By Adam Blanchard
Natalie Vazquez-Martinez has turned the painting medium into an experimental area to explore herself, having fun while doing so.
Originally from the Borough of Queens in New York City, Vazquez-Martinez came to SUNY Plattsburgh for a sense of independence. After going to a college in Queens for a year living with her family, she knew it was time to mix things up.
Vazquez-Martinez has a concentration in both drawing and painting as well as a minor in art therapy. She focuses on portraiture with the two media, but approaches them with different goals. Vazquez-Martinez considers her art contemporary, yet unique in subject matter.
“It’s not what people think of art. They think of landscapes, like really detailed work. Mine isn’t that,” Vazquez-Martinez said.
Vazquez-Martinez focuses on herself as the subject of many pieces, creating large scale paintings with thick, coarse textures. To achieve the texture, she applies modeling paste to her canvas and shapes it with ceramic tools to vary the tightness of the lines, creating pieces she invites others to feel and interact with.
Her approach to the drawing medium is similar, but focuses less on herself.
“In the beginning, I have an outline of what I want to draw, but I mainly focus on the color harmony of the pieces,” Vazquez-Martinez said.
Vazquez-Martinez takes inspiration from social media such as DeviantArt, Instagram and Twitter. She also takes inspiration from contemporary artist Lim Nam Hum, a Korean painter who creates colorful full-body portraiture. She had connected to Nam Hum through Instagram where language barriers created discourse, but Vazquez-Martinez has since made friends with him.
“His English wasn’t the best, but it was very direct, so I thought he was mad at me,” Vazquez-Martinez said. “I would say he’s the one that helped me get more interested in abstract textual art during my undergrad years.”
Vazquez-Martinez has had plenty of work shown in SUNY Plattsburgh exhibits, with some of her work currently being displayed in the 2026 B.A. Art and Design Senior Show, located in the lobby of the Myers Fine Arts Building. She has also submitted work to different art magazines, with one piece getting accepted into the Gandy Dancer magazine, a SUNY Geneseo literary magazine featuring creative work from SUNY students.
As she nears the end of her senior year, Vazquez-Martinez looks for internships in New York City. She has applied to work for The Frick Collection as well as The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At these internships, Vazquez-Martinez would be aiming to create a more inclusive space within the museums.
Vazquez-Martinez is also considering looking into graduate school for art therapy. She got into art therapy after a conversation with a teacher in high school. Vazquez-Martinez looks for a career where she would make money while doing something she enjoys.
“She was like, ‘You know there’s a really niche job market for arts, right?,’” Vazquez-Martinez said. “And that kind of sent me into a spiral of researching art therapy and art therapy techniques.”
Vazquez-Martinez hopes that she can make an impact on other’s lives, helping people express themselves in ways they aren’t able to through words.
“I have struggled for the longest time to talk about myself or how to explain things,” Vazquez-Martinez said. “Art has helped me turn a con into a pro and translate what I think into my works.”
