Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Marie Cabrera.
Nicole, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
First, I’d like to thank VoyageMIA for allowing me to share my story. My name is Nicole M. Cabrera and I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 21, 1986. My journey as an artist and Visual Arts teacher started as early as preschool. I would not be able to tell my story without mentioning who my primary influences were.
When I was in Kindergarten my mother, Magdalena Pizarro had recently graduated from early childhood education and my father Rafael Cabrera, a Mechanical Engineer, ran his own business; later on, I would find out that he had a passion for sculpting. From a young age, my mother noticed that I was a creative child. One of my earliest memories are of her and I sitting at a table in the backyard of my childhood home in Puerto Rico, shaping air-dry clay and finger painting. During my elementary school years, I remember occasionally going to work with my mother, hiding under her desk with my coloring book and scraps of colored paper. I created art while she simultaneously taught students computing courses, managed the classroom, made copies during her planning break, and ate on the run. After a hectic day at work, she would come home to take care of my brother Ráfmag Cabrera and I, to then grade papers late into the night. I remember thinking in those moments, “I never want to be a teacher, that looks like a lot of work.” Fast forward to the present day, I am a Visual Arts elementary school teacher. I have slowly fallen in love with this profession and unexpected calling, while also working on my career as a visual artist.
Art has been a constant in my life for the past 28 years. During my early days, art was something I did by instinct without conscious reasoning. Creating was something I did for fun, almost in an impulsive manner. At the age of ten, a few years after my parents’ divorce, I moved to Lakeland, Florida. Growing up, my family fell on hard times, and art became a form of therapy. Like many immigrants looking to start a new life in the United States, I left my country, friends, family, culture, and language behind. I remember feeling all sorts of emotions and culture shock.
The first time that I discovered that what I had been doing all along was called “art” was at Lakeland Senior High School. I had an amazing teacher named Mr. Westbrook; he gave me classes in drawing, painting, photography, and ceramics. After graduating and taking a year to study to become a baking and pastry chef at Johnson and Wales University, I quickly realized that I desperately wanted to channel my creativity through Visual Arts.
It took eight years to move back to my home country and pursue art at “Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico”. I made a conscious decision to use art as a form of expression and a platform for my voice. From there on, I used art to speak on subjects like trauma, depression, human rights, Puerto Rican culture, and self-discovery through a series of self-portraits and abstract paintings. In 2011, I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts concentrating in Drawing and Painting. I developed a passion for self-portraits, abstract expressionism, and experimental art inspired by my surroundings. Shortly after graduation, I moved to Miami and began working as a preschool Teaching Assistant and then as a middle school Art History teacher. I’ve worked for Painting With a Twist and later for the Miami Children’s Museum, giving tours of the galleries, working as the artist-in-residence, and working for various educational programs offered by the museum. I eventually worked for the Miami Children’s Museum Charter School as their elementary Visual Arts teacher and STEAM Liaison.
What I like the most about this city is that there are always events going on, opportunities to meet new people, to network and socialize. At times, what I like least about the city is the fast pace of life. Also, like any big city the expensive cost of living and traffic due to overcrowding.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
If I had to start over, I would hope to have learned earlier that it is not a race, to have patience with the process but most of all with myself. I’ve also learned that success is what you make it be. Success is not defined exclusively by what society places; it is never a single destination, but a challenging, beautiful journey. I believe in working consistently, as well as finding a healthy way to persevere through the hard times. Surrounding oneself with a close, supportive circle of friends, family, and/or mentors is essential to succeeding.
Pricing:
- 2012 – “Between the Line” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2013 – “In the Abyss” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $384
- 2013 – “The Reach” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $450
- 2013 – “Letting Go” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2014 – “The Last One” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2014 – “See Me Through the Chaos” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2015 – “Sueña con Pajaritos Preñao” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,800
- 2015 – “Standing Somewhere” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2016 – “Drown Out the Voice” – Acrylic and mix media on canvas – $1,200
- 2017 – “Untitled Flowers” – Acrylic on canvas – $280
Contact Info:
- Website: nicolemariecabrera.wixsite.com/nmcabrerasartgallery
- Phone: 786-354-8330
- Email: nicole.marie.cabrera@gmail.com
- Instagram: @nicolemarieart80
Image Credit:
Headshot: Photo by Orestes De La Paz
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