Today we’d like to introduce you to Latosha Maddox.
Hi Latosha, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I grew up in Frederick Maryland, and always loved art and surrounded my life with it as long as i can remember. When i was in elementary school I got a summer scholarship to take an art class at the Delaplaine Art Center in, and thats where my love for art really bloomed. Every summer I took a class at the Art center focusing on different medias froms, my favorite classes focused on sketching cartoons in comic styles and ceramics. Throughout grade school art continued to be the center of my life and always my favorite classes, when i was in High school I auditioned for and got accepted into the Arts and Communication Academy of Frederick Maryland and continued to focus on both ceramics and fine arts. I attended Louisiana State University where I majored in Elementary education and had a fine arts minor, I continued to create new works of ceramic and canvas art both in and outside of the classroom, that eventually led me to being in a series of art shows in NYC in the fall and winter of 2018. Following college I moved to Baltimore and became the resident artist of a neighborhood in West Baltimore. I centered my artistic focus on solely on painting, and began crafting my style that highlights black women and children in surreal like environments. During covid 2020 I felt a calling to create more joy for those in rougher areas that were stuck inside but couldn’t afford to beautify their own homes or neighborhoods. I began painting positive affirmations and quotes on the boarded up walls of the abandoned homes in the neighborhood where I lived. Soon after a local news crew, WBALTV picked up my story and decided to share it, that led to a few different news interviews centered around my personal art and journey. This is where my art career in Baltimore kicked off, I began getting more followers on social media and requests from different businesses, non profits and private residences for mural jobs. Since then I have been living in Baltimore as a full time artist, teaching art classes for small children up to the elderly, and doing different art shows, events and mural opportunities that come my way. I have been fortunate enough to travel and do murals in places throughout the DMV, and as far as New York and the St Thomas Virgin Islands and hope to continue to expand my art to places i once never thought was possible.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
At first i had a very easy transition into becoming an artist full time during the covid lockdown. Since then, my journey has not always been easy, I was diagnosed with endometriosis DIE stage 4 when I was 25 and have had two have several surgeries over the last 6 years since being diagnosed. In that time its been a struggle to find a consistent medical care team and plan that suits my needs.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Over the years i’ve worked in many different art mediums, styles, and techniques. I teach different classes, and workshops for people as young as 4 years old to as old as 95. The style I feel as though i’m most known for is painting clouds in various forms. I use skyscapes to create surreal, fantasy like environments and settings usually centered around a black woman or child in some way. But i’m most proud of being given the opportunity to bring my art into communities where children either get a front row seat in my process or are actually able to help and work along with me to create a work of art, I love to be able to inspire children and show them that their own passions for art can grow beyond the classroom and they could one day be a professional artist if thats what they want too.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Seeing people be able to see themselves and their own personal stories in my art, and relaying it back to me. When i see a child yell to their parent “That’s me!” or “That looks like me!” and seeing the pure joy on their face. My life has always revolved around art for as long as I can remember, but when I was a child I didn’t see a lot of representation for myself growing up in Frederick Maryland. I never learned about any famous black artists growing up, I never had any black art teachers or just even really knew that being an artist was attainable for myself until moving to Baltimore Maryland and seeing it first hand.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.artbytosh.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbytosh
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1QMPkrEhtF/?mibextid=wwXIfr
