My parents are native New Mexicans who moved to San Francisco in the 1960s. I grew up in the Bay Area and lived there for the first twenty years of my life. My frequent visits to New Mexico as a child enabled me to become familiar with the art and traditions of New Mexico. In my early twenties, I traveled extensively and lived in Guam, Hawaii, Spain and England.
My family returned to New Mexico in the 1990s. I came to New Mexico in 1999 after having been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In 2003, I developed chronic headaches that affect me to this day. Profoundly affected by the pain of my condition, I make art as an active call for help and as an artistic and personal quest for relief. I currently live in Albuquerque. I earned my BFA from the University of New Mexico in 2009.
I use traditional Catholic saint iconography to create a contemporary vision. In constant pain due to Multiple Sclerosis and chronic headaches, my abstract depictions of the Saints are an active call for help, a prayer to these extraordinary people who sacrificed their lives to help others. Without defacing or scarring the icon, these unique and contemporary abstracts are understandable and reflect the customs and beliefs of centuries of Hispanic artistic tradition.
Through my painting, I call to the saints as a prayer for good health, grace and kindness. I feel we are working together. As I create each saint, it becomes a part of me and assists in my healing. When I have the brush in my hand, when I put a stroke on the canvas, I can forget my pain. My work reflects my emotions, which are seen in the sad eyes of Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Dymphna or frail bodies like that of San Acacio, the patron saint of headaches.
Three years ago I was truly lost—creatively, spiritually, and emotionally— I was inspired by the lives of the Saints to find what is in my heart. The Saints came to me in this abstract form of peace and beauty. Before, pain was controlling me; now I control my pain.
Through my art, I am managing my MS and my headaches and ultimately my sanity the best way I can. I have a tenacious spirit that loves life and is in dept to the passion I have for art because it makes me who I am today and has saved me.