We recently connected with Esmeralda Vasquez and have shared our conversation below.

Esmeralda, 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’m currently in the middle of a full circle moment with the project I’m on right now, so let me dive into it real quick. Last fall, I applied to a call from the City of Bellevue seeking an artist to design a creative Pride intersection pavement treatment for Downtown Bellevue. I found out in December that I was chosen for the project, and so the last few months have been filled with community outreach planning, meetings, calls, surveys, and designing this really important piece of art. I just submitted the final design last month and I’m very pleased with the outcome after all of the work I’ve been putting in behind the scenes to gather proper input from my community. I can’t wait for this project to be installed and debuted to the general public in June because the location is going to be at the Downtown Bellevue Park, at the three-way intersection. When I first moved back to the Seattle area in the summer of 2020, I landed in Bellevue and I’ve been here ever since slowly working my way into the greater artist community around King County. But in that first year it was very difficult for me to put myself out there and I didn’t know about a lot of the places I frequently go to now for inspiration. So my go-to spot was the Downtown Bellevue Park, any time of day, any day of the week. It was a place of comfort for me because I was able to be surrounded by people without feeling the pressure to stand out. It was a place for me to slow down and figure out a plan to really take on this career path. When I got selected for this project I cried immediately after the phone call because it just felt like this biggest moment of reassurance, and I’m someone who really values that whenever it comes my way. I feel like this project is going to open doors for me and solidify my intentions behind my desire to create public art. I always say that once I create something and share it afterwards, it’s no longer mine, it’s yours. That’s exactly how I feel about this project.

Esmeralda, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My full name is Esmeralda Andrea Vasquez, and I’m a self-taught multidisciplinary artist and muralist from Yakima, Washington. I’m the first artist to emerge from my family, so everything about this journey has been an ever-evolving learning experience and I love it. I became multidisciplinary because of my passion to keep learning. I was first introduced to drawing and painting, in both oil and acrylic, and eventually experimented with things like pottery and even graphic design. But lately I’ve been really into linocut printmaking and digital illustration. All of these skills have kept me on a creative wave and pulled me out of some really tough times, but I think the type of art that I value the most is getting to paint murals. The connection to community that comes with creating public art is so important to me, and I’m actually very selective about who I work with and what kind of projects I take on for this reason exactly. Which is why I’m also a teaching artist with two nonprofits that I love so much, Urban Artworks and The Feels Foundation. These organizations do different work from one another, but they are both centered around supporting and uplifting BIPOC artists and youth through the creation of art. I’m grateful to have found my place in these orgs and I love the work that I get to do with them. My personal values must align with every creative opportunity I have because I believe that’s the only way to truly lead an authentic path. I’m passionate about using my voice through my visual art to create a sense of awareness and to speak up on social topics that matter to me. Most recently my interests have been heavily centered around the importance of color. As I’ve grown older and dived deeper into learning about my culture, my relationship with using color in my artwork has changed dramatically. You can clearly see it in the progression of my work over the last few years. As I’ve juggled between small and large scale works, digital and physical works, and collaborative pieces, I think the one constant has been my passion to keep going no matter how hard things may be. I’m a very ambitious person but I understand that things take time. So my motto for the last few years has been to create with patience, with empathy, and with intent. I’ve been letting that formula guide my creativity toward pursuing my goals. I know I still have a long way to go, but I’m just happy to be here now.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

This is a bit surprising to me since it’s still fairly new, but I would say being a teaching artist is the most rewarding part of my creative journey at the moment. I think teaching has given me a different outlet to express my creativity that I didn’t realize I had in me. I initially decided to pursue it because I felt like teaching could help me understand what I truly have to offer. I’ve been able to take that confidence and gradually channel it into my own artistic practice. It’s important to me to focus on themes of representation, inclusivity, and color theory in my work in order to layer the messages and subtle symbolism involved. But I also try to incorporate these values into my teaching because I often think back to my youth and how my experience with visual art as a child shaped my interests today. I’ve always been a very visual learner, and I think about how much information I was able to learn just from seeing public art and having the support system around me to pursue my talents. I want to create that space for youth in my community, and I want to be that source of support for them. Seeing kids create from their heart and without filter is a great reminder to allow my self-expression to be just as free.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes. Simply put, I just want to make an impact on the world during my time here. The love I carry for my friends and family is the same love that I have for my greater community. I feel that it’s my civic duty as a human being to use my creativity for something good, something bigger than myself, something that will outlive me. It’s not so much about the physical artwork itself but more so about the feeling that it leaves people with. My interest in symbolism developed after this realization, sometime when I was a teenager. Ever since then, I’ve been taking note of how many little details throughout our daily lives add up to moments in time that everyone is experiencing on different wavelengths. So even though I’ll only be here for so long, I want to make my moment count. I want to continue learning as much as I can from different people, places, and things.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @esoveresmeralda
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmeralda-vasquez-945161215?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app

Image Credits
Featured image and me standing in front of the bird in my Museum of Flight Mural taken by Alicia Diamond from Urban Artworks Image of me painting the lines on The Vera Project mural taken by Rhodora Jacob Image of me live painting the roses taken by Deepthi Nacharaju Image of me sitting on the floor painting a mural taken by Adrian Pacheco