Deserai Davis

Deserai Davis, a Southern California native, blessed with a natural gift of artistic
expression. At age six, she began to explore her artistic abilities from drawing cartoon
animations, to producing abstract realistic African American representational paintings.
In high school, Deserai desired to be an established fi ne artist. Taking advance
placement art courses in high school prepared her for the intensive art curriculum at
Long Beach State University, where she later received her BA in Studio Arts in 2003.
During her junior and senior year attending Long Beach State, as a studio art major she was awarded several grants from the J. Paul Getty Museum Multicultural Program, which involved her interning at the Long Beach Museum of Art in Long Beach, California, as a Museum Educator Intern. Also at the Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, as an Art Exhibition Intern. Both internships were benefi cial for her in becoming knowledgeable of the inner workings of large museums spaces and small gallery spaces, which created opportunities for her to connect with other gallery owners
for her future art exhibitions. Harlem Renaissance artists and writers such as Jacob Lawrence, Aaron Douglas, Zora Neale Hurston, Elizabeth Catlett, and Langston Hughes are some of many artists that inspired her to produce a body of work reflecting the African American experience,
historically and presently. Christianity and identity are other subjects of inspiration you
may encounter in her work. While attending college, learning the fundamentals of drawing and painting, she sought and continues to evolve as an artist in defi ning a distinguished style in her paintings. Studying the work of Harlem Renaissance artist Jacob Lawrence, she
admired certain elements he used in his work, such as use of colors, abstract fi gurative
shapes, composition and content. Having knowledge of those four elements, plus the
fundamentals she learned from her undergraduate training in college, she developed her individual approach in painting.
Deserai has an array of collectors and patrons of her work. She has had featured art exhibitions at the Carson Community Center, she was awarded a honorarium from the Carson Community Center as part of their annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration ceremony. Her work has also been shown at the El Camino College Gallery as part
of a group art exhibition, in Torrance, CA, the Hellada Gallery, a solo exhibition in Long Beach, CA, the “Three African American Artist” group exhibition at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA, a solo exhibition at the Long Beach Art Gallery in Long Beach, CA and most recently at Lucy Florence art gallery in Leimert Park, 2004. Currently, Deserai continues to pursue her passion in painting and developing her skill, producing new work, as well as teaching art to children and extending her artistic abilities in graphic design.