Andrea 鈥淒rea鈥� Marie Sanchez is a Puerto Rican artist and muralist from East Hartford. She has painted multiple murals across 黑料吃瓜网. Her most recent work, titled "Borik茅n Vive en M铆," is a culturally rich mural showcasing Caguax, a Ta铆no chief who lived before and during the early period of Spanish colonization in the Americas. It鈥檚 located inside Los Piraguas, a Puerto Rican shaved ice shop in Hartford. She is also an active member of Movimiento Cultural, an organization whose mission is to educate communities throughout 黑料吃瓜网 about Bomba music, dance, and its historical roots.
Growing up in a Puerto Rican household, Drea Sanchez keeps her culture alive by bringing Puerto Rican symbolism, subjects and iconography into her work. Her goal is to help people connect with Puerto Rican culture and to spark conversations for those who are unfamiliar with the island鈥檚 history. She shares her work on social media, including and .
In the following Q&A, Drea Sanchez reflects on the experiences that have influenced her identity as a Latin artist and on the future she envisions as she continues to open doors for conversation about her work and culture. Her philosophy as a Latin artist demonstrates how she is already a leader in this creative field.
Q: Can you tell us about your upbringing, what people, places, or values shape you?
A: My parents are very hard working people, and they always supported me in any adventure that I wanted to do, which is a blessing, because I'm very passionate and I can be very headstrong. So to have my two pillars be able to see me and support me has always been a huge aspect of my confidence.
My mom's family is from el campo, which you can say is like the mountain people from Comer铆o. This February, we went into town. She showed me where she went to school, where she grew up, and just to see it's a very different life than what I live. It's just amazing to be like, wow, you experienced this.
My favorite thing is my dad would go on lunch break. In Puerto Rico, they let you go home for lunch, so he would go fishing. He would go by the beach, or he'll go by the river, and he'll grab a stick, he'll find some string, he'll grab a little soda can and he'll go fishing. I think that ability to just be in nature has always been something that was just like, man, you're so lucky. Also, there's my grandfather. So, his father was a sea explorer in Puerto Rico, and off the coast of Hatillo on the Atlantic, he went and he pulled up Spanish cannons and Spanish anchors, and those are currently in the Arecibo lighthouse in Puerto Rico. My goal is to get one of my paintings that was inspired by his story to be in that museum with his findings. So I'm working on that.
That shapes me, you know, hearing stories of how my parents grew up, hearing their stories about Puerto Rico. And of course, my other family members. My grandmother was the only one that didn't really speak much English. So once she passed away, I didn't really have anyone that I needed to speak Spanish to. And so I think a lot of my art also has to do with that aspect where I can't say it the way I want to say it. I mean, I'm not bad, like I can speak my Spanish, but I feel with art, I don't have to stutter, or I don't have to have that feedback of, 鈥極h, we could tell you live here,鈥� you know? It's just paint. I don't have to explain it.
Q: How has your identity as a Latina shaped the way you lead, think, or work?
I make art for me, but I also make art because it's bigger than me, right? So when I do put my culture in it, it's very important for people to understand where I'm from, or where my family's from, where my roots are from, and very important that my Latin roots are first and foremost, the push and the inspiration of this conversation. Going into rooms or spaces, galleries that are not familiar with either a pattern or the symbolism or even confusing [aspects of Puerto Rican culture in my art] with another ethnicity [like Hawaiian], it's very important that I put into standard like, no, this is who I am. I am a female Latin artist from Puerto Rico. I highlight that and make that important, because it's not anything else, you know? I don't want anybody to be confused at all. I want everyone to know that what they're looking at is what it is.
Q: What inspired you to enter this creative field? Was there a specific moment that sparked your interest?
I went through a little bit of a hard time in my life where I did find art to be very therapeutic. I started painting just to pass the time and get it out there, get it off my chest, kind of a thing. So [painting] started very much as a healing hobby that turned into a passion.
