iam mai. I am that I am. I am a once closeted artist, writer, designer, and lyricist/songwriter. Yes, I am outing myself. I am introducing me, in this website to the world. So, here I am, Introducing Me.
Self Portrait
Ten years ago iam mai needed to find a readily available outlet as a means to reduce stress and be therapeutic for her oscillating health issues. She ventured into new territory by trying to create abstract works of visual arts on canvas and fabric. Being a writer also, iam mai combined her visual arts with her poetry. She found that through art and writing there was a new found sense of self expression. As her skill grew, iam mai took instruction on the art form of Batik. "Creating on fabric is therapeutic for my mind, body and soul. It is a connection among my inspiration, the fibers, the dyes and the free form that emerges from the texture and contour of the fabric. I don’t always know what is going to emerge because it is not purely of my making. It simply comes through me.”
iam mai spent more than half her life time creating her visual, musical and literary works for herself and her family. It was not until she sought to support a fundraising effort at the Aird Gallery, that her work received some outside attention. That exhibit led to some of her other visual arts work being selected to be part of a group exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum. The curator of the ROM show then invited iam mai to submit her work as part of her travelling showcase. These works were also displayed on the Jumbotron in Time Square in New York City. Because of this invitation, iam mai’s visual art works have been displayed at several other galleries and city centres including:
Nuit Blanche in Yorkville; Cultural Expressions Gallery in Ajax; Squatters Gallery in Flesherton; Flesherton Art Gallery; Brampton City Hall; Metro Hall in Toronto; Oakville Town Hall; Mississauga Heritage Centre; Ajax Town Hall; Whitby Library and Scarborough General Hospital.
Throughout the years iam mai has donated far more than she has sold. Her first art donation was to an organization that is near and dear to her parents’ hearts. Trinidad born and raised, both of iam mai’s parents belonged to the Tringo Club. So when it was the 45th celebration of Independence, she donated one of her paintings to commemorate the occasion. iam mai then donated another one of her paintings to help raise funds for the continuation of the Durham Youth Orchestra. Other organizations that have benefited from her generosity are the Scarborough Twilight Rotary Club, the Africentric School in the Toronto District School Board, the Haiti Relief Fund at Squatters Gallery, the Bovell Cancer and Diabetes Foundation in Trinidad and Tobago, the Diabetes Association of Canada and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).
More recently several of iam mai’s lyrics have been featured on American Indie Artist Yva Soul’s newly released album "Never 2 Late”, which can be found on NAPSTER. Her published literary works are, "Human is the Race, Woman is an Experience” and "Introducing Medina”. Both books are available through www.introducingme.ca; www.Xlibris.com; and at A Different Booklist, 746 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario and Nicholas Hoare Bookstore,45 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario.