Maya Freelon
Maya Freelon was born in Houston, TX, to Nnenna Freelon and Philip Freelon. Her mother was a jazz singer and her father was an architect. Coming from a family of supportive artists, Freelon discovered her passion for art before she could read. Her great-grandfather Allan Freelon was a pioneer African American Impressionist painter during the Harlem Renaissance. She earned a BA from Lafayette College, Easton, PA, and an MFA from the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (now Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts).
Freelon has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including shows in Paris, Jamaica, Madagascar, and Italy. Her work is in the collections of U.S. State Department, U.S. embassies in Madagascar and Rome; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington, DC; University of Maryland David C. Driskell Center, College Park; Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists, Boston; Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Baltimore, MD; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Lafayette College; Brandywine Workshop and Archives; School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, MA; and Kokrobitey Institute, among others.
Freelon has completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME; Korobitey Institute, Ghana; and Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Philadelphia.
The late poet Maya Angelou described Freelon's work as "visualizing the truth about the vulnerability and power of the human being."
—Adapted from https://www.mayafreelon.com/about-ba and https://en.everybodywiki.com/Maya_Freelon_Asante, accessed 6-22-2021
