Guatemalan Artist Extraordinaire, Andrea Marmol Juarez

There is a great cafe in Antigua called Cafe NoSe which supports local painter by displaying artwork on their walls. I recently stopped in one morning to check things out and was immediately drawn to a black and white painting on a blood red canvas. I've always had an affinity for feet since I feel bare feet and shoes can tell a lot about a person's journey. This particular painting caught my eye because the subject was a child's feet in lace-less shoes with both toes cut out of the front. I had to have that painting! And I had to meet that artist!

I took down the artists name, Andrea Marmol Juarez, and contacted her immediately. I returned to Cafe NoSe later that afternoon to meet an exquisite young artists eager to share her story and her art with me. We perched ourselves at the bar where she talked and I listened.

Andrea is a 20 year old native of Antigua who uses her paintings to support herself and provide financial assistance to her mother and father. Attending art school in Nicaragua, Andrea's family had doubts about her creative endeavor and hoped she'd rather become an attorney or business professional. Once her art began selling, they became very supportive and proud of her artistic talents and now encourage her to continue. With the recent loss of her fathers job, Andrea's mother was forced to go back to work. To help support her family, Andrea began contributing finacially with the proceeds from her art.

The inspiration behind each piece is her fascination with people and their individual personalities. Her paintings are inspired by a photograph, but altered to capture the essense of each person. The shading and techniques she uses make it difficult to tell the painting from the photograph. Andrea told me more than once that all photographs do not make good paintings and she needs to "feel inspired" by the subject in order to paint them.

Thomas, the child whose feet I adored, was a small child from Panajachel whose feet had outgrown his shoes. His mother cut the toes out in the hopes of getting a few more miles out of them.

I didn't buy the painting that day we met. I went back to my hotel room contimplating what I would regret more, buying or NOT buying that painting. When I mentioned it to my parents over the phone, they insisted I buy the painting and they'd give it to me as a Christmas gift. It was the perfect gift since it would give and give and give again... to me, to Andrea and to her parents.

For more information about Andrea Marmol Juarez, to purchase her art, or to have a custom portait painted, contact PLAY it Forward Adventures at 651.493.8817 or jodi@pifadventures.com.