Maria Sanchez

What is a Chispa Carrier? First of all a "Chispa" is a spark. A chispa for me represents a creative idea. Something that I want to explore further and either paint or create something from it. Creativity is a gift from God and I am grateful for it. The one gift that I don't have is the gift of a good memory so to help me along the way, I painted Frida as my "Chispa Carrier". Symbolic of a strong woman carrying a heavy load of Chispas. She will serve as a reminder for me that those ideas are not forgotten and readily available for me when ever I need them. Frida lived such a tumultuous life, ie.miscarriages, heartache and physical pain. I have a lot of respect for her as a woman, an artist and for the cultural icon she has become. I will be putting the Chispa Carrier on paper mache boxes. (To serve as a place to put creative ideas and not forget them.) Cards, prints and magnets will also be available.

Wow what a whirl wind these past few weeks have been. I've finished 2 more paintings Friducha and Frida as Chispa Carrier. I met Isabelle Allende at a Humanities event at Stanford. ( I am still star struck after that ) Ebay has been a new experience as well. It's really scary at first but now I feel like a pro. Oh yeah.. I have also started working on a children's book. I'm calling it "Donde esta Sarah?" Sarah is the little girl you see hinding in most of my paintings. She is my 3 year old daughter and my muse (my inspiration). I see alot of myself in Sarah. The book will be a long project but I will post updates on it periodically. ------------------------------------------ Putting my artwork out has been a very cool thing for me. I've learned to share a part of myself that was hidden and it's been a very liberating experience so far. Meeting and talking with other artist has been a great too. I learn so much from them. I haven't been writ