15 minute read
The Artist Feature
from June 2022
CURIOUSER CURIOUSER
FOUR LOCAL ARTISTS INVITE US INTO THEIR COLORFUL & FANTASTICAL WORLDS
by Kirby Conda photography by Lillian Reitz
The Coastal Bend is producing heavy hitters in the art world. Fresh-faced and seasoned creatives alike, it seems as though the area is finding its place on the map. That is to say, what once felt like an emerging underground art scene — which has been present and nurtured for decades — has grown into a place where the fine arts being produced within the region are gaining respect and recognition as just that: fine art.
In this feature, we explore four women, each of whom has a distinct approach to her work, while also exhibiting a few shared denominators: a fostering of creativity from a young age, a desire to explore thought-provoking topics and a seemingly intrinsic curiosity to turn fantasy into reality. So, tumble down the rabbit hole with us, and experience a world all their own.
FINE ARTS PAINTER
For as long as she can remember, Franceska Alvarado has been an artist. Growing up in a household where creativity was encouraged and fostered, it didn’t take much for Alvarado to feel comfortable exploring the act of making and creating. She excelled at art classes in school, and was often called upon when teachers and classmates needed someone to draw something. “I would get asked to draw something or make a sketch since I was the ‘artist’ in the class,” Alvarado recalled. And while that recognition felt special and welcomed, she knew even then her passion went far beyond making doodles in primary school.
“I took my art more seriously than my peers,” she said. “My art education didn’t stop at the classroom; it continued at home.” For Alvarado, art was always more than just an extracurricular activity, and she often refers to her family home as a “creative community” where ideas were shared and critical feedback was given regarding the work each family member produced. Because art was valued
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so highly among the people she loves most, it provided her the motivation to pursue her Bachelor of Fine Art. Now in her senior year at TAMU–CC, Alvarado has fine-tuned her skill set to a point where she finally feels it is appropriate to call herself an artist.
Alvarado has used her time in school as an “experimental place,” where there is space to allow her to discover who she is as an artist. When it comes to art, her culture acts as a starting point.
“A lot of my early work was about self-identity and tying my Hispanic roots to art and exploring those avenues,” she said. “Versus in my everyday life and living in Corpus, there are [Hispanic] influences everywhere. Putting it into a fine art perspective, it’s something different for me … it’s about going beyond identity and focusing on my internal feelings apart from my Hispanic heritage, which you’ll see in my new body of work.”
Next on the horizon for Alvarado is her senior showcase, which she will have completed by the time this issue goes to print. In front of the entire art faculty, Alvarado will prepare a 20-minute talk about her craft and present her latest body of work, which she describes as highlighting the mental state of anxiety and big internal emotions she’s dealt with, exploring them with a subtle aesthetic.
It’s not often we get a chance to witness an important artist in the making — though quite frankly, in many respects, Alvarado has already arrived. Young, driven and superbly talented, Alvarado’s work is poised to transcend Corpus Christi’s fine art circles.
What is your dream venue to showcase your work? A New York Gallery
What color inspires you the most? Venetian Red
LETICIA BAJUYO
SCULPTOR
An artist of all trades, Leticia Bajuyo is no stranger to the art of being a career creator. Bajuyo is deeply tied to arts education, and in addition to obtaining her BFA and MFA in sculpture, she has taught art at the university level for over 20 years. Currently, she is the Associate Professor of Art–Sculpture at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. However, to understand Bajuyo, one must absorb the full spectrum of her artistry.
Bajuyo is an interdisciplinary artist and object maker whose work is largely site-specific. That doesn’t mean she creates with a specific space, gallery or museum in mind; rather, she can manipulate an installation piece for each unique space, so the narrative she strives to convey somehow remains intact while taking on a life of its own.
It is unclear whether her superpower lies in her ability to teach aspiring artists to push boundaries and perspectives, or if it’s the influence Bajuyo creates with her own art that challenges important cultural topics such as the pressure
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of assimilation and cultural privilege. Perhaps the force to be reckoned with is simply that no one else can or will be Leticia Bajuyo.
In many of her recent works, she explores the use of artificial turf and irrigation materials to examine how we as a culture have a competitive desire to maintain a well-kept lawn. Bajuyo digs past the surface of this concept to ask the question, “Why is this such an ingrained component of the American dream, about being able to contain but also comparing?”
She grapples with the concept of wanting the yard to look pristine while challenging where this want comes from. Earlier this year, Bajuyo contributed her sculpture, Forces of Nature: Blue Skies, Slinkys, and Hurricanes, to the Art Museum of South Texas’s Texas Artists: Women of Abstraction exhibition, which consists of three circular forms that appear to be large “slinkys” perched atop perfectlymaintained “lawns” of artificial grass.
