Artist-in-Residence

Artist-in-Residence at the MACC

The Artist in Residence (AiR) studio is committed to providing artists of all backgrounds and mediums a designated space to experiment and create new work with access to the MACC’s state of the art facilities and exhibition space.

Our first series of Artist’s participating in the AiR program are featured in ¡Es Hora! / It’s Time!: Mexican American Art in El Paso 1960 – Now, in the MACC Main Gallery. Painter, Marianna Olague, will be our artist in residence for the month of April. Photographer, Ingrid Leyva, will be our artist in residence for the month of May. Printmaker, Marco Sanchez, will be our artist in residence for the month of June. All participating artists will lead a public workshop, present an artist talk, and hold open studio hours for visitors to learn more about their work and process.

April 2025 Artist-in-Residence: Marianna Olague

Marianna Olague’s work is about living in the borderland desert of El Paso, Texas. Using portraiture to explore what it means to be Mexican American in the 21st century, Olague provides a glimpse into the private lives of Mexican Americans, using her family and close friends as models for her brilliantly hued portraits. Olague paints her family in their natural environments; at home, in the neighborhood, or working their 9 to 5 jobs, all while living close to the US-Mexico border, which colors their life experiences. Olague’s use of pure color imbues her compositions with a dazzling vitality. Shedding the expected color palette, a girl on a park bench becomes a study in purple, concrete walls look like sunsets and foliage turns cobalt blue. All becomes a celebration of the Mexican American culture and community of southern Texas. Marianna Olague has an MFA in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, and a BA from the University of Texas at El Paso, TX. Her work is in multiple private and public collections including the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI, and Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, MI. In 2024, Olague completed a mural in the grand lobby at the El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX, as part of the EPMA: Frontera Forward initiative established to advance the understanding and appreciation of the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez border community through the arts.  Marianna Olague lives and works in El Paso, Texas, she is represented by David Klein Gallery.

AiR Studio

• Open Studio Hours: Wed & Thurs, 2:30 – 3:30 pm

AiR Workshop

In this workshop Marianna Olague will paint along with students as she demonstrates how to create a traditional still life painting using oils. Participants will first learn how to sketch and plan their compositions based on a real still life in the classroom. Olague will then instruct students on how to mix colors and add vibrancy to their canvases while using a lively painterly application.

• Date: Saturday, April 19, from 3 – 5 pm
• Title: Life in Color: A Still Life Oil Painting Workshop with ¡Es Hora! Artist in Residence Marianna Olague
• Location: WET Classroom
• Type: Workshop w registration required. (10 people limit) (Age: 15+)

AiR Artist Talk

In this artist talk Marianna Olague will be presenting on her experience as MACC’s inaugural Artist in Residence followed by a moderated discussion with ¡Es Hora! curator Ramon Cardenas, touching on the topics of themes and artistic process.

• Date: Saturday, April 26, from 3 – 4 pm
• Title: Rendered in Resilience: Painting Family, Labor, and Love. ¡Es Hora! Artist in Residence talk by Marianna Olague.