Short Bio

I’m from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and my art is my way of making sense of the chaos. I explore identity, culture, and purpose through pieces that are sometimes spiritual, sometimes funny, always honest. My work blends bits of my life, memories, symbols, colors, and textures into visual stories that feel like little altars to becoming. I love mixing the serious with the silly, the sacred with the messy. Creating helps me process the world and remember who I am. It’s not always pretty, but it’s always real. Every piece is a tiny bit about figuring it out.

Statement

I am an immigrant artist shaped by movement, memory, and the weight of what’s left unsaid. Born in Guayaquil, Ecuador and sent to the U.S. at twelve, I’ve carried stories in my body long before I had the language to name them. Art has always been how I speak back, how I remember, reclaim, and release.

My work is rooted in personal and ancestral narratives, transformed through mixed media, found objects, and ritual-like process. I gravitate toward what’s fragile, what’s been discarded, what refuses to be forgotten. Through layering, fragmentation, and texture, I create pieces that live between pain and power, presence and absence.

I don’t make to decorate, I make to excavate. Every canvas, every mark, is a negotiation between what I carry and what I choose to let go. My practice is a spiritual act, a portal, a place to feel deeply and to be felt in return.

This is how I reclaim myself, and how I hold the door open for others to do the same.

Biography

María Belén Luzuriaga Abad is an Ecuadorian-born artist, educator, and lifelong student of spirit and story. Raised in Guayaquil and sent to the U.S. at a young age, her practice is rooted in migration, memory, and the in-between spaces where identity takes shape. Through mixed media, collage, and visual narrative, she builds poetic, layered works that explore themes of culture, displacement, healing, and becoming.

Her art is how she makes sense of the chaos, an emotional language that weaves the personal with the universal. Each piece acts like a tiny altar, built from fragments of daily life, family memory, color, texture, and intuition. Spiritual but grounded, funny but reverent, her work reflects the contradiction and beauty of existing in multiple worlds at once.

A teacher by calling and a student by nature, she moves through life gathering meaning and turning it into visual offerings. Her practice is a conversation with her ancestors, her inner child, her community, and whatever’s just beyond the veil. It’s not about perfection; it’s about presence.

María Belén works across communities, especially those often silenced or left at the margins, through creative gatherings and healing spaces. She facilitates workshops in art therapy-inspired practices, mask making, and holistic arts, guiding participants to reconnect with their own story, emotion, and power through tactile creation. She also teaches music and rhythm, often through her Upcycled Instrument Lab, where everyday materials become tools for play, protest, and sound healing. Her work bridges creativity with restoration, ceremony with imagination.

Whether working in silence or surrounded by music, she creates to remember, to release, and to connect, always honest, always becoming.

Resume / CV

MARÍA BELÉN LUZURIAGA ABAD

Medium-Bending Artist | Educator | Storyteller | Sound Alchemist

📍 California, USA · 📧 mariabelenluzu@gmail.com · 📱 805-800-2009

🎨 ART + EDUCATION EXPERIENCE

 Instructor – Cuesta College, College for Kids
San Luis Obispo, CA | Summer 2025
Teach youth classes in Mask Making, Ukulele, Entrepreneurship, and Travel. Design engaging, hands-on lessons, adapt to diverse learners, and foster creativity, teamwork, and real-world skills.

DTLA Art Night – Los Angeles, CA
Participating Artist | May 2025
Presented original visual artwork as part of a curated citywide art event celebrating community, creativity, and cultural expression. Engaged with diverse audiences through interactive storytelling and installations rooted in migration, memory, and ancestral healing. Contributed to a multidisciplinary platform showcasing emerging and established artists in Downtown Los Angeles.

Opening Minds Showcase – The Bunker Art Gallery
Poet | San Luis Obispo, CA | May 2025
Original written work selected for exhibition as part of the Opening Minds annual showcase, highlighting local artists and writers exploring mental health, identity, and creative expression. Participated in live reading event and included in the official printed collection.

Dia del Niño Festival - San Miguel, CA
Workshop Facilitator | April 2025
Led a hands-on creative workshop teaching children how to build musical instruments using upcycled materials. The activity encouraged imaginative play, sustainability awareness, and rhythm-based learning through music-making. Focused on accessibility, joy, and cultural connection in a family-friendly community setting.

Crafting Legacies – SLO County Public Libraries
Workshop Facilitator | San Luis Obispo, CA | 2024
Facilitated a community workshop exploring how different cultures around the world honor and celebrate their dead. Guided participants through a reflective dialogue on ancestral traditions, memory, and ritual, followed by a hands-on arts and crafts session creating personal tributes and remembrance-inspired pieces. Designed for multigenerational engagement and cultural learning.

Fall Fest – Boys & Girls Club
Musician & Youth Arts Facilitator | San Luis Obispo County | Fall 2024
Performed live music and engaged youth in interactive rhythm and sound-based activities during the annual Fall Fest. Created a welcoming, high-energy environment that encouraged self-expression, cultural celebration, and community through music.

Gallery Assistant/Student
Harold J. Miossi Art Gallery, Cuesta College | Feb 2025 –

PresentProvides general support for exhibitions and gallery events. Assists with curatorial tasks and installations

Workshop Instructor - California

Freelance | Aug 2024 – Present

Designs and leads interactive art workshops blending ancestral storytelling, spirituality, and material exploration

Creator of  Crafting Legacies to center underrepresented narratives

Teaching Artist

Tenaya Elementary School | Aug 2023 

Develops music and visual art programming for youth

Fosters creative healing and cultural literacy through artistic play

Bilingual Teacher (Part-Time)

Coast Unified School District | 

Supports bilingual art-based learning in Spanish and English.

Provides trauma-informed classroom experiences

Music & Art Teacher

Cambria Center for the Arts | Jul 2024 – Present

Teaches mixed-media classes and creative music workshops (ukulele, puppetry, nature-based art)

Engages diverse student groups in hands-on creative practice

Workshop Instructor

County of San Luis Obispo | Sep 2024 – Present

Offers workshops on Ayurvedic principles, ritual-based making, and personal healing through art.

Site Director (Middle School)

KinderCare Learning Companies | 

Oversees day-to-day programming for middle school students

Integrates creative projects, wellness practices, and community-building activities into after-school curriculum