About the Artist
Hi! My name is Maria Deiparine and I’m a Filipino artist that currently resides in Rhode Island. I was born in the Philippines and immigrated here as a toddler where I grew up and went to school all my life. I’ve had a love for art since the day I could pick up a pencil; my passion followed me through my adolescence and adulthood. In high school, I was in the Digital Design Academy of Morris County School of Technology. During my senior year at MCST, I became a challenger student and dual enrolled at County College of Morris while having a teaching internship at Artistic Creations, NJ where I helped teach children and adults the fundamentals of drawing and painting. After graduating high school in 2018, I continued studying at CCM and acquired an associate's degree in Animation. Recently, I’ve decided to pursue another degree to combine with my associate's in Animation, a bachelor’s in the sciences. Growing up surrounded by individuals in healthcare, I aspire to combine my fields of interest, art, technology and medicine, in order to eventually become a medical illustrator.
Artist Statement
I’ve been doing freelance portrait commissions since the age of 18. My main media of choice is oil paint and digitally rendered images. Although my main commission works are portraits, my personal artwork reflects more intimate ideas. I immigrated to the US from the Philippines when I was three years old and in many ways I am a “third culture kid”, someone who has a wholly different lived experience than that of my immigrant parents and the majority I grew up around. I believe there’s a uniqueness and struggle specific to the third culture experience, therefore some of my most cherished pieces are about my culture and the negative social dynamics within my Filipino-American family. My choice of aesthetics in beauty and gore is my way of expressing vulnerable topics.