Meet D’Maia DeVoe | Artist & Digital Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with D’Maia DeVoe and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi D’Maia, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
For the longest time I was always told I should start selling my art, but i was too scared to do so. One main rain reason being that I didn’t want to put my work online with the chance of it being stolen, because in the words of the great Erykah Badu, “I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my s**t.” But at the same time I did realize that no one would even know I’m an artist or my art if I don’t expose myself . Crazy enough my senior project involved me having to make a website to showcase my artwork. I figured since I had already started doing all this work in creating this website I might as well utilize it to finally sell my artwork. Within the next few months, Covid struck and we were all stuck at home, so I had even more time to create more artwork that I felt was worth selling. A few weeks later, D’Maia DeVoe Creations was born.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I look at some of my favorite artists’ work, I can tell it’s THEIR work. They have a signature style, or color, or symbol. A signature SOMETHING about their artwork. When you look at mine as a collective, you don’t see that. No two pieces look exactly the same. I went to art school, so I utilize what I spent all that money to learn within my work: the different art styles and mediums. I feel like I don’t have something within my pieces that is an identifier that I am the artist, because there is no uniformity. That alone is what I think sets me apart from other artists. I wasworried at first that I need a signature style, but I’m proud I’m able to showcase that I don’t have to stick within one box when it comes to my creativity. I honestly never have been. I have been drawing for as long as I could hold a pencil, and everyone knows the creativity and imagination of a child is limitless. I remember getting a big ax on one of my art assignments in kindergarten. The instructions on the paper said to color the brown bear. But I knew that a brown bear wasn’t just brown. Hairs have highlights and low lights and all different shades of brown that give it that gorgeous color. You could see that easily when a bear walks and sound like. So I colored the brown bear different shades of brown, and orange, and a little bit of black here and there. You would think as a teacher should be smart enough to know what a brown bear actually looks like, in addition to just enjoying the creativity and the realism of this brown bear I created, but no. She put a big red X on my paper saying that I did not follow instructions. If she really wanted a boring bearish the instructions should have read “color the bear brown “. But from there I always knew to let my imagination flourish and put my passion first, so that others can see what I see, no matter what their personal thoughts may be. That’s why no matter how many times my pants tried to convince me to go to school for computer science I was stuck on being an artist. They were so worried about me being a starving artist, while they are starving people with doctor it’s out here, but starving or not I am going to create my artwork, because that is my talent that I need to share with the world. I’m glad I made that decision, because I was able to be challenged in ways that I have never been challenged before and learned a plethora of art styles that I couldn’t have even imagined being able to do on my own. One of the challenges being me putting myself out there with my artwork. That’s close to me new that I am an artist and I’m actually good, so in my mind I thought word of mouth was good enough when it came to getting any type of clients. For a little while it was because I wasn’t too serious with my work, but I started getting a lot of pressure from friends and family to put my artwork out. Like I said, my senior project was to create an online portfolio for our artwork, being as though our next step would of course be wanting to get a career in our field. I looked at this as the push I needed to finally get my work out in the world. It was scary to me because I definitely didn’t want anyone to think they had free access to talking my work. I’ve seen it done so many times to ppl I follow; but, with no risk, comes no reward. This risk has rewarded me with a new love for creating and more clients. I’ve been able to create so many diverse pieces, but one thing that stays consistent is the subject: the Black experience. I wanted to create artwork that I want to see and what I would buy, which is why I create work that uplifts, inspires, and promotes Black excellence. My brand will always do just that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
My best friend actually lives out of state, so when she comes to AtlantaI reallyMy best friend actually lives out of state, so when she comes to Atlanta I really do try to show her the best time ever. One of the best things about Atlantais there is so much to do seven days of the week. I’m such a brunch girl so of course that’s what we would be doing on a Sunday. Brunch here is an experience like no other. Branch can start at 10 AM and he wouldn’t be done getting lit until 2 AM of Monday morning. As of right now one of my favorite places to go for brunch is red pepper. They have bottomless mimosas, which is a necessity. I mean who can do brunch without bottomless Mamosa‘s, right? They also have a shrimp and grits that I have fallen in love with. After bottomless brunch I would take her to rum punch. If you RSVP before hand it’s free entry. It’s a good, drunk, cover be in time. On a Monday I would probably go to encore. I know they usually do an R&B night, so we can sing our little hearts out. Tuesday we are definitely hitting Traffik for the two dollar tacos, tequila shots, and five dollar margaritas. Plus my homeboy is the DJ so I know the music is going to be good. Wednesday night we might do something a little bit more chill Golden Cave. They have happy hour from 6 to 10, with seven dollar drinks. It’s an African lounge so of course the food is amazing . On Thursday, it’s up in the air. There’s literally so many options. I haven’t been out on a Thursday night in so long so I can’t even remember where I would usually go. Friday night, everything is so packed, I would probably try to get a game night going so we can have some good drunk fun in the house , plus a little necessary competition. Saturday we are doing brunch again and since it’s nice outside I take her to the park, Piedmont Park, for a brunch picnic.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have to give a shout out first to my mother. I definitely carried her art gene. My mom is an amazing artist herself. Her paintings are some of my favorite things to look at, and I am actually annoyed that she stopped selling her artwork. I also have to thank her for keeping dark skin people as a muse around us, because you can definitely see that in my artwork as well. Someone else that needs recognition of course is my sister, D’mani DeVoe. She has always been one of my biggest supporters when it came to my artwork. She pushes me to believe in myself and expose myself more. She was one of the first people to buy my artwork once I started selling it. To this day she just wants nothing but success for me when it comes to my creativity. And I can’t forget to shut out my best friend, Dominique Mitchell-Williams. He passed back in 2019 but he was literally my number one cheerleader. He loved every piece of artwork I created, he purchased my artwork, and would tell anybody he knew that I was an artist. He spoke so much positivity into my life and my creative process, and he just wanted nothing but success and fortune to come from my passion. I hope I’m starting to make him proud.

Website: DMaiaDeVoe.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/D’Maia Devoecreations