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MFA Masters Fine Arts, Mexican-American

I am a Mexican American woman born and raised in Texas and familiar with much of the US Southwest. I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education awarded by UTXX. I am a native-speaker of both English and Spanish. As my youthful identity solidified, I became first and foremost an artist, which is how I related to my world on moral and psychological levels.

 I have observed that artists are often eccentric, odd, outsiders, distinct, unusual, or all those things at once. I seemed to have qualified at an early age, since, by the age of four, I was convinced that parallel universes existed and that I existed in each one of them, I was also convinced that this knowledge was unique to me. Even at that age, I had already become an avid observer of the world and its beauty. To say that I was fascinated with color, sound and texture would be an understatement; I often felt myself to be totally immersed in them. Yet, I was aware that my ‘take’ on the world was distinct, while I was pressing my ear to the grass to hear it ‘sing’ whilst feeling the texture of the soil. While other children were playing with their toys and would have found the world unbearable without them, for me, the world just seemed to me to be one big ‘toy’ that offered limitless possibilities for enjoyment, exploration and experiment. My childhood memories consist of a series of clear, distinct impressions or illuminations about the world that I still carry with me.

 I have always loved reading and drawing and my many artistic efforts have brought me great joy, despite the fact that not all of my teachers were favorably impressed, since my projects where often seen as very unusual. This lack of artistic appreciation of a small child’s heartfelt efforts was hurtful, indeed heart-breaking but somehow, I was not discouraged.  I drew obsessively but in secret and carefully disposed of each creation lest they suffer mockery or indifference.  To me, each one was like a uniquely beautiful child and I genuinely felt them to be multi-dimensional, they were not only visually distinct, but each carried a unique taste and a smell. To me, they actually lived. I had no idea that this was art, it was just my secret.

 Traumatic events in my life, from the age of eight to twelve and my lack of control over them made me withdraw socially. I was moved from home to home and town to town, as are many Latino children of immigrants, living with different people. I regarded myself as a ‘bubble’ or a ghost just floating around and observing the families I shared with them more as an observer than a participant. While the instability of my childhood was to some extent traumatizing, it also furnished me with numerous, fascinating opportunities for observation that have fed my art.

 As time progressed, I slowly and joyfully recognized that I was by no means alone, that my feelings were shared by others and these others were ‘artists’. I had family, we had a role and we had a purpose! I now love to share what skills and artistic knowledge that I have acquired and so have, for eight years, provided free art lessons. This has brought me enormous satisfaction and my students have often returned year after year.

 My art is both truthful and secretive. I want to state truths but to do so in the form of fables and riddles.  I look forward to undertaking research in the areas of morals, memories, psyche, parallel realms and reminiscence through Installation Art, incorporating imagery, objects, sound, light, temperature, texture, smells, echoes and emotions. I am interested in words and in juxtaposing words in unexpected but meaningful contexts through poetry. I also look forward to using psychology and philosophy in my art. I am also very interested in the ‘energy’ attached to old objects, particularly heirlooms that have had shared ownership over generations. I am convinced, as many cultures hold, that such objects do carry something of the energy of their successive owners with them and this concept is one that I should like to study, explore and develop further, especially with respect to Latino communities.

 Thank you for considering my application.

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