Meseret Desta has been creating beautiful and inspiring artwork all her life. She is an internationally acclaimed and award winning artist, originally from Ethiopia. Art has been a sanctuary for Meseret, who has faced many challenges in Ethiopia and here in the United States. She arrived in the U.S. in 2001 soon after September 11th. Although it was difficult to build a life in a new country, Meseret persevered through the challenges of attaining higher education and employment. Through it all, art remained at the center of her life.
Meseret pours her passion and emotions into her artwork. Her work focuses on portraits and figurative paintings,
highlighting the struggles of women around the world. She incorporates nature into her paintings, especially the vivid and colorful open markets of Ethiopia, to represent freedom and hope. The smaller scale of portraits allows Meseret to portray powerful facial expressions, which she says is a way for her to “express my emotions through peoples’ faces in my art.”
Meseret pursued and completed many educational degrees in order to develop and grow her artistic talents. Meseret began her art studies at night school, and was later accepted in to the full-time day program. She majored in mural art, but also concentrates on mosaics, frescoes, macramé, and string collages, all while using bright and vibrant colors.
Meseret has been with Empowered Women International (EWI) since 2002. She enrolled in the business incubator program, and is a member and graduate of EWI’s Entrepreneur Training for Success. EWI helped arrange
her first gallery showing, where Meseret was able to showcase the works she had created and successfully sold many of them. Meseret is grateful for the support and advice EWI offers about business and marketing, and she is motivated to help other artists who face similar challenges.
View more of Meseret’s work at her Website
Be sure to visit our Etsy shop to view and purchase Meseret’s work
Tags: Artist of the month, Ethiopian art, Meseret Desta