Bio

I am fascinated with the opportunities and challenges involved in creating from found materials. Using wood that is raw, weathered, or flawed in some way, and then transforming these qualities through the human image, is a major focus of my work. I enjoy the beauty in accepting and working with the imperfection of the materials and in giving new life to objects that have been discarded. Combining distressed wood canvases with elusive and radiant figures creates an unlikely duality. The mood becomes both peaceful and haunting, perfect and flawed.


Deva is an artist, art therapist, and licensed counselor. She has been involved in the Chicago arts community on various levels as an exhibiting artist, director of an alternative gallery space in Pilsen, and through involvement in various non-profit and city funded programs. Deva participated as a visual arts panelist for the 2006 CAAP grant, served two years on ARC Gallery and Educational Foundations’ Board of Directors, and provided the cover image for the 2002 City of Chicago’s National Women’s History Month Calendar. Deva’s work has been reviewed in TimeOut Chicago, received critic’s choice recognition in the Chicago Reader and, in 2003, she was a featured artist for Chicago Artists’ Month, an annual event sponsored by the Department of Cultural Affairs.