Deatra Colbert

I’ve been at NIAD for about 30 years and I want to go down in NIAD history. NIAD is a nice quiet place to work at and you can choose your materials and teachers. You can focus on your art. Andres Cisneros-Galindo is like a father at NIAD. Andres is a cool teacher who asks me to do prints in his class. Me and him know about history at NIAD. 

I think I am a painter and a drawer. I love all materials but pencils and crayons are my favorites. I love putting flowers and suns in the background of my drawings.

Wrestling and Seth Rollins are a big influence for me. In wrestling you can see about their clothes and their style which I like. I like all kinds of jewelry too. I love how you can make it, wear it on your wrist or your neck. I just love jewelry. I used to make hanging pieces in fiber arts way back at NIAD, years ago. 

I love printmaking because you can do all different kinds of colors and it’s fun to work with different teachers. I love getting my hands dirty in clay and doing my wrestling sculptures. When you have your break you can go outside and sit in the garden at NIAD.