, MD

1991

New Works Exhibition (Faith Ringgold and Clarrisa Sligh-curators)

School 33 Art Center – Baltimore, MD

MAP-Benefit Exhibition (Susan Badder – curator)

Maryland Art Place – Baltimore, MD

1992

One Person Exhibition

Western Maryland College – Westminster, MD

Group show–Marketplace

National Black Arts Festival – Atlanta, GA

1993

Five Baltimore Artists

Maryland Art Place

God Bless the Child: Tribute to Billie Holliday

Eubie Blake National Museum and Cultural Center – Baltimore, MD

Women Image Women

Life of Maryland Gallery – Owings Mills, MD

1994 – 95

“What We Need To Know About Art” Travelling Exhibition: Shroeder Cherry,
Oletha DeVane, Angela Franklin

Maryland Art Place – Baltimore, MD

1999

De Vane, Ford, Jones, Moore, Pierleoni

Chesapeake Gallery – Harford, MD

Inside/Outside

Howard County Center of the Arts – Ellicott City, MD

Through the Fire to the Limits

African American Artists in Maryland – Annapolis, MD

Selected Work by Doreen Bolger Maryland Women

Government House – Annapolis, MD

Kromah Gallery Revisited

Artscape Festival ‘98 Meyerhoff Gallery, MICA – Baltimore, MD

Works by Oletha DeVane

Howard Community College Gallery – Columbia, MD

“Unfolding Cycle” (Garden installation with students)

West Friendship Elementary – West Friendship, MD

2001

Kings, Hummingbirds & Monsters (artist book)

Evergreen House, Johns Hopkins University – Baltimore, MD

2002

Arts Maryland

Howard County Center for the Arts – Ellicott City, MD

Artscape–Masks

Villa Julie College – Baltimore, MD

2003

Charmopolis

Maryland Art Place – Baltimore, MD

Select/Art Auction

WPA/Corcoran – Washington, DC

2004

Artscape

Meyerhoff Gallery, MICA – Baltimore, MD

2005

Collaborations

Pyramid Atlantic Print – Silver Spring, MD

Witness (permanent video installation)

Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture – Baltimore, MD

2006

Riffs/Rhythms

J.E. Lewis Museum, Morgan University – Baltimore, MD

Collaborations

Maryland Art Place – Baltimore, MD

2007

Conflict/Peace

Columbia Art Center – Columbia, MD

Mirror Me

Catonsville Community College – Baltimore, MD

2009

Mother, Daughter, Sister, Self

Galerie Myrtis – Baltimore, MD

Nu Voo Doo

West North Gallery – Baltimore, MD

Life’s Hardest Things

Lewis Museum–Morgan University – Baltimore, MD

2010

Semi Finalist Sondheim Exhibition

Meyerhoff Gallery, MICA – Baltimore, MD

National Juried Exhibition

Ceres Gallery – New York, NY

National Juried Draw/Print

College of Notre Dame – Baltimore, MD

The WineDark Sea

St. Johns College, Mitchell Gallery – Annapolis, MD

2011

Corridor

Art Museum of the Americas – Washington, DC

Altered Truths, Fractured Myths

City Arts Gallery – Baltimore, MD

Art Select

Corcoran Gallery, WPA – Washington, DC

Femme Fatale

Gallery, Catonsville Community College – Baltimore, MD

Miami Basel/Global Africa Project

The Betsy Hotel – Miami, FLA

2012

Four Artists-Sondheim

Top of the World Trade Center Gallery – Baltimore, MD

2013

Ashe to Amen (traveling)

The Bible Museum – New York, NY

The Dixon Gallery – Memphis, TN

Reginald F. Lewis Museum – Baltimore, MD

Noetics

The Cosmos Club – Washington, DC

Miami Basel: Gurlz of Baltimore

The Betsy Hotel – Miami, FL

MICA: Then and Now

Ethan Cohen Gallery – Beacon, NY

2014

Ordinary Woman

Howard County Art Center – Ellicott City, MD

2015

Abu Dhabi-Resident Exhibition

Abu Dhabi Art Gallery – United Arab Emirates

Breathe in Gold Light

New Door Creative Gallery – Baltimore, MD

Inside/Outside

Creative Alliance – Baltimore, MD

2016

Black in White America

Galerie Myrtis – Baltimore, MD

International Solarplate Exhibit

Alex Ferrone Gallery – New York, New York

2017

Trafficking

Watergate Gallery – Washington, DC

The Other Side of Darkness

Project 1628 Gallery – Baltimore, MD

2018

Elixir: Artists Respond to Making and Healing

Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery – Washington, DC

Relics and Prospects

Montpelier Art Center – Laurel,MD

In Her Own Words

Morgan University,J.E. Lewis Museum – Baltimore, MD

Collaboration & Innovation

The American Craft Center – Los Angeles, CA

The Circuitry of Joyce Jane Scott

2019

Traces of the Spirit

Baltimore Museum of Art- Baltimore, MD

Trawick Prize Finalist

Gallery B, Bethesda, MD

2020

2021

2022

Exploring Presence: African American Artists In The Upper South

James E. Lewis Museum of Art. Morgan State University. Baltimore, MD

Fired Up!

Cary Beth Cryor Gallery. Coppin State University. Baltimore, MD

Spectrum of Light and Spirit

Center of Art, Design, and Visual Culture. UMBC. Baltimore, MD

2023

The Radical Voice of Blackness Speaks of Resistance and Joy

Banneker-Douglass Museum. Annapolis, MD.