Today we’d like to introduce you to Leticia Garcia.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My artistic experiences started through a therapy school at the age of eight. Whatever it was that I drew seemed to cause something of a stir and led to meetings between the school and my parents. That taught me that images and imagery can be very powerful as a means of self-expression. I first started creating what I felt to be ‘art’ at 12 years old after my first art class in 7th grade.
Immediately, I fell in love with expressing myself through painting, and I remember staying up until 5 am drawing or painting, putting a towel under the door so I wouldn’t be told to put out the light and go to sleep. I have distinct memories of hearing my Dad get up to get ready to go to work and knowing “Yikes! It’s 5 am.” I did it again stayed up all night. Even now my painting sessions pay little heed to the passage of time.
Where were you educated?
As my father was in the army, we moved around a lot, which made aspects of my life such friendships somewhat tenuous, but my interest in art only deepened and sustained me. My first serious art class was in Austin, TX at David Crockett High School in the early eighties.
There, I had a truly great art teacher who helped me find my artistic voice; grow as an artist and expanded my horizons. Under her tutelage, I won an art competition in Austin, and from that point, visual art became my primary focus. I went on to study Fine Arts at UT before finishing up at U of H due to another family move.
Sadly, U of H refused to accept credits from UT (go figure!) and even after petitioning U of H would not award me my degree even though I have more than enough credits. I would have to admit that was a low point for me, but in many ways, it has hardened my resolve to prove myself as an artist.
More recently, I have studied at Glassell and plan to take further classes from what is a truly excellent teaching establishment here in Houston, especially since its recent move adjacent to MFAH.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I lost the desire to paint or have anything to do with art for years. I look back on those times with feelings of regret and thoughts of what might have been. Parenthood inevitably played a role in my reduced enthusiasm for painting, and until about five years ago my artistic efforts were based around pottery rather than painting.
I just lost interest and stopped creating. However, life has a way of throwing you new challenges, and I started painting again after the death of my Mom. It was my way of dealing with it, not in a cathartic sense but in a desire to create something lasting and positive in response to a negative life event.
The death of my youngest brother made me take stock of my life and realize I had succumbed badly to alcohol whereupon I joined A.A. This has been a transformative process in my life and I am now four years sober. Once I quit drinking my art evolved from being something purely personal, self-indulgent and inaccessible to others and instead became something I wanted to say out loud.
Encouraged by friends and family, I started going to critiques and entering juried art exhibitions in the Houston area. I also went back to study at Glassell which greatly evolved my work. I now feel I am painting better than ever before, but I still have a ways to go!
Two things I love about Houston the most are the number of exhibition opportunities and the vibrant art scene: just what an artist wants to immerse themselves in. Where else can one sit before walls of Rothko works and lose the sense of time and place?
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My ambition is to make a living from creating art and having my art say what I am trying to express. A major problem for me at present is that of size: my studio and my car’s interior limit the size of canvas I can work on to 48×60 inches.
So many people have told me I need to go bigger, but finding the workspace and opportunity is very difficult! One art critic who really liked my work suggested I find a building that is slated for demolition (but still safe to work in) and for me to paint some murals at the scale, I really want to use.
Pricing:
- Large paintings 36 x 48 inches 1200.00
- Small paintings 16 x 20 inches 240.00
Contact Info:
- Website: http://lgartist.wixsite.com/leticia-garcia
- Phone: 8328712408
- Email: smokekitty63@yahoo.com
- Instagram: leticiagarcia1313
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leticia.garcia63
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