Devyn Briggs is a multidisciplinary artist and educator working in painting, ceramics, and fibers. Through her work, Devyn tries to capture, distill, and cultivate the aesthetic structures and harmonies that fascinate her.
Dreaming in Dry Season, 2019
She filters through the cultural artifacts of her Colombian, Jamaican, and African American heritage and the art and artisan works of Latin America and the African Diaspora to gather the raw materials of color, texture, pattern, and rhythm that resonate with her. Using the foundational and universal elements of abstract
ion, she disassembles those materials and rearranges them into a visual language that strains to translate and explain the origin of her innate aesthetic impulses. The result is work that explores the complex intersections of multiculturalism, Blackness, mixed-race identity, Latinidad, spirituality, personal mythology, and the deeply-rooted longing for ancestral land. Inspired by the fragmented nature of dreams and memory, her recent work uses collage to create lush compositions that transport the viewer into an exuberant yet quiet inner space of celebration and nostalgia.
Devyn Briggs grew up in Bethlehem, PA, and studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, earning a Bachelors of Fine Art in Ceramic
s in 2013 and a Masters of Professional Studies in the Business of Art and Design in 2014. In addition to her artistic practice, she has worked in fine art collection management, creative start-ups, community and public art, non-profit management, and higher education. She currently serves as the academic and adult programs manager at the Allentown Art Museum as an adjunct instructor at Northampton Community College. Committed to furthering equity and access to the arts in the Lehigh Valley community, Devyn has served on numerous local committees including CACLV Color Outside the Lines, Southside Arts District Design Committee, Juneteenth Lehigh Valley, and the African American Business Leaders Council.
Image on website: De Una Memoria Zamba, 2020