Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Guillen.
Hi Alex, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Alex and I am a 30 year old artist currently living in Houston. I grew up in Webster and League City, studied studio art at the University of Texas at Austin, and moved to New York after graduating. After 4.5 years of living the fast-paced and dynamic NYC lifestyle, my art became less and less of a priority, so I opted to return home in an attempt to refocus on my passion and dream of becoming a full-time artist.
As someone who derives great joy and fulfillment from creating, I’ve always found it difficult to stick to one medium. In recent years I vacillate between illustration, handpoked tattoos, papier-mache, and sugar art. But the foundation of my practice as an artist has always been drawing. I started drawing very young and developed my skills by copying my favorite Disney VHS and DVD covers. I took an art class every single year in school, so I’ve done my fair share of perspective drawings and value sheets. Art has always been a driving factor in my life, and the only thing I’ve ever felt called to do. When I’m not creating, my brain and my hands are yearning for it.
It wasn’t until after I graduated college in 2017 that I really found my love for illustration and began to experiment with my style. Getting an iPad was a huge game changer for me, I create all of my digital work in Procreate. I would describe my work as very nostalgic and visually adolescent, however children are not my intended audience. When I create an illustration, my goal is to bring the viewer back to a time when life felt more colorful, exciting, and hopeful. I would love for people to interact with my art the same way I do when I open up an iSpy or Richard Scarry book, absorbing all of the details that make me smile or activate a memory.
My art took a delicious turn when I took up cookie decorating in 2019. I found myself living at home after college so that I could save up and plan for my move to New York. For a 22 year old fresh out of college, returning to the suburbs felt like a prison sentence. I knew that I wouldn’t mentally be able to handle working somewhere boring, and applied to a bakery where I managed to get hired as a cakeball decorator with zero experience after showing the owner some of my illustration work. This introduced me to the sugar world, and I felt inspired to learn more outside of work. I taught myself how to decorate cookies at home and gave myself prompts and projects to keep me going. As I got more comfortable with royal icing, an extremely finicky medium, I found myself incorporating cookies and sugar art into my art practice. I see my cookies more as an extension of my art than as a treat. I create my own designs, hand-cut all of my cookies, and dye my icing the right colors and in multiple consistencies. So much work goes into these small pieces of edible art, but I’m addicted to the intricate details I’m able to create on a cookie. I had the opportunity to bring my cookies into the world of fine art in 2020, when I had a show, ‘teenage cream’, with my friend and fellow artist, Dana Suleymanova, at Art League Houston in Montrose. One of my pieces, ‘leave the crust on’, consisted of papier-mache lunch boxes and decorated cookies made to resemble nostalgic snacks you would find in a school lunch. Since then, my cookies have become more and more special to me. I don’t do custom orders, but sometimes I make limited quantities when I sell at in-person markets and events.
After making my return to Houston, I got involved with the local creative scene by vending at markets, usually in Montrose. Two of my favorite spots to sell at have been the Block Parties hosted by Art League Houston and the Ice House Radio events hosted by Tulip’s Market. I typically sell prints of my work, stickers, and greeting cards, but every once in a while I do sell my elusive cookies! Markets are exhausting, which is why I don’t do them too often, but I love getting to sell my art, meet friends and other creatives, and have the space to share my passion.
I also am available for hire for commission work and projects. I have created art for storefronts, designed logos, t-shirts, tattoos, custom portraits, and animations. Last year I was given the opportunity to design and create multiple elements for a friend’s wedding – a fabric banner, hand-drawn place cards, menus, hand-painted matchboxes (75 of them with 4 designs total), and custom cookies! I love taking on new challenges and I feel very lucky to have clients and supporters who trust my creative vision and expertise.
Presently, I am currently trying to find my way back to art, which I know sounds silly after I just gushed about how intrinsic art making is to me. The past year has been the hardest year of my life and I’ve found myself on a hiatus while I deal with what’s in front of me, which is all the bandwidth I can currently spare. Most of my attention goes to my family and my day-job, which is decorating cakes at a small bakery. It helps immensely that my job is also a good creative outlet, but I am very eager to make my return to my own art practice and markets.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I struggled to find my footing as an artist in New York, which is why art took the backseat during my time there while I focused on making rent and memories. New York is the hub of creativity and everyone around you is talented, so it was a bit of a rude awakening realizing that if you can’t afford the time and energy to developing your art practice, it probably wasn’t gonna happen there – which was definitely a factor when it came to my decision to leave New York. But I have no regrets and am thankful for the almost 5 years I spent there in my 20’s. It was honestly quite hard to leave something that I worked so hard for and loved so much – it was my dream, after all. But I did fulfill that dream, and maybe it just wasn’t supposed to be forever. Deciding I was going to give my art the proper attention again made me feel more secure in this huge life change.
