Maya Freelon

Maya Freelon is an award-winning artist whose artwork was described by poet Maya Angelou as “visualizing the truth about the vulnerability and power of the human being,” and her unique tissue paper work was also praised by the International Review of African American Art as a “vibrant, beating assemblage of color.”

She was commissioned by Google to design original art for their On-Hub router, by Cadillac to create a live-sculpture for their Dare Greatly creative campaign, by the North Carolina Museum of Art to create a collaborative tissue paper sculpture and by Halcyon to create a monumental sculpture that was on display at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. Freelon was selected by Huffington Post as “Black Artists: 30 Contemporary Art Makers Under 40 You Should Know” and by Complex Magazine as “15 Young Black Artists Making Waves in the Art World.”

Maya has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including Paris, Ghana, and US Embassies in Madagascar, Italy and Swaziland. She has been a professor of art at Towson University and Morgan State University. Maya completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, the Korobitey Institute in Ghana, and the Brandywine Workshop in Philadelphia. She earned a BA from Lafayette College and an MFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

“In 2005, I discovered a beautiful accident; a stack of water-damaged tissue paper tucked away in my grandmother’s basement was left with a brilliant and intricate stain. Since then, I’ve submerged myself in the medium of bleeding tissue paper sculpture and tissue ink monoprints, which exist as simultaneously transient and steadfast. This dichotomy intrigues and surprises me as I wrestle with sharing the unique beauty, fragility, and strength of my art with the world.

Much like my grandmother, who never wasted a single grain of rice on her plate, I find a way to utilize tissue paper at every stage of creation - including the rich and colorful ink released when the paper is wet, the sculptural mounds formed when creating monoprints, and even the tiny ripped pieces no larger than a fingernail which is collected and wound into spiral sculptures. Improvisation and discovery play a significant role in my creative process; by incorporating archival photographs, I can reappropriate images, bridging a gap between the past and future.”

- Maya Freelon, 2021