Biography:

Demi Raven (born Demian Maas, a.k.a. Demian Ravin, D.J. Ravin) has had a strong interest in visual art since adolescence. Encouraged by his mother, also a creative person, he took many early classes at the Bemis Art School in Colorado Springs, CO. Throughout his primary and secondary education he excelled at drawing and painting, gaining a number of local awards and exhibition opportunities.

After graduation from high school and a subsequent year traveling and performing music globally, Demi entered the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he graduated magna cum laude in Visual Art with an emphasis on Painting in 1997. During his education, the majority of his studies were in Photography, a subject of great interest that influenced the manner in which he approached painting. He participated in interships with photographers Albert Chong and Melanie Walker, and worked closely with photographer/scholar Alex Sweetman.

Following his time at the University of Colorado, Demi relocated to Seattle, Washington in order to both pursue a career in art as well as to further augment his education with a degree in Computer Science, which he acquired in 2002 from the University of Washington.

Demi has been an active part of the visual arts community for over ten years. In 1997, following his move, Demi joined the visionary SOIL Artist Cooperative, an artist-run collective gallery - he spent nearly six years developing, curating, exhibiting, and co-managing this gallery. In the late 1990's he was a founding editor/writer for RedHeaded StepChild (1999-2001), a local periodical devoted to the review and discussion of the emerging art community in Seattle. He has exhibited his paintings frequently since his arrival to Seattle. In 2006, Demi was a finalist in the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition and exhibited for six months at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Currently Demi Raven is represented by Pacini Lubel Gallery in Seattle and by Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. Formerly Demi has been represented by Atelier31 Gallery (Seattle), GAS Gallery (Turin, Italy), and NextMonet (online).

Demi is married to painter Rebecca Raven.