I ended up moving back to Houston in March of 2024, which allowed me to get back into art making, get involved in markets, and make more cookies than ever before. As my 30th birthday approached, I came up with a plan to get serious about my art and fulfill that dream. I used turning 30 as my deadline for dilly-dallying, because come December 2025 I had every intention of locking in and creating my dream life in this new decade. But life always has other plans, and I am still struggling to come to terms with it almost a year later.
My mom, Cindy, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer November 12th, 2025, right before my birthday, and passed away December 17th. She was 49 years old and the mother of 5 children, of which I am the oldest. It happened very suddenly, very tragically, and is obviously still very fresh.
The grief is immeasurable. But so is the love she instilled in us. Our mom was our best friend and the center of everything, my siblings and I all orbited around her. Losing a mother, especially one we were so close to, and especially so young, has made the world and life feel so scary, unpredictable, and unstable. It’s hard to plan for the future when you’re actively in grief and just trying to get through the day.
My motivation to make art in the past year has been really erratic, sometimes the energy comes in bursts. But when I am able to create, making art about my mom and about grief has been very therapeutic for me. This has been a defining point of my life and I feel compelled to talk about it, even through my art. Instead of just making cute art, I’m making cute art about the worst thing that has ever happened to me. Grief is so isolating and being vulnerable about it has been very helpful. I have received many incredible messages and comments from others who have lost a parent, who tell me they feel seen through my art.
When you lose someone, you’re hit with the terrifying reality that nothing really matters. You can either let that knowledge consume you and convince you to give up, or you can let it free you. My mom was my biggest cheerleader and believed in me more than anyone, and it would be a disservice to her and her legacy to not keep working towards my dreams. I will continue to honor her and talk about her and mourn her for the rest of my life.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Of all of the mediums I use, I am most excited by cookie and cake decorating. Combining my illustration skills and my sugar art skills gives me endless possibilities, because I can design anything I want. Working with royal icing is so satisfying and I enjoy documenting the process so others can see the amount of work and dedication that goes into something that can disappear in a few bites. I’ve watched a parent buy a $12 cookie of mine for their son, who then ate the entire thing right in front of me. That’s obviously their intended purpose, and thankfully they are equally as delicious as they are beautiful! It might seem silly for someone to exert so much energy on something so fleeting, but I’ve always tried to make art that evokes joy, and nothing evokes joy like a sweet treat.
With my eventual return to art, I want to focus on getting all of the cookie and cake ideas out of my head while documenting the process. It’s so easy for artwork to be discredited or overlooked when it’s just a static image on an endless feed, so I hope that sharing what happens behind the screen can be enjoyable and inspiring for others.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My mom is the reason for everything. She believed I could do anything, and she built up my confidence until I believed the same. Like I said before, she was my biggest cheerleader. She enrolled me in art classes outside of school when I was younger, bought me all the art supplies I ever needed, shared my art with anyone and everyone. She proudly displayed my work on the walls of our home, at her job, and even on her body – I gave my mom many hand-poked tattoos, including her fingers! She celebrated my wins with me and lifted me up when I needed support or guidance. When I first moved to New York, I worked a job that I hated and would cry on the phone to her every day on my 15 minute walk to the train. She was my comfort and my safety.
When I moved back to Houston and tried my hand at markets, my mom assisted me at my first one. She helped me set up and take down, she sat with me and helped me sell, watched me get to talk to people about my art, and even went around and bought things from other vendors. It was such a relief to have the help – I’m so used to doing everything on my own, sometimes an extra person would even be in the way or a distraction. But not my mom. It was like having another me who could predict what I needed before I even needed it.
She helped me at a few more markets, but eventually my training wheels came off and I was able to handle them on my own. But her support never waned. I miss her and her pep talks immensely.
Before my mom was my support system and now she is my motivation. Everything I do now is for her. I created a framed print that dedicates my booth to my mom with a photo of us, her birthday, and her date of passing. I set it out on my table at every market because none of it would be possible without her and I want everyone to know what an amazing mom I had. Because I allow myself to be vocal and vulnerable with my grief, I have opened myself up to the most touching interactions with strangers and signs that make me feel her presence.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://pillowcrushes.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/pillowcrushes
