We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lola Sandino Stanton. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lola Sandino below.

Lola Sandino, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I have have worked on two meaningful projects and neiher one is more important than the other. The first one was a series of 20 portraits honoring High School students that I had known during my 13 years of teaching art in a Latino neighborhood. Many of the young people were poor, underperformers or living in homeless shelters. I painted a series of 20 portraits for a solo exhibition, Latino Kids. I did not use my actual students but other young people as models. Each kid is interacting with a blackbird, a very intelligent and resourceful creature. The bird is a symbol of the forces of nature coming to the young people’s aid to help them get ahead and succeed.

The other project is portraits of members of the LGBTQ+ community. I have almost completed a series of 20, and I am looking for a gallery for another solo exhibition. My son identifies as queer and this series is to honor men and women who in today’s society, are subjected to discrimination and misunderstanding.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

A lot of artists probably start with: I alway wanted to be an artist. Yes, I did also! For me my dream did not come true until I had lived more than half my life. But then, when you can’t get what you want you pursue other venues.

Since I went to college on scholarship, a naive girl from Nicaragua did not know how to navigate the system, I went to 2 different colleges and neither had an art department. I became a photographer for a big department store right after college because I had some experince as a photographer in the public relations department at one of the colleges. Photography can be creative but I did not have the talent to photograph displays, which is what I did.

Then I taught High School Art with very little preparation because art teachers were needed at the time. In fact, I taught ESL, Spanish and Science also, but that’s a different story.

After retirement I took a 3 month painting class at The Art Students League in New York. My teacher told me “you have what it takes”, which encouraged me to keep painting on my own. I honestly did not know that I could paint. Now I paint almost every day and I believe I have become a competent artist. Since I am happiest when I am painting, I know that this is what I was meant to do.

Since joining the National Association of Women Artists I have been in many exhibitions and have won several awards.
The organization also provides me with support and the friendships of other women artists.

I sell my work occasionally, but I do not do much marketing. I want to keep getting better and very soon I will take classes again. There are many more areas about this skill that I need to master.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Many non creatives feel that because one is a particularly good artist, creating is easy because we were born with the innate ability.

Yes, artists are born with the gift, but I cannot think of anyone, whether famous or not, who has become a competent artist without struggling in some way. Classes and art materials are costly, spending hours refining your craft takes time and then, what do you do with your art? Can you afford to just paint? Not many artists support themselves with their art. I taught, like many do, and many never stop teaching. But many of those are, of course, artists that love teaching.

Everyone who has accomplished something in their field—lawyers, doctors, teachers–has had to struggle to learn how to get better. The same thing with creatives. My own brother always complained that I got all the talent in the family. In his early years he performed as a stage actor with good reviews. He was also a good athlete, competing in the Central American Olympics throwing the javelin. But he was never passionate about either and did not develop his talents.

Yes, every human being is talented in some way, and it takes labor and perseverance to develop their creativity. Creatives in in the visual arts are no different.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

There are two excellent public art High Schools in the city of New York, La Guardia High School for Music and Art and Art and Design High School. Both schools have an amazing art program but also a rigorous liberal arts program. I have worked as a substitute teacher at both schools for several years. I doubt that many cities in the United States offer such excellence. Whether the students who attend there will ever become dancers, musicians or painters, they all will acquire a sophistication that so many High School graduates do not have. The will become art appreciators if not art makers, they will have a more interesting vocabulary and more interesting topics for conversation.

The first thing that gets hit with budget cuts in the schools seems to be the arts. The powers that be do not understand the need for being able to create concrete and word visualizations or expressions in music or acting. From colleagues I know who grew up in Russia, that country gives their students a stupendous classical art education. This country needs to realize that music, theatre, painting and all the other creative arts will make it greater. Every state in the union should set up free art schools for all ages with offering in all the arts, because love of the arts starts young.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lolastantonart.com
• Instagram: lolastanton3335
• Facebook: lolastanton
• Other: My full name is Lola Sandino Stanton and that is how I sign my work. Unfortunately I am conflicted about changing my name in both Instagram and Facebook since I have used only Stanton for a lot of years. Please use my full name if you decide to publish my work. Thank you!

Image Credits

The first 4 photos are from Latinos with the blackbird. The second 4 photos are from the LGBTQ+ series. I hope it’s obvious. Everything is labeled on my website if readers are interested.

If you need better resolutions for the photos please let me know. THANK YOU! Lola