Artist Cristina Martinez Shares Her Favorite Seattle Spots
Image: Chelsea Wirtz
"I didn’t always feel capable of being an artist professionally,” says Cristina Martinez. “I did recognize very, very early on that art was my outlet.” Martinez, the child of a single mom, grew up bouncing around Tacoma and painting landscapes with nail polish on lasagna noodles. “I remember watching Bob Ross for hours and hours and hours and just thinking in my mind, ‘This is so cool that this is what he gets to do for a living.’”
Well, now it’s what she does for a living, too. Martinez, who is Black and Mexican American, has had her work appear regularly in galleries, as murals, and even on clothing, in a partnership with Nordstrom. She lives in West Seattle with her partner—the artist Al-baseer Holly—and their children. Her art is bold and colorful and certainly recalls another the work of one of her heroes, Frida Kahlo. She “paints women as if they are flowers,” declared the New York Times in a profile.
In December, Martinez opened her latest solo gallery show at California State University, Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles, called & Still We Bloom. The show is a major step for an artist who does a lot of commercial work but also envisions her work hanging in museums one day. “I want to be in these spaces, so that the people that come after me, they can also see [it]. I didn’t have a blueprint for what it was like to want to be an artist when I was younger.”
Martinez recently shared some of her favorite Seattle spots, ranging from those younger days to now.
Place to See Art
We spend a lot of time at the Seattle Art Museum.… As a family we spend a significant amount of time there. Anytime anything new opens up, I just love to be able to go there. I always make my kids show me their favorite and least favorite piece.
Meal
Right now, the ceviche at Taco City is our go-to. I get at least once during the weekend, every weekend.
Neighborhood
We live in West Seattle. I know it’s like its own little island over here, but we have made some really great memories and have some very close friends.
Place to Take the Kids
We spend a lot of time at the Blick Art store on Capitol Hill. We just love that whole little area right there with Molly Moon’s, and getting ice cream and then getting art supplies to go and make stuff when we get home.
Day Trip
I love to take the ferry to Bainbridge. We love to rent Airbnbs out there, right on the water. And there’s a cute bookstore out there that we like to go. It’s just a cool, fun thing. There’s a children’s museum over there.
Local Musician
I would say Stas and JusMoni, for sure. They are so talented.
Store
My favorite Seattle store would be Paradice Avenue Souf. They do so many things out in the city and are always having events. Everybody knows and loves them, and they’re super inspiring. As an artist, I’m always so drawn. Whenever I see anybody wearing their stuff. I always know where they got it from.
Seattle Hot Take
There are just so many talented people that live here. So, so many. A lot of people think you have to go to these other cities to make things happen. And I am somebody who has done both. I’ve been in LA, I’ve been in Seattle, I’ve been in Tacoma…I think all the things that you need are here. The community is here. We don’t have to go outside. We just have to continue to kind of pour back into the people that are here. People ask me all the time: is it better to be an artist in LA or out of Seattle? And I genuinely feel like you can make more of an impact living here and being here. All the tools that we need are here. We just have to use them.
Place to Get Inspired
Probably bookstores. I read a lot. I like to visit bookstores wherever we are in Seattle. I love Paper Boat here in West Seattle. Of course, Elliott Bay.
Childhood Spot
I grew up going to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma. I can remember so many times taking that Five Mile Drive as a kid myself, then with my kids. That whole area down there—I’ve spent so much time at Owen Beach. I actually just went for a walk with my mom there the other day. It’s always fun to go back to those places with my own kids that I used to go to so much as a kid.
Supermarket
I love Metropolitan Market. I’m into the cookie. We get it all the time. Being from Tacoma—they have a Met Market out there, and we have one here in West Seattle.
