We recently connected with Dev Heyrana and have shared our conversation below.

Dev Heyrana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Dev Heyrana of Heyrana Studio – an SF East Bay Area Fine Artist known for her portraits celebrating BIPOC women and large-scale Abstract pieces. As a woman of color herself, Dev believes that painting skin color is as complex as an individual. That diversity is reflected in her work, with each painting having a uniqueness to it that is positively represented through the many skin shades depicted. To achieve this, she mixes her own acrylics & natural pigments to create her diverse range of skin tones, creating her own palette & painting on wood panels to give the painting a unique texture – giving life to a 1D painting. She has partnered with Freda Salvador to shed light on the importance of women voting, especially women of color, in the recent election. She has also partnered with Tea Collection to host a four-part series of art classes through their IG platform, as well as been featured in numerous campaigns with Ooly, Disney, Casa Studio, Still We Rise, Parents Magazine, MOTHER Mag, Encourage Vintage, Dockatot, Help A Mother Out, Apple, Google, Majo Ideas & more. Currently, her Woven painting is displayed at the de Young Museum Open in San Francisco until January 7, 2024.

Being a member of the AAPI community, Dev has felt deeply activated to use her voice in the #stopaapihate movement. She has recently partnered with Rise Up Against Racism creating Little Free Antiracist Libraries around the SF Bay Area, hoping to bring awareness to the cause as well as serve their communities.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

It was curiosity that first sparked my interest in art. It’s knowing that I always have something to learn that keeps me focused and excited! I was heavily influenced by my high school art teacher, Mr. Giles, who was such a driving force. He saw something in me that I didn’t know was possible. I remember this one particular moment when he handed me a canvas, and I asked him what I should do with it. He told me “ANYTHING, paint on it, break some glass, and then add it in, challenge it, it’s up to you!”. My eyes lit up with excitement. No one has ever said anything like that to me and I carry his spirit with me daily as I paint. The paintings I’m doing now are part of my growth, utilizing different materials and techniques, without fear of trying them, and instead painting constantly for myself and honoring what I’ve learned before. My paintings are a visual personal story of how I’ve grown as both an artist and as a woman.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

It took something that almost broke me for me to find my voice. I was at work one day, and I immediately knew something was wrong. I was a graphic designer, so I was constantly looking at color, balance, and layout. That day, my vision seemed darker than usual on the left. I also taught a weekly dance class, and my balance suddenly felt off. I made an appointment with my eye doctor right away. She could see my concern, and although she couldn’t spot anything out of the ordinary, she sent me to a specialist just to make sure. The specialist said the same thing—nothing out of the ordinary. He suggested that maybe I was feeling tired because I had a small child at home. I almost accepted that answer, but I knew myself better than that. I scheduled another appointment with a doctor and got an MRI. By the end of the day, I got the call: “There’s a golf ball-sized tumor located between your left nasal cavity and cranial nerves.” My heart felt heavy, I didn’t know how to process it. All I knew was I needed to get a biopsy and then we would go from there. It took three biopsies to find out it was benign. I still had a series of surgeries ahead of me. I know I should have been more thankful that it wasn’t cancer, but what followed took over my life for about a year and a half. While I was in recovery, my husband one day came home with a bag of art supplies. He simply said, “Just paint, I know it makes you happy.” He knew that as hard as my childhood was, art was my escape. had forgotten the simple motion of picking up the brush, dipping it in water, slowly lifting the paint, and guiding it on paper. I was reminded why I love watercolors so much: You have to be patient and wait to see how the water will move the colors and then how they will set. It filled me with calm and my mind felt quieter. Here I was in bed recovering —and I was starting to see that as a pleasant thing, rather than torture. I could sit here surrounded by my family and paint while my body healed.

Painting helped me to cope with those previously unbearable in-betweens, or in any in-betweens. It was during the quiet moments when I had to wait for the paint to dry that I learned a lot about myself. How I had more grit and patience than I realized. I’m still painting in the little corner of our home. Amid family life, I try and find balance. Thankful for every chance I get to express myself in any way. I still have so much to learn. I’ve embraced failure because the fear of not trying weighs heavier on me. When things do feel heavy, I take moments and I wait. I try and be still and think about why I’m here and what I’m thankful for: Today I express myself with no bounds because I know it leads to discovery and healing. Every gesture has a purpose, down to how I fill my heart. As broken as I felt before, I am more whole, with room for growth and more love than ever before.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.heyrana.studio/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_heyrana/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/01deb

Image Credits
Samantha Tyler Jen Siska Jonathan Encarnacion