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

Maribel, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

It’s difficult to pick the most meaningful, but one of the first paintings that I worked on, is titled, “Norte” meaning North. It is one of my first memories that I have as a toddler. I have 2 very specific toddler memories that have always stuck out for me. This painting is one of them. I must’ve been about 18 mos. old, and it depicts when I am crossing to the united states being held by my uncle and grandfather. I feel this painting is very simple in it’s layout and presentation but, it actually encompasses all of me… where I come from, my journey and what I want my art to represent.

Maribel, 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?

Sure, I grew up in North County, San Diego. In 2020, my little family and I moved to Oceanside. And well, right in the middle of the pandemic, I spent a lot more time at home like everyone else, and this allowed me to sit with my feelings of being a new mom, stress and anxiety with my job then as an early childhood educator. A job that I had been contemplating on leaving for a couple of years but just couldn’t, because I really did love it. After watching a random youtube video of someone making a cute christmas card, i said to myself, I can do that.I’ve always wanted to create greeting cards. So I started painting with watercolors, something I had never explored before. I’ve always wanted to be an artist. Since I was little, but I kinda shoved that aside as life went on and I went to college to become a professional in social work and education. But these simple paintings brought me so much joy, relief and love for myself. Most of all I felt at peace. So I continued painting non-stop. I opened up an etsy shop and participated in my first pop-up market at my cousins plant shop. The following year I left my job as an educator.
and worked part time while spending more time with my daughter, who was in preschool. I started holding summer art camps for kids, and I would provide free art groups to the community. I slowly began exploring and developing my style and learned about myself… what I liked when I painted and what I wanted my art to depict. Another aspect about my art that I really had to focus on and find a genuine answer to was, what exactly is it that I want to contribute with my art? I remember telling my husband that all I want is to bring beauty to this world, but mainly I wanted to represent my diverse community of Mexican, Indigenous and Chicano peoples. Although I have participated in different kinds of local pop-up markets and have met incredible people all while learning about the art community in Oceanside; I feel that really want to focus in participating mainly in cultural and grassroot community events. Such as Oceanside’s Mexican Independence Day, Dia de Los Muertos, Latino-led pop-ups and Culturally empowering art shows. For example, the current art show that I have pieces in is dedicated to women in art and its titled Mujeres Art Show held at a local and loved bakery called Oside Bakery.

A lot of the shows and projects that i’ve been a part of have been mainly due to word of mouth or simply a beautiful synchronicity. For example, one of the projects that I am extremely proud of has been being a featured artist for the oceansides greeds program in their second annual Anthology Poetry series book. I love this story because it was a simple instagram message that I got asking to know a little bit more about my art because someone had provided this specific group with a list of artists, and for some reason, I was at the top of their list. This is an extremely meaningful project, as it brings together stories of the lives of people in our diverse community of oceanside. I am so proud to be a part of that.

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?

First of all, I think everyone is creative in their own way, creativity can look different.

That is something I feel strongly about. Being an early childhood educator for so many years, something that i’ve embraced, respected, and encourage is self direction. Giving people the space, opportunity and possibility to practice autonomy. If you grew up in the public school system, well, then you may or may not see that it is a system that has conditioned us to stay in the lines and rewards product-based results, ie… Your snowman has to have three snowballs, a carrot nose and a top hat, or else, it’s not really a snowman.

So something that I’ve felt very strong about in the last few years is just allowing children, especially, but creatives and artists to let them be who they are to create what they want. Not every drawing or painting has to be an exact replica of something real.

For me art, is more about the process, than actually creating something specific. I find that I have a harder time creating paintings where I want to paint something epecific, such as a house next to a road. I can paint it, but it will be very difficult for me.And I will not enjoy the process.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Yes, again. I feel this is very related to my first answer. But I think everybody not just artists and creatives, but we need to be given spaces in opportunities to find that creativity. I always focus mostly on children, because that’s when it all starts. I’ve worked in so many schools and programs, and there are so many behavior “issues” and behavior management needs. At the same time, kids aren’t given many opportunities to make their own choices, to work on their own interests, to rest when they need to . They are told when exactly to play to eat, when they can do art, if they even can, it’s always go go go. We have such an extremely busy lifestyle here and always on a schedule. It’s hard sometimes. So I really appreciate and encourage spaces to provide those outlets.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @LaFlorecitaCreations23