Just Like Music

24 x 24″
Mixed Media: Oil, Acrylic, Ink
By Shadia M. Nash

Shadia Milan is a self-taught, contemporary visual artist born in Buffalo, NY and raised in Houston, TX where she presently resides. Her art is primarily figurative, depicted in mixed media. In 2023, Shadia’s art was exhibited with the Citywide Art Exhibition sponsored by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Museum at Texas Southern University. She was a featured artist in the National Urban League’s Brilliant and Black-Owned Marketplace and at Nordstrom Houston Galleria’s Buy Black pop-up exhibition.

I thought I would be a fashion designer. As a child, I sketched what my grandfather called “little dolls” and dressed them in fabulous outfits. They were actually fashion illustrations, but I didn’t know it at the time. When I picked up art again decades later, I naturally incorporated fashion and style into my work. My subjects often wear eye-catching ensembles and vibrant prints. My art focuses on the beauty, resilience and joy within black people, women especially.

It’s my mission to contribute to the artistic representation of our humanity, allure, and flair. I create with these thoughts in mind, so I paint happiness, peace and strength. I paint beauty, fashion and style. I paint family, friendship and love. I paint the everyday lives of our ordinary, extraordinary people.