LaToya Hobbs—Visual Artist—Uses Art to Explore Beauty, Motherhood, and Cultural Identity—Interview

When you look at a LaToya Hobbs portrait, you might feel as if someone is staring right back at you. Hobbs, a visual artist and professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, depicts Black women and mothers who look proud: they are holding their heads high, or lovingly wrapping their arms around their bodies, or gazing intently at something out of frame. Using paint and printmaking, Hobbs pays close attention to the lines that run across their skin and through their hair, giving otherwise still portraits texture and movement. 

Fresh off winning the prestigious Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize, LaToya Hobbs (LH) spoke with Picture This Post (PTP) about her artistic vision, and depicting the lived experiences of Black women and matriarchs. 

(PTP) Please tell our readers about your background and how you became an artist.

(LH) I’m a visual artist, wife and mother of two. I live in Baltimore, MD but I was born and raised in Little Rock, AR. Although I’ve always enjoyed the arts growing up (visual art, music, dance) I decided to commit to becoming a visual artist in 2007 after realizing I didn’t want to pursue a degree in Biology as I initially intended when I started my undergraduate career. I just really wanted to do something I loved and was very passionate about so I turned to art. In terms of my artistic focus, I’m a painter and printmaker using portraiture to explore the themes of beauty, cultural identity, spirituality and motherhood.

In your series Salt of the Earth, you depict the Modern Matriarch. Can you explain what that phrase means to you?

In my Salt of the Earth series I’m personifying Black women as salt in their role as preservers of family, culture and community. I also like to describe this series as an introspective look into my shift into motherhood, which brings into question the idea of the Matriarch. Since becoming a mother I’ve been thinking a lot about legacy, the matriarchs in my family, and traditions that have been passed to me which I hope to pass along to my children. For me, the term Modern Matriarch is defined by a woman who leads and does motherhood on their own terms. I’m not limiting the role of matriarch solely to a person that has birthed children. I also think the term Matriarch can be applied to those who have birthed ideas and organizations that bring community together.

Where do you find inspiration, and how do you turn that into a piece? What do you wish to convey with your art?

My background as an artist is that of a Painter and Printmaker and a lot of my current work combines elements from both of those practices. My pieces are marked by texture, pattern, and a representational use of the figure. I really enjoy working with different processes and putting them together in a way that is seamless and causes the viewer to really think about what’s happening on the surface of the work. I draw inspiration from my life, and the women around me. I’m able to express that through narrative portraits that I hope will give you a glimpse into the life of the women I choose to depict. 

I use portraiture to highlight the women in my community as a way to celebrate our beauty, culture and all of the dynamic qualities we possess. My ultimate goal is to showcase a more realistic and balanced perception of our womanhood and create a space that centers our narratives.

Why is portraiture your chosen genre?

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been drawn to portraiture and the figure. If you look at the history of painting, portraiture plays such a huge role and a lot of the artists whose work I enjoy used portraiture as a major part of their practices. I love the idea of looking at an image of someone and wondering what their story is; which is ultimately one of the experiences I want viewers to have with my own work.

Who are your models? Are they friends and family members and, if so, how does your relationship with them influence the portrait?

Majority of the women portrayed in my work I know personally or have some type of connection with. My subjects include friends and acquaintances from school and family. Sometimes things I know about the model will influence the decisions I make about the color palette or the type of patterns I use in the work. I really enjoy working with women that I know because it helps me to have a greater connection with the work and that sense of connection permeates to the viewer. 

Do you feel a need or desire to respond to the BLM movement in your art?

My work purposely centers the narratives of women of African descent so I don’t feel the need to reference the BLM movement directly. Artists of color, myself included, have always made work that reflects the lived experiences of Black people, oftentimes without recognition. I think now the difference is that there is a spotlight on the work of artists of color because of the current space the world is in.

In your Artist Statement, you write that you seek to dismantle Euro-centric standards of beauty. In your view, what is the role of art in dismantling systems of oppression?

It takes many parts working together to dismantle oppression, but art is such a powerful tool for change because it can be used as a mirror to reflect society. Artists use their craft to share the experiences and voices of those who often feel unheard and overlooked. I believe that’s where change starts.

How did you get started with printmaking?

I started studying printmaking in undergrad at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. Though my focus was on becoming a painter, Intro to Printmaking was a required course for my degree plan. It’s funny, I never intended to be a printmaker but it makes up a large part of my practice now. What changed for me was being introduced to the work of Elizabeth Catlett. Her work really inspired me in both content and technique, and showed me the possibilities of that medium; so much so that I decided to continue studying printmaking for my MFA at Purdue University. 

How do you decide between working with paint or relief printmaking when starting a piece?

I don’t really have a special formula that helps me determine how I want to execute a piece.  It mostly depends on the image itself.  Sometimes it’s just a matter of deciding what technique will be most effective for the texture or feeling I’m trying to simulate. My fine art prints are purely printmaking and my mixed media paintings generally have a combination of painting, collage and relief carving. Sometimes I also produce the same image in multiple mediums and one of the works will function like a preliminary sketch.  

In addition to being an artist, you are also a professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Do you feel that your experience as a teacher has influenced your work?

My teaching practice doesn’t influence the content of my work but over the years it has helped me to get better technically, especially earlier in my teaching career. I work with a lot of freshman students who are generally new to drawing. Spending so much time helping them develop their skills inadvertently caused me to sharpen my drawing skills, which are the foundation of my practice.  Working at MICA has been a rewarding experience because the students are so talented and driven and the other faculty are all practicing artists. Being part of that type of environment is very motivating.

What would you say is your proudest moment in your career?

Over the past few years I’ve made some traction with my career and there have been successes that I’ve celebrated along the way.  To date, the thing I am most proud of is recently being awarded the 2020 Janet and Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize. The Sondheim Prize is an annual award of $25,000 granted to an artist in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) area to further their practice. The prize is very competitive and I feel so blessed to have received this honor.

Are you working on any upcoming projects that you would like to tell our readers about?

My overall focus is on the continued development of my Salt of the Earth series. There is a lot I want to explore with this body of work and I see myself working on it for a while. I’m also very excited about the new work I’m producing for an upcoming exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art in Spring 2021.

For more information, please visit the LaToya Hobbs website.

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Images courtesy of LaToya Hobbs