We recently connected with Cristina Ayala and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Cristina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was little, I have been interested in expressing myself through art – I drew on walls, filled notepads with drawings and typefaces I found interesting, and I remember drawing cartoon characters while watching them on television, trying to be quick enough to finish before the tv show ended – this was before we could hit pause on shows. Because of these interests, my mom put me in oil painting classes, pottery classes and ballet lessons.

When the time came to choose what to study in university, I knew it was going to be related to art or design (although for a brief moment I considered psychology). I ended up deciding on graphic design, with a focus on print media which later changed to a focus on digital media, and a minor in fashion design.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in graphic design, I worked for several advertising agencies in my hometown. In 2010, I moved to Dallas (because of my husband’s job) and took this as a chance to learn new skills – I took fashion design courses at The Art Institute of Dallas and got a certificate in web design at SMU. Around this time was when my sister and I founded our branding studio and would work together on projects – virtually.

In 2013 I became a mom for the first time and that same year we moved to the East Coast. While living there, I randomly found out about a weaving workshop in NYC and signed up for the class. This skill was a very refreshing break from doing design work on the computer, it was nice to go back to creating with my hands. Also, we lived in a small apartment and I thought it was better for my 1-year-old to get into my yarn stash as opposed to oil paints!

I started gifting tapestries to family and friends, and soon they started to commission pieces for their homes. In 2015 we moved again to Dallas, where I kept creating more commissions and experimenting more, trying new materials and combining techniques.

It was in 2020 when I started to really focus on not just having a personal style in my work, but investigating and determining what it is that I am trying to say with my art and how it can be relevant to someone else. During lockdown, I took a couple of workshops online in which I would work on investigating where my work is coming from, I created mood boards, sketched plans for works, wrote an artist statement and tweaked my website and portfolio.

It is very interesting to me when my work resonates with someone else, and how sometimes people will ask me about a piece wanting to learn more about its story, and other times the art brings out a memory in someone and they share a story of their own.

Physically, my art can catch someone’s eye because of the tactile quality of fibers. A lot of times a client will be attracted to a piece because of the fact that they can touch and feel it, or the sculptural aspect of it. I make art in a range between small works (or studies) and larger scale installation work.

I work closely with clients when creating something for them, I’m very grateful for their trust in me and my work.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

A big pivot in my life was leaving Monterrey, my hometown, and moving to the US, it was an opportunity I had never had before.

Probably the biggest life pivot has been becoming a mom. After I became a mom, I found myself searching for something I could do, something I could make or produce, or just having an outlet. In a way, I think that this very big change pushed me to try and learn new things, and now I look for opportunities for my kids to try new things as well. Putting our creativity to work together is an activity that we all have come to enjoy.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

What I love about creativity is that it is something we can exercise, the more we push ourselves to use it, the more it flows. I really like that an artist can feel inspired to create by something that comes from the outside (like nature or music) or by something that comes from within (like a past experience or an emotion) – and we can investigate the inspiration as little or as much as we want to.

Connecting with other people – finding those whom my art resonates with, enough to create an interest to connect, is incredibly rewarding.

Cristina resides in Dallas with her family, and is currently working on a series about nostalgia. You can read her artist statement and view more images of her work on her website (linked below).

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cristinaayalastudio.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cristinaayala
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mtxny