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GAGANATION Announces
OLETHA DeVANE
As an artist who is passionate about history I enjoy working with diverse materials. I seek ways to define underlying spiritual meaning in
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"Call to Freedom" series, a wall piece that includes nine prints that measure a total of 66" x 90". From these solar etched plates, I reflect the historical, mythological and personal identity inspired by the narrative of Harriet Tubman's journey from the Eastern Shores of Maryland. These prints were created in Sol Print Studios.
In the book "Bound for the Promise Land" author Kate Clifford Larson describes the reality slaves faced when they escaped. Her vivid references of the sweet gum trees serve as a metaphor in the "Call to Freedom" series. In the etching you can see the seedpods of the sweet gum tree, common in the forests of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, that Larson explains, "Are large, round, and covered with spiny, burrs. They litter the forest floor, sometimes inches deep, nature's bed of nails."
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The usage of seedpods and gum trees accompanied African-American slaves throughout their lives. A hallowed out trunk would serve as a baby's cradle, while the aromatic seeds functioned as a medicinal treatment for wounds, skin irritations & dysentery. Ironically, the spiny sweet gum balls "[pierced] the calloused, unprotected feet of terrified runaway slaves...and would be among the first of many natural and human barriers on the road to freedom."
Using the raven to represent Harriet Tubman, the bird symbolizes an oracle - an intelligent, courageous being invoking a new future. Tubman did precisely this, as she led her soon-to-be followers towards freedom.
In the etching entitled Persephone, bandaged feet are seen standing on the seedpods of the sweet gum tree. The bindings that protect the feet symbolize the walk of faith that enveloped the spirit of the runaways who chose to exchange bondage for liberty.
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This is a calling to the history of my people. My ancestors endured the pain of the seedpods they once loved in order to ensure their dream of freedom. It is deeply moving to use the image of my own bound feet to represent them. It is a spiritual bridge as well as a blood bond that courses through my being.
OLETHA DeVANE
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 Artist's statement
for Janus
The spirit sculptures emerged as a concept to harness blessings and explore the intuitive, irrational or unconscious phenomena. Although each one is different, they are symbolically linked to nature and cultural myths and were inspired by the tradition of the Haitian Voodoo bottle. Janus, although known as the two faced god of Roman/Greek mythology,
I wanted to visually represent love and war and ultimate victory of good over evil. Janus is also the beginnings and endings and raises questions about where we stand as human beings as we make transitions in life.
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ON OLETHA DeVANE
It is very refreshing to see an artist who has a unique voice. I think this might be the measuring rod between decorative works (furniture for over the couch) and art that deserves to be collected, respected, thought about, written about, and preserved for our heritage. DeVane has that unique voice; one that takes heart into consideration.
DeVane is a quiet artist. Her work reflects choices, distance, and consistency. Here is the road less taken; it is an unhurried journey of celebration, contemplation, and deliverance. Like children, these works are nurtured by time, by the honored knowledge of intention. These speak, like a mother's whisper in the night.
This work is not made in a desparate need for recognition or affirmation or ego or glory, but as a purposeful one. Like the turtle beating the rabbit, these are testimants to her faith and from that place her work is made manifest. Here is an artist worthy of celebration, whose artistic journey has been made from an integrity to deliver spirit and personal truth. Interesting to me is the difference between the velveteen rabbit and commodity.
DeVane's work reflects choices that are not mirroring others' contributions, but that are the results of a human being who is actually trying to say something about what she feels deeply about. Her work reflects this sentiment. Personal, explorative, measured with a mature sensitivity to very important issues about race, the human race, all of us... her work is communion with the source, the spring, and it drinks deeply.
DeVane roots us in the earth of creation myth by way of a primal connection to our beginnings. Hers is not a primitive deliverance of material, but a feminine-jungian-archetypical one that touches our humanity, our very being. It is here she hooks us; we immediately resonate with the recognized iconography. How could we not? She speaks the language of our beginnings, and through this, connects spirit to purpose and purpose to love.
Sylvia Benitez
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About Oletha DeVane
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