Community Arts (MFA)

Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown

Nicoletta Daríta de la Brown is most passionate about connecting with, and the betterment, of humanity at large.

In 2017, she birthed VidaMágica.Love, empowering those on the front line and making this world a better place to create sacred space for self, practice mindfulness, take time to reflect with gratitude, to pause, to process, to breathe, to remember to self care & self love. Providing opportunity to be loved on through self-caring workshops, arts-based healing experiences, mindfulness-movement activities, facilitated group retreats, and introduction to wholeness & wellness modalities. Reminding participants that learning to self love is important. Nicoletta finds immense joy in facilitating opportunities that promotes all aspects of human wellness. In 2012, she created a project called Art Antidote to aid underserved youth in recovery from psychological and physical traumas through therapeutic arts activities and engagement in healing public art installations. That project produced free workshops, special events, and therapeutic arts services for pediatric hospital patients. Art is medicine; it stimulates the brain, creating a chemical response of dopamine production, beneficial for those battling depression.

Nicoletta has been contracted to develop education, healing arts, and enrichment programs, for the City Arts Council (Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts), Kaiser Permanente, and Red Bull Amaphiko. Her programing has engaged thousands of participants, including working with a team to produce ArtScape, the nation's largest free arts festival. Programming she has designed continues to provide comprehensive enrichment opportunities for under-served city residents including youth, transient (homeless) populations, refugees, immigrants, low-income families, previously incarcerated individuals during re-entry, and the general public. She has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of these outreach programs; she is able to work closely and fluidly with various organizations, institutions, companies, and agencies to maximize social impact.

As a Healing Artist, Nicoletta puts energy into developing works that communicate with her core and to others about the beauty of existence. She is an interdisciplinary artist, sculptor, filmmaker, and performer. Her work is about light, connection, and love. She fabricates sculptural installations and objects, and creates performances that are meant to communicate introspection. She is motivated by the idea of the collective oneness, that all is interconnected. Her process begins with self-examination, healing the residual wounds from past traumas. To Nicoletta, art means hope. She makes because she aims to heal. She draws inspiration from nature, science, modern philosophy, and ancient spiritual rituals. She combines techniques in fiber manipulation, casting, alchemy, accumulation, and new media. Her goals are to capture memories and facilitate moments. She aims to achieve vulnerable self-awareness. Part of her process, before rendering, is to read as much as possible. Typically drawn to researching and examining the ideas behind topics such as social sculpture and the performative body. Nicoletta is deeply embedded in everything that she creates. She tries with every finished work to have others leave with a piece of her.