We were lucky to catch up with Mara Torres González recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Mara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

My upcoming book, 209, is certainly one of the most meaningful projects I have worked on as an artist. It all started back on September 20, 2017, when Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico. We were still coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. María devastated our island and started a humanitarian crisis. I started documenting the aftermath as soon as I opened the front door of my home, it felt like we opened the door to a new world, to a new Puerto Rico. Everything was gray, leveled, but to make it worse we had no idea what was truly going on throughout the island. With no phone service or power, we were kept away from reality and basic necessities like clean water, food and medical care.

With the images I captured while visiting different towns, I started painting the 209 series. Art kept me going through, it helped me shift the fear and uncertainty. Exactly a year later, September 20, 2018, I showed all of the work at the 209 Exhibition. This exhibit was an audio/visual experience to everyone that attended, a very emotional moment, as everyone was exposed to audios from before, during and after of María, while walking through the exhibition.

With 209 I want to tell the story of the resilient. Every piece in 209 has its own story, memory and lived experience. From my first visit to an empty grocery store 15 days after the storm, to politics, when President Donald Trump visited the island and threw paper towel rolls to the crowd.
I want people to feel, understand and connect with what everyone went through in Puerto Rico. 209 isn’t just my story, it’s the story of every Puerto Rican living on the island, every Puerto Rican from the diaspora, every Puerto Rican that left after María, every Puerto Rican yearning to go back home.

I’m proud to announce that on September 20, 2022, five years after Hurricane María made landfall, is the release date of my book 209. To top that, I will have a book signing event at the Sarasota Art Museum that same day, making this even more meaningful. I now look forward to what’s next!

Mara, 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?

I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where I lived most part of my life. I’m currently based in Sarasota, Florida. I demonstrated skill in art and design since my early childhood and started my trained artistic journey at the age of four at ‘Liga de Arte de San Juan’ where as the youngest of the group, my work was selected for an art exhibition. It was there where I met artist professor Betsy Padín, who later became my mentor, being trascendental in my artistic formation. After graduating from high school with an Art Honor Award and being certified by PRIDA, Puerto Rican Institute for the Development of the Arts, I continued to acquire formal art studies at the School of Fine Arts and Design of Puerto Rico, ‘Escuela de Artes Plásticas’, where I graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts and Painting. Here I studied with Artist Professors Rafael Rivera Rosa, Carlos Marcial, Luis Felipe López, Julio Suárez, Charles Juhasz, Elizam Escobar, amongst others.

In 2001 I started my first business, handmade stationery for events, which evolved throughout the years into one of the best event design firms in Puerto Rico. Some highlights of my 18+ year event design career include a partnership in 2017 with celebrity event designer from New York, Preston
Bailey for an event where we received people from 12 countries including Malaysia, Nigeria, SriLanka, UK, Peru, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, Honduras, Panama, Ecuador and USA. I also designed the wedding of NBA player José Juan Barea, from the Dallas Mavericks, with Miss Universe Puerto Rico Viviana Ortiz. It was at the peak of my career when everything changed due to Hurricane María, this is when we decided to move to Sarasota.

While exploring the art scene in Sarasota I participated in Art Battle and was invited twice to be an artist resident at the Art Ovation Hotel.
In 2020 I opened MARA Art Studio + Gallery in the Rosemary District, Sarasota where I contribute with other contemporary artists and art organizations like Halo Arts Project, Art In Common Places, Mosaic Movements and Mosaic Justice. During season the gallery hosts several art exhibits and events.
From fine art to functional art, my mixed media work tells stories and explores emotions in viewers, I am passionate about using my work as a voice. At the gallery you will find a variety of contemporary pieces, 2D + 3D from a great selection of artists from the area.

My work is currently in galleries and private collections across Puerto Rico, México, Europe, Canada and the United States.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

We already talked about Hurricane María and my book 209 which illustrates not only my resilience, but the resilience of my country Puerto Rico. But I have another story that for sure portrays my resilience, MARA Art Studio + Gallery. I was determined to open a business here in Sarasota, we were ready to sign the lease when… Covid.

At the beginning all plans were placed on hold, a few months later on August 20, 2020 I opened the doors to MARA Art Studio + Gallery. It takes not only resilience, but courage and determination, to open a small business right in the middle of a pandemic. I was not going to let another catastrophe determine what I was going to do with my professional career.

Through the gallery I’ve collaborated with several art organizations, visual and performing artists. I’ve opened the doors to very talented Ringling students and emerging artists.

Here I am, two years later, looking forward to the next season!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Of course every time one of my pieces sell, it’s rewarding. But, the moment the viewer connects with my work and expresses what my art made them feel, what they saw, what they take from it. My work is mostly abstract, so when this connection happens, I can say it is the most rewarding moment. It’s all part of a process that starts with a blank canvas.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.marastudiogallery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mara_studio_gallery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marastudiogallery
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/m-a-r-a-torres-gonzález-02255a241/
• Other: Email: [email protected] Phone: 941-914-8110