Today we’d like to introduce you to Solange Maria Mariel.
Hi Solange maria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was 17 years old when I came to this country. My mother came to the US with big dreams for both my brother and I. The American Dream of better opportunities and education. She was an educator, a widow with two children back home and had the vision of the American Dream when she visited Disney World years before. When I was Ten years old my mother entered me in a contest created by some book authors and educators in Brasil my country of birth, the theme was for a children to write a composition stating why would I like to take my family to Disney World. For a ten years old I had lost my father at age two and at 8 years old both my brother and I had gone through a traumatic experience , we witnessed a terrible accident where my mother got caught in an explosion in our kitchen where she was locked in there and caught on fire . We woke up with her screams and for an 8 and 7 years old we could do nothing but cry till help came . Due to this terrible accident we were sent to live with my grandmother till my mother recuperated from her 3rd degree burns to her body. As an educator my mother was an over achiever and pushed me particularly hard on studying and making the grades so she sat me down and told me to write about my and her life story. The competition was big and televised as well . Me, an eight years old little girl, with no father and having experienced such a traumatic scene, very sensitive and fragile, I cried so much and in reality I had no idea what that composition was about to bring us to. I won the competition and brought my mother and brother to Disney World for ten days. Orlando, Florida, my mom fell in love with the idea of living here and from that moment on she was resolved to come live in the US. When I was 15 she migrated to New York, gave up her 24 years of teaching left my brother and I with her mother and came for her American Dream. The first woman in my grandmother’s family had arrived in New York as a nanny to missionary couple years before, a black woman name Dalva, my grandmother’s cousin. She made her life in Brooklyn and received my mom. My mother worked as a nanny and also at some computer factory putting together mother boards for our first computers at the time. She later married my stepfather Carmine Mele, Italian descent owner of a barber shop in Hawthorne New Jersey.
At age 17 my mother sent for my brother and I . With our papers in check and a new home and a new beginning, my mother’s dream had realized. I went straight into my senior year knowing no English and confirmed to my new surroundings right away. Learning a new language and leaving behind what I knew has made a big impact in my life today. I did meet many challenges and had to grow up very fast. I graduated from Hawthorne High School and short after became a single mother. My trials were followed by a belief that I was not alone that I had a god watching over me and angels guiding me. At 24 I moved to Dallas with a suite case and my 4 year old son. Arrived at the greyhound station with my own American Dream. Here I met my husband and friend whom together we decided to create a family. This man loved my son and I was not about to raise a child alone. Together we both worked hard and started our family of six kids. Gif had indeed blessed me with an immigrant as myself whom had a good heart a good family and good morals. Together we raised our six kids 5 boys and one girl, me a stay home mom, a PTA participant and always involved in my kids school life. It was not till my last son entered kindergarten that I started my studies in a community college, Richland Community College. The two year associates took me several years to finish I loved going to school learning talking to other people young and old all with same dream as me to accomplish something bigger and after I graduated with honors I was accepted to The Meadows School of Art at SMU. My dream was coming true of studying art at such a prestigious institution. I received some grants and applied for financial help took loans and finished my studies receiving my bachelor’s in fine art from SMU. I stared teaching at my kids school St Monica Catholic School as a substitute teacher for the entire year due to the art teacher absence due to pregnancy. My experiences thee gave me a love for teaching together with my experiences with my mother teaching as she sometimes would take me with her to her night classes back in Brasil.
I gained a love for drawing and printmaking and decided to continue my education applying for my masters at the University of Dallas in Irving. I was accepted and there as a painter I accomplished two masters in Fine Arts.
I have worked as an art teacher at Bishop Dunne High School and have taught at the Dallas Theater Center and The Dallas museum of Art for many years since, during the spring break and throughout the years. I had a studio space at Routh Street where today apartment building rose, I started something called Artist Night Out where many artists, spoken word and theater people came together in support of each other fine art. David Lozano and Frida from Cara Mia came and started their dream vision there as well as Will Richie spoken word artist with Daverse Lounge, all of us gathered at solstudioart for sharing ideas and making them come true. My commitment for the arts and all that it involved led me to keep teaching, working with organizations as Big Thought, Today Marks The Beginning and the Peace Center , all have taken me into various directions that have only increased my love for the arts and art teaching and art making. As my kids grew and I became a grandmother today of 13 grandkids all whom I helped raise and gave my time to them as needed. Today I am retired working part time as enrichment art teacher at The Compass School Of Texas and Willow Montessori, working with my favorite age group pre k and k, doing what we call Eco Art. I love recycling repurposing and utilizing these material like cardboard egg cartoons plastic to create art with it. The kids at that age appreciate and are creative themselves, it gives me joy and it inspires me to create my own work, and just like when my kids were young that my kitchen table was my studio space, today I am still using my big table at home to create works from ideas and materials that are affordable and can be repurposed into decorative pieces that bring joy, beauty and a sense of tranquility. My mother passed away 2021 , during the Covid time she had lung cancer and died on my arms have her last breath on my neck I felt it slowly disappear fade and I opened the window to let her soul fly into the morning. She passed at her mothers house with me and my husband next to her, it was so surreal I will never forget her sacrifices her fearless spirit her force and her will to make it possible for me to be who I am today and be where I am today.
I owe my life to my mother and to her vision to her American Dream.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I had many struggles along the way but I believe that I have been protected by a force bigger then me, by my desire to be a good person and to do the right thing. By not wanting to disappoint my mother and by wanting to be as strong as the women in my life, being them my grandmother my mother and my aunt whom they named me after her.
Growing up without a father and for the most part separated from my mother has been a challenge and I know that it speaks greatly of whom I am today my choices my whole being. I am grateful for the women in my life and for my childhood back in Brasil.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
A resident of the United States since 1978, mothers of six, grew up surrounded by artists painting on the streets, grandmother sat quietly and painted from old postcards, always wanted to be a hippie and an artist. Love people and with a love for learning, I first experienced life’s lesson before I realized that art making and art teaching Is what excites me most. In my observations and continuous search of self and art in life, I have come to a time and place in my work both in art making and teaching and or facilitating where I can reflect upon a level of maturity. There is a connection with personal experiences. Using my own personal history as a way of shaping the world around me. I will forever teach, explore, create and learn, evolving as I continue my journey as a woman, a mother, an artist, and an educator,
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Facing the challenge of learning a second language and adapting to a new society and culture. I used the fearlessness of youth and my ever evolving perception of life, people and relationships. It all had a profound impact on my view of the Western World and my life today.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @solmarielart
