Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maite Pinto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Maite, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

For me this is something that has happened organically. I have been drawing and painting since I was so little and the year I had to choose my career I somehow knew that I wanted to study Fine Arts. I did not think too much about how I was seeing myself in the future professionally but I just wanted to keep doing what I like and enjoy the procces of it. I was curious to learn more techniques and more about art in general. At that time I was quite young and naive and I did not think too much about how was I seeing myself in the future professionally.

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.

During my Art Education years I felt comfortable and safe because I was not yet dealing with the real world. I was living at home, so I had the support of my parents to be just focused in my career. But when I started studying an MA in Fine Arts abroad is when I realized how difficult is to keep creating when you have to survive and pay not only the rent for living but also the studio rent and all the art materials. So since I finished the MA is being hard to keep my artistic path professionally but I have always make a way to put my Art career in my priorities.

I am really proud when in 2017 I got the schollarship of the Basque Artist Programe to go to New York with the Guggenheim Foundation. This has been a really good opportunity for me to see the art scene in an incredible city like New York. During that programme I had the opportunity to visit several art insititutions and meet different Artists and curators. This was a crazy month with so many information to process.

After I finished that scholarship I went back home and it was the first time being outside the “Academia” so if I wanted to keep creating I somehow had to start finding my way and my place. It has not been always easy trying to find different opportunities at the same time to having to work to make my living. These years have been a balance of that and one opportunity has lead me to the next one and on the way I have met so many good friends in different places.

Last year I decided to go back to university and I have started a practice led phd programme in Contemporary Art Research. I have made that choice beacuse I now can see myself as an Art teacher at University.

In terms of projects, one of the projects that I most proud is called Kindness of Strangers, and I started it in Manchester when I was visiting the Peoples History museum. Durng that visit I saw archival material related to the Basque children who travelled to Britain to be protected from the spanish civil war in 1937. I did not know anything about that story but I was really curious and interested in that because I was a basque girl in England staring at pictures of basque children in different camps of England. Since then I have collaborate with the Basque Children Association ‘37 reactivating archival images through printmaking. The chosen images focus on the journey of the Basque children and their arrival to the host camp, and have to do with notions of identity, territory, memory and absence. This has been a really special project because of the emotional bonds created by the people related to this story. I have had the chance to be in touch with the basque children and last year I participated creating a memorial plaque with my prints for them to remember their story.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

There are many rewarding aspects of being an artist. For example, as a printmaker I say that the creative proccess of making a print and drawing from the other side not knowing how the print will look is exciting! And also the instant moment of pulling the print from the plate. Of seeing a really good result. But when you are happy with your work and you stare at it feeling proud that is for me the most rewarding aspect. It is as simple as that. Sometimes your own validation is what most counts. But it is also really rewarding when someone complements your work and really connect with it. Last year I was having a group exhibition at the Guggenheim Bilbao and I met a visitor that when i told her I was the artist of the print she was really happy of meeting me because she really connected with my work and she started crying! That was really rewarding!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I would say that before starting University I wish I knew how important would be those years in related to how to develop interesting work as an artist. So if I knew that, I would have taken more advantage of the university years and I would have developed my own work and not just focus in answering the task or exercises for the different subjects. So if I meet someone who is about to start Fine Arts I would tell them: Just focus in what you like to do and develop your interest those years! Take advantage of all the resources that you have in the University. Don’t be afraid if your work is not understood. Trust your intuition. Take advantage of the tutors and technicians. I wish I knew that I have to be really perseverant and always have a plan B, C or even D, just in case something does not turns out as you expect. And dont desperate. You are your most severe judge, so treat yourselve well. And know there is a lot of competition, so just focus in believing in what you do and do it for yourself. But I guess that maybe it is something that you learn with the experience. I still have in my email a folder that I created time ago with all the applications that I have been rejected in and it is called “Broken dreams make me stronger”. Silly? Maybe. But paradoxically it has made me keep believing in what I do. And not feeling ashamed of the projects where I have not been taken on.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.maitepinto.com
• Instagram: nimaitenaiz