What is your primary medium?
I am a painter. I mostly work with oil and acrylic, but I do acrylic with mixed media.
What got you interested in painting?
I've been making things since middle school. In middle school I was really interested in photography at first because my dad had a Pentax manual camera and so I got interested in photography. But then part of me wanted to draw, so I kind of bypassed a lot of the preliminary drawing classes in high school, because I wanted to get to the advanced drawing and painting classes. In high school I took a lot of painting classes, as many as I could, and eventually I ended up going to art school for painting.
What was art school like?
Well, I actually was fortunate enough to go to my dream art school. I went to the San Francisco Art Institute, and that school is known for its interdisciplinary approach. It's a little bit more conceptual based. But going from high school to college, it was kind of a weird transition because I wasn't taught those intro level, “This is how you set things up” steps. It was kind of just like, “Go start painting. If you're an artist, you should know what you should be doing.” I mean, I had really good mentors while I was there. And that experience still kind of lives inside of me because it was a time when I had a lot of time to think and mess around with stuff and be around other people who were interested in the same thing. As far as getting taught how to market myself, I mean, this is like, late 90s, you know, I graduated in 2001. So it was that time where there weren't artist websites, there wasn't any social media. We were just putting together shows and hanging out together and trying to live the bohemian lifestyle. The main things I took away from being at art school were to trust yourself and make sure you keep a studio practice. I did take a couple of workshops on how to write grants and what's expected when you apply to galleries, but when you leave art school, you're kind of on your own, like, what do I do next?
Prints of Marianna’s work are available in our store! [El Aqua No Limpia Todo]
Where do you get your inspiration?
Oh my God, lots of places, but for a long time I've been very inspired by the textiles that are made by indigenous women in Mexico. Even before I started really thinking about that as a form of inspiration I used to always just mention it. I love the textiles from Mexico, my family's from Mexico. My paternal grandparents are from a part of Mexico, where textile is a big art form. They were from Oaxaca and I've always just been interested in that as a form of creating because, this blouse, there are different symbols that mean different things, women who make them, they make everything by hand. They dye the cotton, they work on a back loom where they weave the cloth, and then they embroider it. So that's one of my number one things that inspire me. It doesn't necessarily appear literally in my work, but it is there as kind of an underlayer of what's happening within other things that inspire me. It's kind of funny, but like space, planets, and the idea that we as humans can travel to space and that there are objects out in the universe that we can see with telescopes, all of these things come from disparate places, but they come together, somehow. I don't plan everything out, but they just appear and I think about them. I'm also really inspired by old photographs that I either find, or that come from my family members. Right now I'm using a lot of reference pictures from my family. Pictures that my parents took in the 60’s and 70’s and even before. I asked relatives to share pictures, letters, photographs and so that all gets embedded in there. I took a trip to Mexico a long time ago to archaeological sites where there are still remnants of Mayan and Aztec murals. The paintings of pre-Columbian painters have always been something that intrigues and interests me. Right now the way they look, they are distressed, decayed, they're coming off of the buildings. Before, the pyramids and these temples were completely covered with Chroma, with color, and now we see them and they're all whitewashed, they're all falling off. So that's been something that has always been in my mind and I try to not mimic, but try to mention or show that as something else that interests me as a form of painting. I'm also really inspired by vintage National Geographics. I'm like a big hoarder of National Geographics and the older the better. I like the old advertisements for different forms of technology like old radios and old cameras. There is the camera thing again, right? Coming from the initial inspiration to create is photography, so National Geographics kind of appear in my work. I like to find the pictures of things to kind of include in my mixed media pieces.
What gets you out of bed in the morning and wanting to create?
Wow, that's a big question. I want to say that when my son was born, I kind of had a wake up call, you know? I think the spark to create was reborn in me. Because my main motivation is to leave something that my son is proud of, kind of like a legacy. Like, “My mom made this and she was interested in these questions, she was interested in materials.” So, yeah, I think my son is my main motivation, showing him that you can dedicate your time to making your own things and to leaving behind your ideas and your thoughts. So, yeah, just being creative every day is what motivates me.
What makes art worth pursuing?
