Today we’d like to introduce you to Sonia Sanchez Nieto.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born in Spain in June 1976. I always loved to paint and to be surrounded by Art. For that reason, I asked my parents to sign me up for an after after-school art program.
I was lucky because my parents signed me up for a prestigious art school led for the amazing artist Jaime Sanchez. He prepared me for 2 years for the exam that everyone in the 90s needed to pass to be in the Fine Arts College in Madrid.
My idea was to get the exam hidden from my parents (they didn’t want me to be an artist). But the reality was that the government scheduled the annual exam for the month of July, the same month that my father decided to go
To the beach for summer vacation.
I asked my parents to leave me in Madrid so that I to take the exam. My parents get so mad and don’t allow me to do it.
Is I was 18 years old in that moment I decided to do Law As my father wanted and keep studying art in the afternoons. I spent 5 years studying Law in the mornings and art on Thursdays and Fridays in the nights.
I finished my Law career and I started to work for a Law firm.
I exhibited my artworks for the first time during my first year as a lawyer. After that, I put my art career on stand by.
I moved to Miami in 2015 and after giving birth to my third child my husband (husband in that moment) and announced me her intention to break our marriage after 25 years of relationship because he had met another woman.
It broke my heart and my whole life turned upside down.
After one horrible year, I decided to do what I always wanted to do. I started teaching art and painting again.
One day painting at the New Yorker hotel boutique the manager came to me and asked me to paint a mural on their patio bar.
It was hard to say yes because I was so scared, but I did it. It was the first of so many.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Dealing with a life as a single mom of three and as an artist was not easy. I had not so much time and I needed money.
For that reason I started offering privates art classes and painting for free.
Finally, I get the opportunity to teach art in schools. For that I needed to ask for a scholarship. I get it and I was studying for 2 years at FIU every Tuesday night from 6 to 11 pm. Once I get my credits in Early Education I need to learn English!
I started learning English at MDC and in private classes. I did it doe 2 years.
Finally, I got all I needed in that moment to be a teacher in Florida. But I need to do what is necessary to be an art teacher…. I am still studying and learning something new every day.
About my life as a Muralist was not easy. I was painting during the weekend when my children were with their dad:
It was and still is exhausting but I loved this life.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am art teacher from PK2 to 8th grade at St Agnes Catholic Academy in Key Biacayne.
At the same time, I am a Muralist and an illustrator.
Some of my murals can be seen around south Florida in well-known establishments like the New Yorker Patio Bar(MIMO district Miami), Dr. Michael M. Krop High School (Hollywood), Montessori School (Coconut Grove. Miami), Key Biscayne Presbyterian School (Key Biscayne), KBK8 (Key Biscayne), St Agnes Catholic Academy (Key Biscayne), The Cleat and many other private spaces in Hollywood, Dania Beach, Ocala, Lakeland and Madrid (Spain).
I was also part of the Project @mesdeljaguar with her work «Wild» in November 2019 at the Casa Estudio Frida Kahlo y Diego Rivera Museum in Mexico City.
Winner of the contest organized by the Centro Cultural Español in Miami she designed and painted the seven containers for the Micro Theater Miami with her series “Breast Cancer”.
Excellence Award Winner of the 2019 Conception Global Art Collective in Miami.
Recently I won the Art Contest promoted by KBFF for the annual Film Festival.located in Key Biscaynne.
I also love illustrating children books, such as «My Sister Lily», «What is the right thing?», “Guess what is right” and «I give you the rainbow”. She is the coauthor of “Dichos y Expresiones Hispanas” already on its second edition.
Do you have any advice for those just starting out?
Life is not easy and you are going to have a lot of challenges that are going to test your patience and your motivation to move forward. But it can not stop you. Fight always for your dreams to come true.
You are the captain of your ship. Don’t let the sea and the storm ruin your voyage.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bysonja.design
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bysonjadesign
