Today we’d like to introduce you to Maria Ojascastro.
Hi Maria, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, tell our readers some of your backstory.
Forty years ago, my parents sent me to nursing school at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. On the way to the science building, I side-tracked through the art building and came out of college with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Later, I received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University in St. Louis; studied at Santa Reparata International School of Art in Florence, Italy; and just a few years ago completed 270 classroom hours of Anthropedia Well-Being Coach training on the campus of St. Louis University. I have taught art to individuals with developmental delays, hearing impairments, significant medical conditions, dementia, and learning disabilities, as well as typically developing and gifted students. For the past seven years, I have honed my Art for Well-Being practice at PALM Health, an integrative medicine wellness center. In the fall of 2020, I stepped in to teach high school students at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School as a substitute teacher for one of the founders who needed to take a medical leave. Following a principal who asks her teachers to do “heart work,” what should have been a few month’s stay ended up being three years. My passion project is Arts and Healing – a Prison Performing Arts program that helps incarcerated men heal their trauma through visual art, writing, and public performance at the Transition Center of St. Louis and Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. I moved to a small 1926 Kirkwood farmhouse in September 2021, and two months later, I opened my art studio doors in the renovated barn for private lessons, intimate artist retreats, and collaborations that inspire and heal.
Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
My road in the St. Louis art world has been bumpy. I established my art practice while working as an arts administrator in my late 20s and early 30s. Motherhood put my career in the back seat when my twins presented with health challenges and developmental delays. When they were three, my youngest child was born, and 10 days later, one of my twins was diagnosed with cancer. All three were eventually diagnosed with autism, and I instinctively used visual art, music, dance, and gardening to help us thrive. I later learned that the regular introductions of art had neural plasticity value. Motherhood with a household of quirky sons led to an art for well-being practice.
After my divorce, I taught while the boys were in school but prioritized being home when they got off the school bus. I pieced together gigs at COCA, the Cancer Support Community, and Churchill School for Learning Disability. Primarily by word of mouth, I expanded my practice, while continuing to create, exhibit, and sell my artwork. I finally made my career a priority after my boys became young men. Then, the Pandemic shutdown in 2020 canceled most of my gigs. With no commute, I enjoyed creating a large body of artwork while building a healthy virtual teaching business. Since I had a house in the Ladue School District and my sons had adequately finished taking advantage of that education, I sold that house when the market was hot in 2021. I moved into a cozy suburban cottage, planted an abundant garden and made art. I felt spoiled that I was living my best life.
I kept my day job as a substitute teacher at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and went full steam ahead with gigs on the evenings and weekends. But on October 24, 2022, an intruder entered the school with a semi-automatic weapon and killed a student and teacher and injured many others. The teacher who was killed was the PE and Health teacher, and in January 2023, I was asked to step in as her substitute. I powered through using my art for well-being expertise in the classroom, but my own PTSD became debilitating. I took a leave of absence in April 2023 and hid in my garden. I had to believe that if I planted thousands of seeds and nurtured them until they became healthy food and beautiful flowers, somehow, it would make the world a better place. My art homestead is a haven for me, fellow creatives, and private students. I start every day clutching my morning coffee in my magical garden. After I check for eggs from my free-range chickens, I procrastinate, starting my day by listening to the birds sing while puttering around my garden. I’m clawing my way back into my best life. My artwork layers prints, paint, text, and found objects as a meditation on resilience, salvaged from the relics of interrupted journeys. The objects represented symbolize the choice to move forward. The colors and textures are inspired by my journey of life – a combination of struggle, joy, and hope.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My life as an artist and teacher is intertwined. My work day is different every day. Sometimes, I commute 30 seconds from my backdoor to my studio, lined with fairy lights. Sometimes, my commute is 30 minutes to Missouri Eastern Correctional Center – an institution that is surrounded by razor wire. On Monday nights, I’m in the Loop, teaching two classes at the Center of Creative Arts. On another day, you might find me giving a healthy cooking demonstration at the Cancer Support Community. Occasionally, I’m in Ladue teaching at PALM Health, the most beautiful medical and well-being center you’ll ever step into. When you visit me, I invite you to slow down and learn how to care for your creativity and mental health. I follow permaculture ethics: care for the earth, care for people, and take only your fair share (and return any surplus.) My students are invited to paint, draw, harvest flowers, vegetables, or eggs, and connect to the earth in the fresh air. I might build a fire in the wood-burning stove on cold days to warm the art studio. My students vary from a retired person learning a new skill to a teenager who doesn’t respond to traditional therapy to a professional artist looking for renewed creativity. And because I enjoy sharing the abundance of my garden, I’m now selling CSA flower bouquet subscriptions that can be picked up from my front porch. (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. The idea is that community members support their local farmers by purchasing a seasonal subscription.) I’m excited about the possibility of people purchasing gift subscriptions during the holiday season and then looking forward to flowers from my suburban micro-farm when the earth wakes up in the warmth of the spring sun.
What do you think about luck?
Some might look at my life that has been interrupted by cancer, autism, divorce, and gun violence and think, wow, she has bad luck. But I don’t think luck has played a role in my life. Surrounding myself with good karma and good people has allowed me to forge ahead despite life’s challenges. Some have said it’s good luck that I found and bought a charming home when houses were selling quickly. It is indeed good fortune that I have a brother who persistently searched Zillow and knew when he saw the barn for my studio that the house had to be mine. Or perhaps God, Buddha, Mother Earth, and the Universe conspired to give me the home so I could have a place to grow a garden, heal from this life I’m stumbling through, and ultimately thrive.
Pricing:
- Private class $65
- CSA Bouquet Subscriptions $80 and $160
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bextraordinaire.
com/magenta-door-art-studio. html#/ - Instagram: www.instagram.com/ojascastromaria
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/maria.ojascastro
Image Credits
Personal Photo: Osler Guzon, Additional photos taken by me except group photo by Virgil Tipton, Photo of me with peace poles by Mary Beth Tipton Artwork by Diversified Lab
