Today we’d like to introduce you to Vangie Rodriguez.
Hi Vangie , it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Art has always been part of who I am. I am primarily a self-taught artist, and creativity was something I was drawn to from a very young age. But like many women, my path wasn’t a straight one. As I raised my family and built a life, I stepped away from creating art for nearly 20 years. When I finally returned to painting, I remember wondering if I had waited too long or if I had somehow lost that part of myself. Instead, I discovered that all of those years away had given me more to say.
My work today is deeply influenced by my Mexican heritage, family, memory, and the women who came before me. I often paint Mexican women and incorporate imagery such as flowers, hummingbirds, maíz, textiles, and other cultural references. Some of those symbols are very personal. My mother, grandmother, my children, my travels through Mexico, and the traditions I grew up with continue to find their way into my paintings. I’m interested in honoring our history while portraying Mexican culture and Mexican women in a way that feels contemporary, strong, intelligent, and very much alive.
Since returning to art, what began as a personal need to create has grown into a professional practice that I could not have imagined when I first picked up my brushes again. My work has been exhibited throughout Arizona, entered public and permanent collections, sold to private collectors, and featured in live auctions. I’ve also had opportunities to teach, create commissioned work and murals, and connect with people through art in ways that have been incredibly meaningful to me.
I think I’m still becoming the artist I’m meant to be—and that excites me. My work continues to evolve as I become looser and more confident in my painting while developing a visual language that is recognizably my own. At this stage of my career, I’m less interested in simply creating a beautiful painting and more interested in creating work that carries a story—about family, culture, resilience, womanhood, memory, and what we choose to carry forward to the next generation.
In many ways, my story is also about returning to yourself. I stepped away from art for almost two decades, but art never really left me. When I came back, I came back with a lifetime of experiences to paint.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely hasn’t been a smooth road, but I think the challenges have shaped both the artist and the person I am today. One of my biggest struggles was simply finding my way back to art after stepping away for nearly 20 years to raise my family. Returning was intimidating. I questioned whether I still had the ability, whether there was a place for me in the art world, and whether I was starting too late.
Because I am primarily self-taught, I’ve also had to learn the business of being an artist while continuing to develop my voice. Creating the work is only one part of this career. There is also the vulnerability of putting something deeply personal into the world, applying for opportunities, hearing “no,” pricing your work, promoting yourself, and learning not to measure your value by acceptance, sales, or someone else’s opinion.
Finding my own artistic voice has been another journey. My Mexican heritage is deeply important to me, and I want my work to honor that history without feeling confined by traditional expectations of what Mexican or Latina art should look like. I’ve worked to create a visual language that feels distinctly mine—contemporary, colorful and expressive, while still rooted in culture, family and memory.
I’ve learned that an artistic career isn’t really a destination. There are periods of tremendous confidence and periods of questioning everything you’re doing. But I’ve become much more comfortable with that uncertainty. Every challenge has pushed me to grow, take risks and trust my instincts more. Looking back, some of the moments when I questioned myself the most were also the moments just before my work took another step forward.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work is best described as contemporary Mexican art that blends realism with expressive, abstract elements. I work primarily in acrylic and oil, creating figurative paintings that celebrate Mexican women, culture, family, and identity. My signature palette includes rich blues and turquoises, warm oranges and reds, often combined with florals, textiles, hummingbirds, and other imagery that carries cultural or personal meaning.
Women are at the heart of much of my work. I’m especially interested in portraying Mexican women as they exist today—strong, intelligent, sophisticated, nurturing, complex and deeply connected to their heritage. I love our traditions, but I don’t want my paintings to feel as though Mexican culture exists only in the past. I want someone to look at my work and immediately feel Mexico while also seeing a woman who belongs completely in the present.
Storytelling is an important part of my process. The objects and imagery in my paintings are rarely there simply because they are beautiful. A hummingbird can represent someone we’ve lost who still feels present. Maíz can speak to ancestry and sustenance. A textile pattern can connect a contemporary woman to generations before her. Flowers can represent growth, femininity, resilience or memory. I often begin with something deeply personal and try to transform it into something universal enough that someone from a completely different background can find their own story within it.
What I’m most proud of is that my work is becoming increasingly recognizable as my own. I’ve worked hard to develop a visual language rather than simply a painting style. Color, cultural references, strong female figures, abstraction and symbolism come together in a way that reflects both where I come from and who I am today.
I think that is also what sets my work apart. I’m not trying to recreate a nostalgic version of Mexican culture. I’m interested in the conversation between generations—what we inherit, what we preserve, what we reinterpret and what we pass forward. My paintings honor the women and traditions that came before me while making room for the women who come next.
Ultimately, I want my work to be visually powerful from across a room, but intimate when you come closer. The color may draw you in first, but I hope the story is what makes you stay.
How do you think about happiness?
My family makes me happiest. Spending time with my husband and children, traveling together, sharing meals, laughing, and simply being present with the people I love are the things I value most. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that some of the most meaningful moments are often the simplest ones.
Creating also makes me incredibly happy. There is something about standing in front of a canvas and watching an idea slowly become something tangible that still feels magical to me. Painting gives me a place to reflect, remember, experiment, and sometimes express things that are difficult to put into words. I especially love when something personal in one of my paintings connects with someone else’s story.
Travel is another great source of happiness and inspiration. I’ve been fortunate to experience Mexico, Central and South America, Europe, and many places throughout the United States. I’m fascinated by the art, architecture, textiles, landscapes, food, traditions, and people I encounter. I find myself collecting colors, patterns, textures, and memories everywhere I go, and pieces of those experiences inevitably make their way into my creative life.
Mexico and New Mexico hold an especially personal place in that story because they are connected to my own family roots. Visiting places tied to my heritage gives travel another dimension—it becomes not only about discovering something new, but also about understanding where I come from.
Ultimately, happiness for me comes down to connection: connection to my family, my heritage, other people, the world around me, and my creativity. I spent many years putting art aside while raising my family, and now I have the gift of bringing those parts of my life together. I can take the experiences I’ve lived, the places I’ve seen, and the people I love and allow them to become part of the art I create. That is incredibly fulfilling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ArtbyVangie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vangierodriguez.artist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/19FHCqGWXg/
- Email: VangieRodriguezDesigns@gmail.com
