Artist Ana Stapleton’s Creative Journey on Exploring Womanhood and Cultural Identity
Ana Martinez Stapleton is a Modern Mexican artist based in Austin, Texas. In this interview, she shares her journey from studying law to following her true passion for art, and how growing up on the Texas-Mexico border has influenced her work. She talks about the mix of cultures in her life and how being a woman shapes her art, exploring themes of balance and expectations. Through her bright colors and sense of humor, Ana captures the beauty of life’s ups and downs. Ana opens up about her creative process and reminds us all to keep showing up and taking chances in our journeys.
Ana Stapleton is a featured artist in our book “The Creative Process.” You can explore her journey and the stories of other artists by purchasing the book here: https://shop.artstoheartsproject.com/products/the-creative-process-book
Ana Martinez Stapleton is a Modern Mexican artist, writer, and stylist living in Austin, Texas. She earned a BA in Liberal Arts from Duke University and a JD from the University of Texas School of Law. After passing the bar exam, Ana quickly pivoted back to her true passion for art and never looked back. Ana’s creative career spans the realms of art, film, hospitality, and design. Her work on films, hotels in Mexico and Texas, and strong ties to her Mexican culture all infuse her studio work. She paints with joy and curiosity, bringing idioms, song lyrics, nostalgia, and dreamscapes to the canvas. She is especially intrigued by the conundrums of cultural duality and the lived female experience.
1. Growing up on the Texas-Mexico border must have been such a unique experience. How has that mix of cultures influenced your art and the stories you tell through it?
Growing up on the Texas-Mexico border was kind of bonkers, in a good way. It felt like I lived in a unique third space occupied by two distinct languages, cultures, and sets of norms that were all dancing around trying to find harmony and balance. That wild dance has infused my creative practice. As an artist, I strive to be authentic, which means that there’s a strong thread of conundrum and contrast woven through my work. I often lean into bold colors and juxtapose them in ways that, for me, reflect the vibrant energy of my blended cultures. I’m a word nerd, too, so I’m fascinated by the ways we use words in each culture and sometimes bring words and idioms to the canvas.
Many Mexican idioms just don’t translate well into English, and it’s a shame because they’re kind of hilarious. I try to capture that meaning and humor as I paint, yet also allow for the painting to unfold into whatever it wants to be. I often add a story piece in English with these works, so that the backstory is there for those who are curious. I sometimes integrate agaves and cactus into my work because our home was near the Rio Grande and those plants formed the landscape of my memories. The agaves lined both sides of the river, and I remember thinking how strange it was that our society compels us to identify which “side” we’re from, but the agaves don’t know or care, they are just as majestic and beautiful on both sides of the river. In that sense, I have always felt like I was from both places in my heart, and I wasn’t one without the other.
I make vibrant, expressive paintings inspired by the beauty and contrast I observed growing up on the Texas-Mexico border, and by the conundrum of straddling two cultures.
Ana Stapleton
2. Your art touches on cultural identity and what it means to be a woman. Can you share how these themes show up in your work and why they’re important to you?
As a young woman growing up in two cultures, there was a strong expectation that I honor my traditional Mexican upbringing in terms of behavior and customs, yet also completely kick ass at my American school, be successful, and live out the American dream. Confusing, right? I was presented to society in Mexico at the age of 15, in a little country club, where the stated goal for the debutantes was to be matched to a young man from the right family for marriage.
Many of them were married by 18. I went rogue, thanks to my family being progressive and leaning toward higher education and career success, but there was still a ton of nitpicking from female relatives about not wearing makeup, not taking my shoes off, not being loud, and being a good girl in general. I walked a tightrope trying to keep one foot in each culture and stay balanced. I’m so grateful for the beautiful and rich traditions I grew up with but found it especially challenging to be the first of so many things from there. I was the first woman in my family to attend college in the US, for example. I had no roadmap and no guides. I was the first to go to grad school, to have a career, to wait until my 30s to marry. I’ve spent decades trying to strike a balance that honors my heritage but paves new roads, not just for me but for the young women in my family, and for my daughters.
Painting has been a wonderful space to work through it all. I created a series of paintings a few years ago that was based on the terms of endearment and Mexican idioms my mother used with us growing up, mainly the ones that were directives about being polite, demure, and looking pretty. I didn’t know when I started, but the series became a way to explore the downside of those phrases. Though they sound sweet and positive, there’s a dark undercurrent, setting unrealistic expectations that can stunt personal growth and honesty. I bring these themes to the canvas because I believe women are amazing, powerful, and still learning how to own it. As a mother to three girls, I find it especially important to have these conversations, to spare them some of the heartache that my generation faced around being good, pretty, and demure. And to remind them that they can do and be anything.
3. You’ve worked in art, film, hospitality, and design. How do these different areas influence the way you create and tell stories through your work?
I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to work in all these realms because they each helped hone my creative skills and vision. Working on movies for over a decade was hands down the best foundation for everything that came afterward. Movie-making is storytelling on a grand scale. I worked in the art department, so we designed, built, and decorated the sets. That proximity to making something from nothing blew the doors open for my creativity. I learned about scale, composition, lighting, color theory, layering, and editing. All of that comes into play every time I paint in one way or another. I have an eye for things that I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise because those years trained me to observe things more globally. Hospitality and residential design is also storytelling, as we create an experience for the guest or homeowner that encompasses color, light, vibe, scale, and composition. Those ways of seeing are now in my muscle memory as I paint, which is so fun. I also tend to not have a plan when I paint, because I’m open to the something-from-nothing mentality that I learned in movies.
4. We love the bit about being “mediocre at tennis”! How do humor and your personal life inspire your art?
I can’t make art without a little humor or personal narrative thrown in. Whether it’s overt, like the mediocre tennis player paintings that are inspired by my so-so skills, or more subtle, like making a little fun of the preposterous advice from my mother (“Ponte colored!” which means “put your lipstick on”, while I was in labor), humor keeps me playful and brings levity. Being human is such a difficult yet beautiful thing, so I try to bring a little light to it, for myself as much as anyone else. There’s a little Mexican backstory to the tennis journey.
None of the women on either side of my family ever played sports or owned a pair of shorts for that matter. Growing up, I assumed those things were for other people who had certain talents. It wasn’t until I started practicing yoga and hiking a little in my mid-20s that I realized I loved to sweat. When I finally took a tennis lesson in my late 40’s, I was hooked. I was and still am pretty mid-level at it, but it’s an addictive sport and I think those paintings have resonated with people because there is such a frustrating yet exhilarating learning curve there.
Idioms, song lyrics, dreams, and nostalgia scaffold the stories I tell on the canvas. My work is both introspective and playful, often with a focus on the lived female experience.
Ana Stapleton
5. What is your piece of advice for the aspiring artists?
It may sound basic, but my advice for an aspiring artist is to show up and keep showing up. Nothing will ever happen if you don’t. Even on days that you feel uninspired or stuck, show up anyway, because the more you do the closer you’ll get to the core of your practice and mastery. And take chances. Every single super cool thing that’s ever happened in my life was because I decided to take a leap of faith.
Ana Stapleton’s journey is a lovely reminder of the importance of accepting who we are and using creativity to navigate life’s challenges. Her transition from law to art shows the joy of following your passion, inspiring both seasoned artists and those just starting. To learn more about Ana, click the following links to visit her profile.
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