Again, I think, artists are the voice, right? We express things that other people don't think about expressing, or they don't take the time to. To give voice to people and ideas and things that don't get addressed because not everyone has the luxury to make things or the time or the money, or even the knowledge. So it's kind of a responsibility to be that voice. And that's how I think of it. It's not a game, It's not just playing for me, it's work that I want to have grounded in concepts and a message.
[La Astronauta]
Are there any Boise based opportunities you've been able to partake in?
Yeah, I was awarded the Alexa Rose grant in 2019 and that grant was initially for a trip to Oaxaca. In Oaxaca, Mexico there's a textile museum and they have an archive of tons and tons of different textiles from different regions of Mexico and from different time periods. I had arranged to have a private viewing of specific items and was awarded the travel grant from the Alexa Rose Foundation but that never came to be because of COVID. At this time last year we were supposed to be there. So I had to rethink that and we're doing a different project, but it's still related to painting and it's still related to thinking about indigenous textiles. Then there is the traffic box I applied for last year in January. I was one of six of the people who were chosen in 2020 and that project was carried out between April and June. It was installed in July and my traffic box is at Cole and Ustick. It represents the four directions. I run from our house over to that area and when I realized where it was going to be, the concept came to my mind. Each side of the traffic box has a different color and meaning for the different cardinal directions.
What do you think of art programs like the traffic boxes?
Oh, I think it's awesome. I think we need to cover everything with art, you know? I think it's a really great way to bring art outside of walls, a lot of times people aren't exposed to art. What I love about the Boise traffic box program is that each artist is able to do their own design so different areas of Boise have different artwork around. I think it's a great program and I hope that it is able to continue. I think it's a great way for people to get their artwork out and to showcase the creativity that we have here in the city.
What is it like to teach students?
Well, this is my 14th year teaching and I didn't get into teaching right out of college. I taught at some smaller studios first and then I worked with this other artist where I was kind of like her studio assistant and she would have students. I think it's really cool to teach other people. I'm really into this thing called teaching artistic behaviors. What that is, is instead of teaching students about how to make a recipe type of artwork; art where if you do this, you do this, and you do this, then you have some art. Instead of teaching them that way I like to show the students how they can come up with their own ideas, how they can apply concepts that we're learning into their own form of art making. And it's kind of in its beginning, because I'm at a new school, but I feel like over the next few years when students start to know me better and know how I approach the class, that we’ll get even better results. But yeah, it's fun to see kids get that spark and get excited about what they're making. Teaching is fun and hard.
[Safe Place]
Is there anything I haven't asked you about?
My mom was cleaning out her garage and I can't remember why I asked if I could keep things, but she started throwing away all of the envelopes to letters that were written between my family members when my parents immigrated to the United States. So I asked to keep several of them. And they're just like little treasures to me, because they are the handwriting of my family members. And all of the stamps, and I'm just, I'm in love with the designs from the stamps. From that time, you know, this is like the early 80s, sending these letters in the mail and typing addresses and stuff like that. So I put a lot of those in my mixed media pieces. They're meant to symbolize, to describe, communication during that time. We were still trying to connect to our family and I just want that to be solidified into my work as part of the meaning behind the imagery that's laid on top.
Is there anything else you can think of?
Boise is not a big city yet. I feel like if all the artists in Boise come together we could build a really strong community. I think it's starting to build with being able to connect with everyone on Instagram and social media and sharing ideas. I know [Boise Art Scene] put a meetup together. So I think if we all come together, we can help each other out, we can support each other, we can have shows, hopefully, when things open up again. I'm very interested in supporting other artists and helping and teaching. If anyone ever has a question or needs anything, I'm into sharing what I know and being a resource to other people.
Do you think art is something you’ll ever stop doing?
Oh my gosh, no. No, I don't think so. I mean, not even, so this is gonna sound really bad, but I have a PowerPoint that I have saved for when students don't want to work on their artwork. I've only shown it one time, but it's artists with disabilities and what they do to create. So yeah, even if I lost an arm, or lost my eyesight, I feel like I would try to find a way to make art and to express myself, to create. Because it's been a part of my life since I was a little girl wanting to make things and just being curious about material. I don't think I would ever stop making art. I mean, I took a break from making art because of trying to understand how to be a better teacher in the classroom. I spent a lot of time focused on that, but like I said to you, when my son was born it reignited the spark to make my art. And yeah, I don't think that's ever going to go away again.