Artist Bio
Dovey Martinez is a Honduran-American visual artist and educator. Her work is situated at the crossroads of contemporary figure painting and graphic art. Her art is painted stylistically in a paint by number style, with natural earth tones combined in solid fields of color. Gold over-layer painting is a constant theme over the face of the subject matter. Dovey graduated with a studio art degree from Connecticut College. Upon graduating, Dovey has taught youth classes for Gage Academy of Fine Arts Seattle, Urban Artworks, and Pratt Fine Arts Studio. Dovey began to create artwork as a teenager, observing her older brother create graffiti letters in his black book, she decided to try her hand at drawing. In college, art class lit her up like nothing else! She wants to share this gift with other young people and hope it provides an outlet to discovery through representation and inspiration. 


Artist Statement
I use gold paint over the faces and bodies of the people I paint as a metaphor for their high value to second generation immigrant children, but also to America. Immigrants are selfless. Immigrants are strong and resilient and work to help their own families but also are constantly seeking to build community. It is not my intent to create art to elevate myself, but rather to share the beauty and value of my Honduran and Latinx community.

Every painting depicts someone I know on a personal level. The imagery is gathered from my travels to Honduras, to the callejones in Los Angeles, and my neighborhood in Seattle. I am painting my mom, my grandma, myself, but also the parents of my friends and others with whom I have been raised. The color choices are bright and vibrant to represent the color palette of traditional Honduran paintings.

I am excited to share with others the resilience and beauty of those in my community with viewers who may not have experienced this otherwise. I hope these paintings serve as motivación to be proud of your own culture and value it as gold, in particular those who’ve sacrificed much to provide opportunities for us.


Website:  doveyswork.weebly.com
Instagram:  @doveyswork

Artwork by Dovey Martinez

Gage Academy of Art acknowledges the Coast Salish Peoples as the original inhabitants of this area and connecting waterways. We understand the land that Gage occupies is unceded territory and that today many Indigenous peoples live here and without their stewardship, we would not have access to this space. We honor the Coast Salish Peoples’ sovereignty, rights to self-determination, culture and ways of life. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have called this territory their sacred land. We commit to learning, educating others and repairing the legacy of historically harmful relationships between non-Native and Native peoples in King County. In doing so, we will be honest, and recognize the experiences of Native peoples to include genocide, forced relocation, forced assimilation, and land theft. We also acknowledge Native peoples are survivors, present in today’s world, thriving. We encourage everyone here today to ask themselves: what can I do to support Indigenous communities?

In an effort to be transparent, Gage is contemplating this call to action and re-working how to best support Indigenous communities.

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