Avant Guardians

Familiar Faces

By Leticia Gonzales

From inner turmoil to outer outer magic

Abril Marquez channels mental health health struggles to create expressive artworks

For 18-year-old Abril Marquez, the many many paintings and art pieces she has created created have provided a way for her to express her her emotions when she wasn’t able to find the words words to do so.

Marquez, who was diagnosed with bipolar bipolar disorder a year ago, says she often struggles to struggles to understand what she is feeling day to day. But art has changed that for the Waseca resident.

“I can express myself in that moment and it makes me feel better.”

Although she has always struggled with mental health issues, Marquez said providers struggled to provide a correct diagnosis.

“They thought I had ADHD, but it was just anxiety; they diagnosed me with depression, but it was bipolar.”

Marquez’s love for art has been constant in her life since she was a child when she would check out arts and crafts books from her local library. She began sketching and drawing when she was 14 years old and has now moved into collages, printmaking and screen printing.

She credits her high school art teacher, Jennifer Popp, from Waseca High School, for introducing her to the newer art mediums and styles such as lino prints. She learned how to do screen printing online.

“In screen printing, it was really, really hard because that kind of art isn’t just like drawing,” Marquez said. kind of art isn’t just like drawing,” Marquez said. “It’s kind of like science in a way. You have to burn the screen for a certain amount of seconds.”

Many of her pieces are reflections of the experiences and struggles she has had on her mental health journey. Some are reflective of her hospital stays for treatment or of the black and white colors that represent her feelings during that time in her life.

“The reason I started doing art was because my mental health was really bad. It was a really good skill to use.”

Before Marquez honed her expressive art skills, she said she often felt like nobody understood her because of her mental health struggles. She said had trouble expressing how she felt and would get angry. She wouldn’t talk about it.

Now, she’s using her art to express herself.

“It’s like therapy for me; it’s working and clarifying my emotions.”

She even shared how the process allows her to

discover emotions that she didn’t know she was experiencing.

Marquez channels those emotions to create art that reflects the causes that she supports, such as Black Lives Matter, My Body My Choice and other forms of activism. When it comes to printmaking, her creations can be as simple as a landscape she finds beauty in.

“It’s very versatile, which is why I like it.”

As a young artist, she is still learning how to navigate the local and regional art scenes. She recently started selling her art at pop-up shows around the Twin Cities.

“My first one, I was really, really nervous; it felt good to be there. Sometimes I feel like nobody cares about art, that they don’t want to even look at it.”

Although Marquez would eventually like to create art full time, she has plans to attend cosmetology school later this year. She also would like to develop her film photography skills.

“I hope that I make art for the rest of my life.”