Meet Ana Soto

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ana Soto.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born and raised in Houston, Texas on the north side right outside 610. I spent a large amount of my childhood drawing and started painting when I attended Houston Community College. After a few paintings classes I couldn’t imagine being without a paint brush. I went on to get my BFA with a focus of painting at the University of Houston in 2017.

I bounced around a lot with subject matter, medium, style, and process. It wasn’t until I had almost graduated that I started to find my own voice and style. In the fall of 2016, a semester before I was to graduate, I experienced a health scare and temporarily lost my eyesight. The experience gave me a lot to think about and much of what I paint now ties back to how I felt at the time and celebrating the gift of expression through art.

Please tell us about your art.
I am an illustrator and painter. I work mostly with ink and acrylic paint, I love doing line drawings involving mythical creatures with cat ears, horns and skulls for faces. It started off as a way of conveying a certain feeling that I didn’t have words for. I would draw these creatures with different expressions or doing different things and send them to people to more accurately demonstrate what I could not put into words. I used to leave my creatures on post-it notes around the office and coworkers would collect them and started commissioning them, people who I had never met that worked on different shifts knew that I was the creature creator and I really enjoyed that. With my art I aim to express emotions on a deeper level. I don’t want to just be cute or gory, I want people to look at my work and say “yes, I have felt that way before.”

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
I believe that it is harder now for an artist to be completely original because of how inundated and influenced we are with images. I find that it is best to surround yourself with art that is completely different from your own. it often leads to unexpected epiphanies.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I post updates and show dates on Instagram, I also have a website www.anasotoart.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anasotoart.com
• Instagram: @anasotoart
• Facebook: anasotoart

Image Credit:
Ana Soto

Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.