“I cannot stay put with anything.”
It’s a statement that not only applies to artist Veronica Arquilevich Guzman’s creative expression — she’s practiced printmaking, papier-mâché, ceramics, and painting — but also her life’s world travels.
Born in Mexico City and raised in Guadalajara, Guzman left her native country and its dour economic circumstances to move to the United States with almost nothing. “The only things that were in the car were my easel and supplies,” she said.
“When ‘Coco’ came out, my mom was like you have to go see it, they have your pieces” Guzman said. “And I was like, what are you talking about? Now I can explain very easily to people what alebrijes are.”
Photos courtesy of @veronica.arquilevich_guzman
It was her ex-husband’s career in the shoe industry that brought them to Portland, and the couple eventually moved to China where he worked in development for Nike. There, similarities between Mexican and Chinese cultures, like street vendors squatting and even some of the cuisine, inspired her large-format paintings of the people around her (some of which still hang in her house today).
But a later move to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, came as a culture shock. “You see people wearing sari, next to Chinese girls wearing super short skirts, and then burqas that cover the whole face. So I’m like, oh my God, now what do I paint?”
It was during this artistic reset that she picked up ceramics again. “The lady at the class eventually told me, you know, you don’t have to come here,” Guzman explained. “You know how to do this. Why don’t you just buy your own wheel and do your own thing?”
She bought a pottery wheel and kiln... and subsequently moved to India, where the random electricity blackouts made it impossible to fire her creations for the requisite hours. “I was totally lost.”
Once again a Rose City resident, Guzman is now able to craft colorful alebrijes and mushrooms that honor her famous mycologist father with her hands and the same electric kiln, transported across the sea. Her latest “revelation” draws on her love for nature + “magical realism,” combining ceramics, driftwood, and moss into striking wall installations.
You can find her work in Alberta Street Gallery, Gallery 408 in Camas, GiftyKitty on North Mississippi Street, Grey Raven Gallery in Beaverton, or on the Maya Ceramics & Paintings website.