“I want to be aware of why this is a system within our culture that is a multi-billion dollar component within our GDP to get us to buy all of those [materials] to be able to have that [idyllic] yard view,” the artist said.
Without fail, Bajuyo gives voice to subject matters that are typically discussed in the shadows, if at all, and often left fragmented. However, there is an inclusivity with which she presents the work that encourages the viewer to abandon society’s acceptable limitations and venture into parts and worlds unknown.
If you could only carry one artistic tool, what would it be? A Very Sharp Multi-tool
FINE ARTS PAINTER
Georgia Griffin is a self-taught artist out of Rockport, Texas, whose preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. Griffin’s work personifies the idea of never losing the magic of one’s inner child. “Whimsical surrealism is my adult brain’s way of dancing in the fairy dust of childhood,” she said, and it’s become a bit of a mantra. Through subject matter, usage of color and dashes of sensible humor, Griffin explores what could be in historical, fanciful and well-researched ways.
For many years, the core of Griffin’s work has touched on women’s issues that ranged from girlhood to motherhood, and explored areas of mourning and loss, gender disparities in the political realm and ultimately how the environment and its creatures do or do not affect women’s issues.
While she can draw inspiration from just about anywhere, connecting with a concept or theme that can be interpreted over and over again through a collection of paintings is both her great challenge and her innate gift as a creator.
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“My brain is my favorite tool,” said Griffin, “it makes everything possible.” And this idea seems to be the breeding ground for her latest pieces. Her most recent body of work, Sovereigns of the Sea, grew out of an amusing sketch she produced for her grandson: a fish depicted as Queen Elizabeth II. Surprise and delight ensued, and Griffin quickly found herself delving into images of past royals to reinvent them with her imaginative eye.
She dares to introduce a point of view that draws on realism, hyperrealism and surrealism, and ultimately conjures a sense of childlike nostalgia for the viewer.
“Don’t hold back,” Griffin said. “Don’t let anyone get in your way.” Not everyone will understand the work, and at the same time, the work may not be for everyone. "Create for you," Griffin explained, "and let yourself explore the unknown."
When it comes to the confines of making someone else’s idea come to life, there is much to be discovered about herself as an artist and as a woman and how that influences her take on her south Texas-inspired themes. “I don’t always feel connected to commissioned work in the same way as I connect with my own,” she said, but she always leaves pieces of herself on each canvas.
As in previous collections, the viewer will connect with paintings rooted in an atmosphere reflective of the Coastal Bend; bold colors depict nature’s bounty as the Gulf Coast meets internationally renowned royalty in Sovereigns of the Sea, and the uninhibited use of imagination, bright colors and fantasy serve as the catalyst for her creations realized.
If you could only carry one artistic tool, what would it be? Sharp-edged 1/2" Flat Brush
What is your dream venue to showcase your work? Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
MIXED MEDIA ARTIST
Intricately poised, subtle and sophisticated, Millicent Alvarado is a creator who deserves recognition alongside some of the most groundbreaking female sculptors of our time. Her fantasy-like sculptures are a world in and of themselves that begs the viewer to take a deep look into the nuances of what's before them. The level of artistry is that of a seasoned creator, yet she is an undergraduate student working towards her BFA.
Being a young Latina artist with so much talent, the idea of nature versus nurture is an interesting concept to think about when it comes to Alvarado. While she was raised in a family full of creators, it feels as though she possess intrinsic artistic abilities. Simply put, once seeing her work, you get the feeling she was born to do this.
Alvarado draws from childhood influences to create 3-D sculptural experiences that beg the viewer to reconsider sculpture as a form of fine art. Growing up, Alvarado was encouraged to explore her creativity from familial
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influences. “[My] mother was always supportive of being creative and trying new things,” Alvarado explains. “Art was something she was interested in and it naturally became something we enjoyed doing, too.”
Coming from a family of creators who encourage each other’s work, Alvarado found a balance between self-discovery and self-expression that morphed into an unreplaceable style of infinite layers and precision. Still, Alvarado is humble in her quest to make a big splash in the art world someday soon.
The artist draws on the vibrancy of bright colors and produces work that supersedes the expectations of the most seasoned art aficionados. “I think in color,” said Alvarado. “It’s like I can see different shapes and forms and ideas in something as mundane as a piece of gum on the street.”
Alvarado creates a fairytale world rooted in the reality of her own thoughts and emotions with her delicate sculptures. “I feel like I’m able to personify my ideas and feelings and emotions into a physical thing through my work,” she said. From abstract shapes and layers of dimension to nostalgic imagery and an intoxicating color palette, she feels as though her art provides a way for people to see what goes on inside her mind, and with a body of work as marvelous as hers, we can’t wait to see what thoughts she tangibly produces next.
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