Munir Studio

Mr. Deishinni was born in Kumasi, Ghana, West Africa. He holds a Masters in Arts Education from RISD and a Bachelor of Arts from Ghanatta College of Art. An educator and muralist, his media include oils, acrylics, water color, pastels, pen and ink, and wash. He enjoys teaching art to students, middle school through college. Additionally he has taught community art projects at numerous centers for all ages.

A native of Ghana, he attended Ghanatta College of Art where he received his Bachelor of Fine Art degree, he took a job designing and painting billboards by hand with a commercial art company. In 1979 he opened his own studio in Accra painting general subjects from the villages, towns and cities. He received commissions painting portraits of several West African heads of state including presidents and prominent people. In 1981 he moved his studio to Freetown, Sierra Leone and lived there for seven years.

In 1988 he moved to the United States, and had participated in over 30 individual and group shows and painted more than 25 community and school setting murals. In 1996 he co-founded The International Gallery for Heritage and Culture. He is the Artistic Director and has supervised an average of 35 AmeriCorps artists per year, providing art and cultural education programs in schools and in the community.

In 2010-11, he designed and painted with Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council a mural over sixty-five feet long, murals for CODAC, and Oasis International. In 2012, as an adjunct Professor he designed and painted a mural at Rhode Island College with his students in the Adams Library. Also, he completed a mural for the entrance of Woonasquatucket River Bike Pathway and another mural at the Corner of Rodman and South Main Street in Fall River, Massachusetts. In Fall 2013 he was commissioned by Rhode Island Department of Transportation to paint the largest highway mural on side of a bridge at exit 29, I-95 North in Pawtucket. Over the years Mohammed has been the recipient of Congressional, Gubernatorial, Senatorial, and Mayoral awards and citations. Additionally in 2013 he received the Dean's Distinguished Achievement Award from the University of Rhode Island.

Today, he is still active in his studio, Artistic Director of the International Gallery for Heritage and Culture; he was an adjunct Professor at the University of Rhode Island. He is a visiting art teacher at Davies Tech. High School in Lincoln, Rhode Island through RISD Project Open Door Program.