Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlo Saucedo.
Hi Marlo, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Creative work – art and writing – were always fun for me, but I got to where I am today in a very roundabout way. In college psychology and languages were my major and minor. After college I got a job in Washington, DC with an agency called the International Catholic Migration Commission, working closely with the UNHCR. At the time we were repatriating people of my own age, those born to American soldiers in Vietnam. The work was interesting and rewarding but Texas called and I went back to school for my MBA at UT Austin. It wasn’t an easy degree, especially for someone without an undergrad finance or accounting degree, and I thought about quitting. Creative outlets – like auditing art classes and DJing at KVRX – became all-important to me and these loves have never let go.
My internship between MBA years was working with artist management in NYC, while writing music articles for Cover and other magazines. After school, I got a job programming a large law site on the then-nascent World Wide Web, and traveling internationally teaching lawyers how to create their own informational sites. As newlyweds, my husband and I moved into a loft in downtown Houston, and I realized that though Houston had always been my hometown, the history of it was newly fascinating to me, so I began creating paper pieces of the skyline, incorporating architect, height, materials, etc. into each building with the history of Houston written out in a lighter shade as the background, in a style I’d used as an outlet during my fretful MBA years. I’d made a visual diary when I was thinking of quitting that program, a way to get all of my thoughts out but not linearly – visually.
While downtown, I started writing for local publications like CultureMap and the Houston Business Journal. As we moved, the subject matter for what was becoming my signature style evolved, from portraits to trees to wildlife in addition to the skyline. I am so thankful for those who have seen where my art could go, and helped me create works utilizing corporate stories and personal ones, or allowed me to use art to bring people together, weaving many people’s signatures and words together for a collective piece in a public space.
My art is now in public spaces like the lobby of the Google Cloud office at Buffalo Heights, the lobby at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, and the lobby at HPD’s Mounted Patrol headquarters.
My studio/gallery is open Second Saturdays at The Silos at Sawyer Yards, studio 231. My work is also available at Village Books in The Woodlands, and online at marlosaucedo.com.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I don’t think anyone’s road is smooth, yet that’s where the learning happens. The piece I created during my second year of business school was an exercise in desperation at the time, which became a new beginning, years later. Although I didn’t anticipate it, I am thankful I landed here, in Houston. This is my grandparents’ and my parents’ city, yes – but it’s become a completely different city for each generation, and today’s Houston reflects years of immigrant resettlement in its current cultural wealth; it’s an extremely vibrant and diverse city, replete with possibilities and inspiration for art like mine. There has been so much support from other artists and collectors, and the city of Houston itself, for local artists.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in work that literally tells a story, art that can be read (although I include a Word document with each piece, so a reader doesn’t have to directly follow all lines of the piece). My art can be the word “home” – or “cloud” – in 175 languages, or a family’s story, or the history of any city or landmark or drink or organization, or everything about a sports team or a list of everything bees pollinate, or a company’s goals, policies, and business statement, or 2,000 bands from the cassette mixtape era, or anything a client wants it to be. These words can create the Houston skyline, or any city’s skyline, or a sparrow, or a house, or a bee, or a cross, or trees, or cassettes, or a stadium, or a clipper ship, or anything a client wants it to be. I can set pieces up for large groups where everyone can sign or write on the piece but once I fill it in, it becomes a recognizable silhouette of a logo or whatever represents the group – so individuals each have representation in the art on the wall, which together represents the group or the company.
In my line of work, the greatest compliment is to have its uniqueness recognized and enjoyed in public and private spaces, and the greatest honor is to work with clients to make their visions reality. This year I had the honor of working with Google Cloud and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston, and the Harlowe Boutique Apartments in Nashville, and am most proud of work created with the Methodist Hospital system. Hospital employees and staff at 8 hospitals contributed to 8 pieces for 8 hospital locations, commemorating the first year the hospitals treated Covid-19. In cathartic culmination, art pieces with hundreds of signatures were installed at each hospital, marking the end of a long year of teamwork in an unprecedented situation.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Attention to detail and respect for the client’s time in prompt communication, clarity of expectations, and consistency in meeting deadlines are essential across industries. My goal is to meet a client or collector’s needs with joy-inducing accuracy. Art exists to enhance life.
Contact Info:
- Email: marlo@marlosaucedo.com
- Website: marlosaucedo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marlosaucedoart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlosaucedo.art/
