Dalhia Perryman is an award winning, nationally sold and published intellectual, activist, visual and performing artist utilizing her art as a catalyst for social change. With a classification of ‘very superior intellect’ she holds memberships in both the International High IQ Society and American Mensa High IQ Society.
She has been an orator for more than 15 years contributing her gift of gab to organizations such as, AARP, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., Nova Southeastern University’s Lead Program, and Cope North Opportunity School. However she is more than a mouthpiece having contributed over 5200 lifetime hours of community service. Including 1700 hrs/ (a year of national service) with AmeriCorps where she tutored non -literate adult learners and pre-school children while working at food banks, Habitat for Humanity, the Comprehensive AIDS Program, Paint Your Heart out and other programs throughout the county and Texas with her AmeriCorps class. She spent 600 hrs in high school and one complete school year after graduating, volunteering with her former high school’s exceptional student education program. She has participated in Haiti relief efforts with the Port of Palm Beach and the Change is Coming Campaign in Miami, Florida. She was a relief worker immediately after Hurricane Katrina for evacuees from the storm and later spent time rebuilding homes in St Bernard Parish, Louisiana with the St. Bernard Project in the most devastated portion of the city. She also participated in a tornado relief telethon with a local news channel. She has been an AIDS activist for more than eighteen years and most recently obtained four national certifications in Basic HIV education, and African American HIV Education and Prevention. She has participated in multiple fashion shows, including several benefiting women’s empowerment organizations. In addition she works cold weather and disaster shelters, volunteers with the Veterans Administration, is nationally certified as a Ham Radio operator (for disasters) and has had training to reunite holocaust survivors with their loved ones, all in connection with the American Red Cross. In addition, she has worked with African Americans Uniting for Life a bone marrow transplant program, vocal eyes (recording school books on tape for students with varying disabilities) and has worked with a tutoring program for at risk youth.
Because her visual art often depicts women as strong and important players in their own destinies, Dalhia’s art and activism often become one. She was awarded a National Puffin grant, due to her artistic integrity and dedication to women’s rights. The Puffin Foundation supports artists that are not considered mainstream due to race, gender or social philosophy whose work they feel will impact society. The grant would allow her to create artworks to financially benefit organizations that empower women. Her achievements include having work appear on the show CBS Sunday Morning, becoming a finalist in the international competition Art Takes Paris, being juried in as a professional artist in Women in the Visual Arts Inc., Presenting work in the four month Art of Justice exhibition in Maryland, and creating a doll under the direction of Fiber Artist Kianga Jinaki that went to Accra Ghana. She received the judge’s award from the Broward Art Guild, and participated in a four -month exhibition at Palm Beach International Airport sponsored by Palm Beach County’s Art in Public Places. For the last eleven years she has drawn in the Lake Worth, Florida Street Painting Festival, which saw 100,000 visitors last year among others throughout the state of Florida. A few years ago, she won the Sugar Sand Park Community Center chalk art award for best themed work.
Dalhia is also a multi- talented performance artist also that has performed, competed in and won competitions in dance, drama, speech and singing for many years. Most recently she has set her sights on winning the Individual World Poetry and Women of the World Poetry Slams and has performed at local venues Dada, Soul Thursday’s @ Capri’s Lounge, Lyrical Ink, @ Harold’s, Mellow Mondays at Blusters and Verbal Calligraphy honing skills as both a poet and a slam competitor in order to make that vision a reality, including becoming a finalist at Heavy Handed Poetry Slam’s national competition qualifier.