The Lover, 2020, oil pastels on 19 x 25 paper

We Need One Another

Like a tree in the forest, you were born to be a unique, individual expression and a member of a collective at the same time - creating something larger and more meaningful than the sum of its parts. 

I believe meaning and connection is available to all of us. It can be experienced when we allow ourselves to express ourselves, without apology or self-judgement.
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Through art and community, I create opportunities to explore the deeper meaning of spirituality, identity, and belonging. When we nurture the seeds of creative expression together, we create a regenerative, cultural eco-system that allows us, you, me and the Universe, to thrive.

Artwork

Where it all began...

At the age of 12, I had a mystical experience with a tree outside the kitchen window on 90th street and Elmhurst. With that experience, something happened that changed me forever.

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Even now, many years later, I see trees as sacred entities where I find a deep sense of belonging and meaning. They are spiritual beings each with a story to tell. ​That experience of awe, wonder, otherworldly and connectedness with Spirit, is at the center of my art practice. Every time I sit to draw, I enter circular time-space and surrender to its alchemical power.

My curious and sensitive nature led me to diverse career paths, from an Emmy award television producer, to a cultural arts entrepreneur, an event professional, a philanthropy executive, a published creative writer and, pastel artist.

I was born in Santa Clara, Cuba. In 1972, when I was seven years old, my family emigrated to the United States as political refugees. We landed in West New York, NJ and later moved to New York City. With the intent of understanding my Cuban roots, after college I moved to Miami where I spent thirty years immersing myself in palm trees, Cuban music and year-long hot summers. In 2017, I returned to the Big Apple to experience new adventures. Then, after a year of deep meditation and reflection, in 2020 I took the big leap of leaving an executive career in higher education to dedicate myself full-time to my art. I hold an MA in Liberal Arts from Florida International University and a BA in Latin American Literature and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania. I live in Shelter Island, N.Y. where I take many long, meditative walks amongst my teachers, the trees.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my site.

Best,

Ana

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Ana Martinez Orizondo - AMO
​Artist Statement

I am a Cuban-American pastel artist, yet my work falls outside expected notions of “Latinx art”. My body of work is not  culturally specific nor political in the traditional sense. Nevertheless, I am concerned with the spiritual exploration of ecology, or deep ecology, which in itself could be deemed political.  My work explores themes of spirituality as well as identity and culture through landscape, nature and portraiture.  I am fascinated by mystical liminal states of in-betweenness, portals to otherness, and amorphous forms. My art practice is the center of my being in the world, it gives me a sense of oneness with the Universe, of belonging and expansion. 

​The textural play between soft and hard pastels on smooth or ragged, Indian paper adds to the push and pull of my creative process, and its alchemical power. I particularly enjoy working on Indian (shizen) paper because it is 100% made from post consumer waste, not trees.

My tree stories begin by being present during meditative walks in nature.  Whether in an urban setting like Central Park, NYC or the Mashomack Preserve in Shelter Island, NY, my senses become hyper-aware around trees. My spirit attunes to specific trees, stumps, branches, trunks and the stories they have to tell. I take many photos and after much thought, I choose specific ones to turn into pastel paintings. By telling their story, I become part of it. I am the conduit by which the message is told. 
 
These visual stories reference animism, deep ecology and the mystical power of trees and everything around them.  Whether a stone, stick, fungi, leaves or grass, its complete composition makes up a unified, sacred space of transcendence and transformation.  I am most intrigued by severed trees and their broken-openness, for it is in that state that I can see into their soul.  A soul in a continuum to its next form.
 

 

Contact

Photo credit: Lorin Klaris

EXHIBITIONS

CREATIVE CV

EXHIBITIONS:
Group show, Havens House, Shelter Island Island Historical Society, Shelter Island, N.Y., Spring 2021
Unexpected, group show, Gallery Rivaa, Roosevelt Island, N.Y., Summer 2019
Time, group show, Gallery Rivaa, Roosevelt Island, N.Y., Winter 2019
Vernissage XIX, group show, Gallery Rivaa, Roosevelt Island, N.Y., 2020

​MEDIA:
Create Magazine
"Ana Martinez finds deep beauty in island life," Around Town, Shelter Island Reporter, Feb 18, 2021, 

WRITING
Poetry:
Earth-Root/ Newtown Literary/ Issue 15 Winter 2019
La Nada/ The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism/ Volume 2 Issue 1/ March 2019
I am Transparent/ From Whispers to Roars digital magazine/Volume 1, Issue 2/ 2018
Convergence III/ Honorable Mention Haiku Contest/ Dreamers Creative Writing Magazine/
Issue 1/ 2018

Short Story:
Apparition on Elmhurst/ Newtown Literary/ Issue 13 Fall 2018

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
Stepping Stones/ From Whispers to Roars digital magazine/Volume 1 Issue 2/ 2018
NYC Skyline/ black and white/ Honorable Mention Skies / Fusion Art Juried Show/ 2018
First Place: Best in Architecture/ @VisitTaos @Travel New Mexico Instagram contest/ June 2018

EDUCATION
MA in Liberal Arts from Florida International University
BA in Latin American Literature and Communications from the University of Pennsylvania.

MEMBERSHIP: 
Artists of Shelter Island: ARTSI
Art Queens : Create Magazine