She was raised in a home where gardening was of special
importance, surrounded by tropical plants and fruit trees. Her mother used to
tell her that plants should be treated
with care. Concern for deforestation and destruction of nature has
accompanied her throughout her life. She expresses constant interest in nature
and its importance to human life. Her love for nature and the essence of the
planet earth is reflected in her artwork.
Her mother was a painter, while her father used to display paintings made by renowned Venezuelan artists such as Joaquín Caicedo,
Luis Ordaz, Virgilio Trompiz, Trino Orozco, López Méndez, Alirio Rodríguez,
Tomas Golding, Luis Salazar, and Manuel Cabre, among others. She enjoyed her
own gallery at home full of landscapes, naturalism, some cubism, and a lot of
Venezuelan impressionism.
In 1993, she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture at
the Simón Bolívar University of Venezuela. During her studies one of her focuses was in the arts.
Her interest in the visual arts, museum architecture,
conservation, and restoration, led her to continue studies in the areas of
museography, conservation, and restoration at the Institute of Cultural
Heritage of Venezuela, the National Council of Culture, the Contemporary Museum
of Caracas Sofia Imber, the Museum of Fine Arts of Caracas, the Ministry of
Culture of Spain (provided by the Embassy), and the Casa de Rui Barbosa
Foundation (Rio de Janeiro).
While living in Venezuela, she worked as an architect, research and inventory of the Caracas Cultural Heritage, and as an artisan of Venezuelan terracotta folk art.
She left her country in 1998, and came back for a short
period of time. She lived in multiple cities in Latin America as well
as in the US where she found the opportunity to be in contact with the arts, while participating in several exhibitions.
Between 1997 and 2002, she continued her education on the language of arts, composition, color, elements of painting, and advanced painting at the Laura Alvim House of Culture in Rio de Janeiro, Neptali Rincon School of Arts in Maracaibo, Association Stimulus of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires, ProArte Foundation in Buenos Aires, and the Glassell School of Fine Arts in Houston.
Maria Brito moved to the United States in 2001 where she lives in Northern Virginia. She loves hiking through the woods and capturing photographs of nature.
During the time of pandemic, she has been developing mixed-media artworks and paintings inspired by nature and planet earth. Her artwork has been in exhibits in the Washington DC metropolitan area and Loudoun County VA.
She was featured during Hispanic Heritage Month 2021 at The Prince George’s Publick Playhouse for the Performing Arts, also featured during Women’s History Month 2021 in La Cosecha Marketplace Washington DC, and appeared in the 2021 winter edition of the Loudoun County Magazine as the artist of the season.
CONTACT: mabvisualartist@gmail.com
"I want to express my joyfulness at how beautiful and delicate is the natural creation that surround us. The greatest work of art is the living nature, it is perfection that gives us life, but human beings insist on dominating it, making it imperfect with acts to adjust it to their taste and comfort, even going as far as to destroy it. Understanding the beauty of nature, our connection with it and the need for it to survive, will help us live in harmony and save ourselves from extinction."
Maria Brito - Most Recent Exhibitions
• “Fall Faces.” Franklin Park Arts Center. Purcellville, Virginia. USA. 2020.
• "Exhibition and Art Auction to benefit the Charity Organization Loudoun Cares.” Leesburg, Virginia. USA. 2020.
• “The Endangered, Can Art Save them?” International exhibition organized by Art Impact International. Washington DC, USA. 2020-2021.
• “Community in Focus. Responding to the year 2020,” The Phillips Collection. Washington DC, USA. 2021.
• “Stars, Night & the Winter Sky”. Franklin Park Arts Center. Purcellville, Virginia. USA. 2020.
• She is part of the group of artists in the project "Art Memorial Covid19, Creation in pandemic time," sponsored by the Venezuelan artist and curator Lorenzo Antonio Velazquez. 2020-2022.
• “Women Artists,” an exhibition of 4 Venezuelan female artists in the occasion of the Women’s history month, organized by Arte Original. La Cosecha marketplace. Washington DC, USA. 2021.
• “Look What I Found in my Garden,” Solo exhibition. Cascades Library, Sterling, Virginia. USA. 2021.
• “Out on the Water”. Franklin Park Arts Center. Purcellville, Virginia. USA. June 11 - July 11 2021.
• “In Contact with Planet Earth,” by Maria Brito, solo exhibition. Brambleton Library (1st floor), Ashburn, Virginia. USA. 2021.
• “Look What I Found in my Garden,” by Maria Brito, solo exhibition. Brambleton Library (2nd floor), Ashburn, Virginia. USA. 2021.
• “Esperanza: A Celebration of Hispanic Heritage and Hope,” an exhibition of 2 Hispanic female artists in the occasion of the Hispanic Heritage month. The Prince George’s Publick Playhouse for the Performing Arts. 2021.
• The Nature Conservancy 2021 Global Photo Context. Participation with 2 photos of the nature of Loudoun County VA. Virtual Gallery. 2021.
• Exhibition and Art Auction to benefit the Charity Organization Loudoun Cares. CIT, Herndon, Virginia. USA. 2021.
• Holiday Art Show. Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center. December 2021 - January 2022.
• “Second Life.” Del Ray Artisans Gallery. Alexandria, Virginia. USA. April 1 - 30, 2022.
• “Art at the Mill, Spring Art Show.” Historic Burwell-Morgan Mill. Millwood, Virginia. USA. April 23 - May 8, 2022.
• “Inspired by O'keeffe”. Franklin Park Arts Center. Purcellville, Virginia. USA. July 15 - August 21, 2022.
Maria Brito - On the Media / News
https://mujerdelsur.cl/exposicion-women-artists-dialogos-entre-la-figuracion-y-el-paisaje/
https://tonylorenzove.wixsite.com/artmemorialcovid19/Portfolio/Mar%C3%ADa-Brito