I was working on this painting of Atabey, a demi goddess, I guess you could say, in Puerto Rican culture. She's the goddess of fertility and clean water, fresh water, childbirth, the protection of mothers and motherhood. So I made a very small, like five by seven, painting of her, and it's a petroglyph, so nothing super crazy. Once I did that one, I was like, 鈥榃ell, I like the way this looks.鈥� I really liked the connection of it, and I also liked the conversations that were coming from it. So then I started this really big piece that I was just having fun with鈥� then I started posting it [on social media], and everyone was like, 鈥極h my goodness, that's really nice,鈥� and the more I would post it, the more people would comment on it.
I woke up one day and I saw this ad for a call for artists at the Hartford Art Space, and I submitted my work in bed. I was like, 鈥榃ell, you know, why not?鈥� Because I really loved what I was working on, and I saw people were liking it too, I put this ridiculous number on it. I was like, no one's gonna buy this. It was $1,100 and I didn't budge. Sometimes I'll go back to a number and go, maybe not. But that one, I was just like, nah, that's just what it is.
That was my very first art show that I ever submitted to. Amy LaBossiere--she works for the art space gallery there--she put a red dot next to my painting, and I went to the bathroom. I felt like I didn't want anyone to see me because I didn't know how to respond properly. It was my first time selling a painting. I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. I ran to the bathroom, I hid, and then my sister in law came in, and she's like, 鈥極h, you better get back out there.鈥� I go out there, and I meet the buyer, and I shake hands with the buyer, and I'm just ecstatic. I couldn't believe it, and I think, after that day, I was like, no, this is for me.
Q: How is your work making a difference right now?
I think my work is making a difference in conversation. My art has an impact in telling the stories of those who came before me, telling the stories of the importance of our music, the importance of the story of what's happening on our island. My goal with my art is to remind people the importance of the beauty that we bring. I hope that when people look at my art鈥� they see what's natural and what's important, no matter what you feel about government or no matter what you feel about a political standpoint. You know the importance of the coqu铆, the importance of the flowers and the plants, the importance of our oceans, and the importance of our rivers. So when I paint that stuff, I'm speaking for that. I'm speaking for mother nature. It's very important for me to have that forward conversation with people, and I hope that's what people take away.
Q: How did you start imagining yourself in a leadership role?
I've always been a natural leader. So growing up, I've always taken lead, taken initiative. I've always done what's best for myself but also what's best for the people around me or in my group. So I have that leadership quality. When it comes to art, it's hard to say I'm a leader. I would say I'm not where I want to be in the leadership part of it, because I would love to have something in place where I can say these people came up because of 鈥榅YZ鈥� program that I started. That's where I would envision the leadership or being a leader in this area.
Right now, I'm leading with intention, and I'm leading with my heart, and I'm leading with the goal to make this something bigger than myself, bigger than just me. I would love to be a part of a Puerto Rican center where they have culture and education and resources and things like that. I would love to have a step in the art section of that, being able to connect with other Puerto Rican artists, other Spanish artists, in multiple crafts of art.
Q: Is there anything we didn鈥檛 touch on that you want to mention?
I would say my tagline [that she shares as a hashtag on ]. It was my birthday, and I invited my friends over and my nephew was with us. We were all painting little canvases. My nephew was just doing his thing, and over here, I'm painting a cupcake. I'm being very meticulous about my cupcake that I'm painting. I look over and I see him just going at it. I looked at him, and he's like, what's up? And I'm like, 鈥楴othing. Just wet your brush and keep going.鈥� And that just stuck.
It's not easy to trust the process. So having that little tagline, 鈥榳et your brush and keep going,鈥� it's like, take a moment, clean yourself off, and wet your brush. Don't dry yourself out. Don't overdo it, get your bristles back in shape, and then keep going.
I implement that in all of my hashtags, because that's what it takes to finish a project. That's what it takes to finish a mural. That's what it takes to finish a painting, is just to keep going. I found myself, a lot of times, naturally in those little ditches of doubt. I had to kill the doubt. One of the things that kind of pulled me back up was: wet your brush and keep going.
This story is part of the series Poderosas: Portraits of Purpose, highlighting Latina leaders in our 黑料吃瓜网 communities.
