Natty Alchemy: Shalandrea Renee Houchen
Please join us this Sunday, February 16 from 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM for the opening reception of Natty Alchemy a solo exhibition by DMST Atelier Artist Resident, Shalandrea Renee Houchen, featuring painting, poetry, photography, performance art video and installation, on view from February 16 to March 7th 2025.
Natty Alchemy is borne from reverence for ancestry, astrology, and the unseen forces that shape our world. The title itself is layered with meaning: "Natty," a word deeply rooted in Jamaican culture, signifies raw, natural beauty, while "Alchemy" speaks to the profound process of change and evolution.
This exhibition is a testament to transformation – an artistic transmutation shaped by lived experiences, ancestral connections, and cosmic influences. Shalandrea alchemizes her experiences, weaving Celestial bodies, West African deities, and elemental forces into vivid, immersive compositions. Her works channel wisdom from God, Oshun, Oya, and Shango while simultaneously gazing into the planetary expanses of Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and Earth.
At the exhibition’s core are four elemental paintings — Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. These works, rendered in acrylic, charcoal, and oil pastel, explore the fundamental forces governing existence. Each painting is accompanied by a poem and photographic prints. While the paintings suggest an ongoing celestial dialogue, Shalandrea’s poetry and photographic prints ground us within her earthly experience on this plane – expressing love, grief, and ultimately, resilience.
The DMST Living Room is Shalandrea’s offering to Natty Alchemy’s viewers. It is a sacred space, a reflection of home in its most expansive definition. Home has been fluid throughout her life — one found within the walls of DMST Atelier Artist Residency studio space. It is this practice of making home, creating stability wherever she finds herself, which informs this Living Room, infused with infinite love and ancestral echoes. Here, poems, records of musical legends, and messages of affirmation converge, urging all who enter to embrace the fullness of their being.
Exhibition Text by Noelle Barrera
Shalandrea Renee Houchen is a force of creative energy, weaving together performance, visual art, poetry, and movement. A native of Los Angeles, she embodies artistic alchemy, blending disciplines with an intuitive sense of storytelling. Her work is deeply personal, shaped by her lineage—her father, legendary Jamaican drummer Shaka Man of The Rastafarians and Boom Shaka, and her mother, the mystical Yolanda Renee Thomas (“Yoly”). Through her artistry, she honors the seen and unseen, channeling ancestral guidance while exploring self-expression.
Shalandrea’s journey, marked by resilience and transformation, reflects her ability to turn life’s challenges into artistic expression. A natural-born entertainer and performance artist, she brings dynamic presence to every medium she touches. Her paintings capture a sense of movement—each stroke infused with rhythm and emotion. During her residency at DMST Atelier, she refined her artistic practice, deepening her connection between performance and visual storytelling.
A visionary whose dreams often manifest into reality, Shalandrea gained recognition for her 2019 NYC-based pop-up exhibition, What’s Ya Zodiac?—a 12-room, astrology-inspired installation that earned a New York Times feature. Regardless of personal belief in astrology, the exhibit invited visitors into a shared cultural shorthand, exploring universal traits, hopes, and struggles.
Since founding What’s Ya Vibe? in 2019, Shalandrea has been committed to community arts education. She facilitates poetry and performance workshops for youth and adults, along with somatic wellness and expressive arts therapy sessions. Her programs create accessible spaces for self-expression, grounding, and connection. Through her residency with DMST Atelier, she has fine-tuned her workshops, incorporating Black, Brown, and Indigenous art history into offerings like Flow N’ Hue, Family Art Saturdays, and open studio hours.
Shalandrea’s artistic foundation was shaped early. Trained in theatre from age five at Amazing Grace Conservatory, she went on to receive an NAACP Theatre Award playing in SARAFINA! After moving to New York at 22 and later returning to Los Angeles, she embraced her multicultural heritage—her father, a Jamaican immigrant, and her mother, a Black woman navigating life in America—both of whom instilled a deep love for music and creativity.
Following the transition of her mother in 2017, painting became a vital means of expression and healing. Rooted in sensory exploration, Shalandrea’s work merges the textures of California’s landscapes with her background as a performer. “I began painting with my hands and feet because I knew I was meant to move,” she recalls