Our Story

Dianne Quarles and Marcella Muhammad
Maruva DQ is a small, family owned African American art business featuring the artwork of Marcella Hayes Muhammad and hand crafted jewelry by Dianne Hayes Quarles.  In 1995 Marcella founded Maruva Studio.  The name Maruva represents four generations of artistic women, Marcella, the founder and artist, Ruth, her grandmother and mother, and Virginia, her first partner as well as her great grandmother known as Mama Ginny.  Momma Ginny, born a slave managed to run away at age 16 and start her own business as a “modiste,” designing women’s clothing.  She has been an inspiration and the root of four generations of artistic Black women.  In 2000, her sister, Dianne Hayes Quarles joined the business and DQ was added to the name.

Our product lines include:

  • Original fine art by Marcella Hayes Muhammad
  • Select prints
  • Hand crafted jewelry by Dianne Hayes Quarles
  • MaruvaWare - print-on-demand clothing, accessories, shoes and home décor designed with our exclusive art work.

We also license designs to manufacturers for use on their products.  Look for Sunsout Puzzles with Marcella Muhammad designs wherever you buy puzzles.