Today, we’re going In the Studio with artist Maria Paula Rodriguez. Rodriguez’s artwork will be on display in the Chesapeake Arts Center’s Voices of Hispanic & Latinx Artists gallery exhibit, September 7 - October 17.

Maria Paula Rodriguez is a multi-disciplinary artist born in El Salvador in 1998. When she was 15 years old, she and her mother moved to The U.S to pursue a better life. She started painting at a young age, and continued to do so all throughout highschool. She attended The Savannah College of Art and Design, and earned a B.F.A in Fashion Design in 2021. After college she moved back to Maryland, where she is now based and works as a Print Designer. Maria loves blending her painting skills with fashion. Her art ranges from paintings, to clothing, to pottery; all focusing on themes of identity, emotions, and storytelling. Maria’s artwork inspiration roots from her childhood in El Salvador, losing her sister to gang violence at an early age and her life as an immigrant. She paints with acrylics, and makes use of bright bold colors that symbolize hope and courage in her life. Painting has helped Maria heal her inner child and hopes that her artworks provide happiness and comfort to the people who see them.

1.How do you find inspiration?

I love finding inspiration by looking at my surroundings. I think people are so interesting too; the way we behave, what we create(whether an artist or not), our emotions, and how we address those emotions. I feel I am constantly inspired by the nature of humans.

2.What emotion(s) fuel your work?

Happiness, confusion, love, sadness, loss are just a few of the emotions I like to emit through my art. I think most of the time, because of the colorful nature of my paintings, you can barely tell it may be telling a story of a time when I felt extremely sad. I like to play around with that aspect a

lot.

3.What’s your favorite medium to work in? Do you explore others?

My favorite medium to work in is acrylics, but I do love being a multimedia artist. I love exploring how I can merge fashion materials and fine art materials to create new things.

4.Where are you from and how does that affect your work?

I am from El Salvador. It’s a very small country in central america, but I will always remember it as picturesque. Our local art is very colorful, and a lot of it is based on folklore, and imaginative worlds and characters. This has always inspired me, and the work I do. I’ve learned to build my own characters and world around my art. I feel as an immigrant we always take a part of our country wherever we go.

5.How do you prepare to start a new piece? (do you have a ritual, do you do research, do you sketch it out, talk it out...)

I usually don’t do much preparation or research. Most of the time my paintings come from a very very small idea that I got while doing my daily tasks. I love writing haikus, and I also keep a journal where I write what impacts me daily. I take most inspiration from what I write, and I like to sketch out right on the canvas or surface where I will work and just let it play out. I do, however, spend more time researching color theory and what colors will work together, but I also find it really exciting to let myself be more unintentional about color sometimes.