Getting to know Katty Huertas: from Colombia to making art in the District
By hola | Published | No Comments
(photos courtesy of the artist)
Multidisciplinary artist Katty Huertas moved from Bogotá to Miami at age 19. After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University and a master’s from Maryland Institute College of Arts (MICA) in Baltimore, she moved to Washington, D.C., three years ago and is making art that transports viewers to the country where she was born and raised.
She also shares her artistry with other D.C. residents through large-scale pieces. Huertas created a mural along the Metropolitan Branch Trail that features a packed Metro car, but the passengers include a dog, a cat, a rat, a horse and other animals, all dressed like people. Huertas said the idea was to playfully highlight the diversity of the city through animals. Her latest installation, “Pushing Through,” commissioned by NoMa BID and located at the K Street Virtual Gallery, portrays echinaceas and milkweed found along the stone walls of the Amtrak underpass on K Street in NoMa, highlighting their role in pollination. The pieces are currently viewable through late summer and fall, respectively.
Hola Cultura connected with Huertas to discuss her journey as an artist, inspiration for some of her latest works and taking on painting a mural for the first time. She also offered some thoughtful tips for young artists living in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia (the DMV).
Can you tell me about how you got into art? What brought you to where you’re at now?
Since I was little, I was always interested in making art. I was always drawing and painting. It’s not that I got into art; it’s more like I never left. My parents were very encouraging, so they would always get me puzzles when I was little. I loved doing that.
I took some after-school painting classes when I was in high school, but pretty early on, I knew I wanted to be an artist. As soon as I got out of high school, I started going to college in Colombia… I did two years at a university for the arts in Colombia. There, I did drawing, classical training of figure drawing, and object drawing and spaces — very much foundational classes — and a bit of printmaking.
After that, I moved to the U.S. to be with my husband. I transferred some of my credits to Florida International University, a bigger public university in Miami. Because the system is different there, I had to do a lot of general education requirements like biology and physics, but I also did a little bit of ceramics and painting.
After that, I basically never stopped. I didn’t know a lot about design, but I wanted to learn more about typography, so that’s when I decided to do my MFA. That’s why I picked design.
I’d like to dive a little bit deeper into your identity as a Colombian living here in the DMV. How does your identity as a Colombiana transition into the art you’ve created while living in the District?
When I was first in Miami, there’s a lot more people from Latin America, not just Colombia, but Venezuela, Cuba. There’s a lot of diversity within the Latinx community, so it kind of felt like home away from home. But the work I was doing there was more self-portraits that were a little bit more straightforward. Now my new body of work incorporates more of the landscape. I am starting to look more at the Colombian landscape and endemic species — kind of like creating an intersection of folklore and personal narrative. I think I’m able to do that being in the DMV now, because I have more of a distance from when I was actually in Colombia. It gives me a bit more perspective.
Can you tell me a little bit more about your piece “Made in Bogotá?”
I completed that piece at the beginning of 2024. It triggered a new body of work which is playing more with the landscape. Inspired by folklore and Colombian mythology, I’m trying to tie in folk stories like that of Mountain Mother, a supernatural being that protects the environment, but it’s also seen as a monster due to her punishments.
I’m mixing those narratives with somewhat realistic landscapes, very inspired by magical realism and the place I grew up in. The buildings are real buildings and things from Bogotá. So if you’re from Bogotá, my hope is that you would recognize it, even some of the buildings, if you pay close attention to them.
Can you tell me more about your mural along the Metropolitan Branch Trail and the process of working on that project?
That was actually my first mural that was done in collaboration with NoMa BID. Every year, they have a mural festival. I applied to be part of it, and I got it. My approach to many things is to say yes and then figure it out later. Whatever I’m interested in doing, I think hopefully down the line, I can learn how to do it. So when I signed up for it, I had never done a mural, but in my head, I was like, “I’ve never done a mural, but I’ve painted large paintings on canvas. So I’m gonna approach this as if it were different paintings.” I decided to break it down into windows.
Also, I wanted (the mural) to be very related to the city. The Metro was a great device to show that. I included all my pets — my two cats and my childhood dog — but at the same time, shows different personalities. Like you have the horse with the suit, which I feel like that’s very D.C. But then you also have a rat, and she has a plant; I feel like (the rat character in the mural) is almost a self-portrait. If you take a closer look, she’s wearing a necklace that says Katty.
Of course, painting on the wall is super rough. The texture is so different from painting on a canvas, so that was a little harder to get used to. We also had a time constraint. It had to be done in a week. A lot of my paintings are really detailed; they take longer than a week, even being smaller than a mural. So I really had to work fast.
For the first part of it, I told my friends to come and help me paint. The first part of it was a lot of teamwork. I think that was what made it possible, because I was able to say, “Okay, this whole section is blue, so it’s just paint-by-numbers at that point.” For the latter part of the mural, I was able then to do more detailed stuff with tinier brushes, because I still wanted it to feel like my work. At the end, I was able to work on a little bit of that. But it was really fun. It was a lot of work, also physical work.
It’s actually going to get painted over this year, which is really sad, but it is what it is — that’s what we signed up for. There are so many cool murals in that area, and they get painted over, and then new people come and paint.
What has the reaction to your work been like?
With public art specifically, it’s really cool, because people saw me painting, and they would come up and say nice things or take photos. I think it’s really special. I still get emails about people being like, “Oh, it reminds me of my dogs,” or “Can I get prints?” That is the magic of public art and something that I want to do more of, because I love painting. I’m gonna always do it, but it is a little bit more introspective. Then you maybe show it in a gallery and less people see it.
The times that I’ve been able to make public art, I think that’s been really great. Last year, I was able to do some live painting at the National Gallery of Art. That was also really fun. I realized that I like working with people, seeing them create and get excited about it. Especially with the mural, because it’s animals, I think kids like it, so that’s always fun.
But overall, I’m grateful that the response has been positive. I’m also grateful that the D.C. creative community has embraced me. I’ve had some shows here, Umbrella, the art fair that happens in NoMa. I was able to show some of my newer work there last year. That was also a positive response, for sure.
For younger artists looking to get into art and work around the DMV, do you have any advice for them?
I would say, first, to put yourself out there. Even if you think the work is not ready, I fully believe that done is better than perfect. Don’t wait for it to be perfect to start sharing. You can always get better down the line. But I would say, start sharing now. I would also say attend events. There’s a lot of creative people in D.C. I think, from outside D.C., people don’t know. They probably think it’s a lot of politics, and it is, right? It’s D.C. But if you start going to gallery openings, and artist talks and supporting local galleries, that’s when you can start making connections with other artists. You’re going to realize that after a while, you start seeing the same people around. It kind of is its own community. So I would say, definitely get involved in that and apply to opportunities that are out there.
And if there’s someone that you admire, you can also reach out. People are so generous. People are happy to help. Also supporting artists — like showing up for their events and things — is how you can start building community.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
– Story by Eduardo Coyotzi Zarate
– Copy edited by Samantha Gonzalez, Rebecca Louden and Kami Waller
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