Originally from New Orleans, I’ve been living in Jacksonville for over 20 years. My work revolves around my childhood memories; documenting them, remembering them, reliving them,.. i hope you enjoy them ;)- Yvonne C Lozano
1. OK Yvonne. There is a question I have had for a while. I see
your blue and white dog in a lot of your paintings. I think hes really
cool. What is the story behind the doggie?
His name was Snoopy he went by several other names, but the official
name was Snoopy. He was born in our kitchen when I was 4 and he died
in my arms when I was 17. He was my first friend, he was family and he
was with me through so much, the most loyal of friends & he never let
me down. He was all mutt, there were several guesses on what he might
be… beagle mix, cocker spaniel mix, springer spaniel mix… & on &
on…
I would sneak him into my bed at night, we taught him to sit up & sit
down, we taught him to howl, we taught him to sit in the bicycle
basket, sit on a raft, slide down a slide… We had other pets like
rabbits, chickens, a bird, fish, and out of pure jealousy he learned
to eat whatever they ate: bird seed, lettuce, carrots, worms, fish
food… he was a great dog.
2. I think its wonderful how all of your paintings tell the tales of
you growing up as a child. It really helps remind people to take
pleasure in the simple things, just like when we were kids. Since your
paintings tell such a wonderful and fun story…have you ever thought
about doing a children’s book or something along those lines?
I recently started researching children’s book illustrating. It’s not
an easy profession to get into, but I’m gonna try. When I originally
started this series, I never imagined the possibilities of the
paintings as more than just my memories on canvas but slowly the
series really started to develop into full narrated stories & many
people began to really relate with the different characters &
scenarios. I’m currently working on some dummy books to submit to
publishing houses, I’m also working on getting a good inventory of
stuff, it’s been kinda difficult due to lack of time but my goal is to
start the ball rolling in full force by the end of the year. I didn’t
want to submit works to publishing houses without doing the research,
b/c they get so many submittals, they don’t have much time to waste on
someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.
3. I know we had a conversation one time about you having a pet
chicken too. How did you come about having a pet chicken? My wife had
a tale of a pet chicken as well but, that tale had a pretty bad
ending…for the chicken at least.
I’ve had a few pet chickens in my life. My mom somehow acquired 2 when
we lived in New Orleans, she’s Colombian so it was normal for her to
want chickens around, collect their eggs and eventually eat the
chickens. The original 2 chickens were pretty mean, you could only
observe them from far away, one chicken in particular hated my sister
and always tried to peck her eyes out. I was only about 4 or 5 when we
had those chickens so I don’t have too many memories of them, my mom
eventually made them for dinner. The other 2 pet chickens I had were
in Colombia. We were staying with my uncle and he had 2 beautiful
white chickens, very nice & loving chickens. They were so cool that
they let you pick them up and carry them around and they never put up
a fight. I was about 9 years old when I knew those chickens. One day I
woke up and both were gone and in their place was this gorgeous
rooster. I asked my mom what happened to the chickens and she said
they were traded in for the rooster. I was sad but was easily
distracted by the rooster b/c he was just as cool as the chickens, I
would carry him under my arm & walk up the street, buy a strawberry
popsicle and walk back to my uncle’s house. I would sit him on a table
and eat my popsicle while he just watched. A day or so after my
chickens disappeared, we planned to go have a picnic by a local river.
The food was wrapped up in huge banana leaves and when they unwrapped
them the smell of Arroz con Pollo (Rice & Chicken) filled the air. My
mouth was watering! Then I had a revelation. I turned to my mom and
asked her again…”Where are my chickens?” she gave me the same answer
she did before, so I asked her again, “Where are my chickens?” Then
she responded with “There are starving children in the world so you
better eat your food!” That’s how I knew I was about to eat my
chickens. It was a very sad sad day in my life… but delicious, too.
4. What was a real big factor in you deciding to pursue becoming and
artist? When was it that you decided that you wanted to paint and
create art for all to enjoy?
There really was no factor, ever since I can remember I was creating
in one form or another. I always remember being drawn to crayons,
pencils, pens, paint, markers, lipstick, mud, finger-paint anything
that I could create a visual image with. A weird thing I remember is
when my mom would be shopping in a department store, I would go
straight to where the women’s purses & wallets were. Back then lots of
them came with little built in note pads & mini pencils or pens. For
some reason I was fascinated with the idea of a purse with a built in
pad of paper & pen. If I ever got one of those purses, I would be able
to doodle whenever I felt like it! I know it’s a weird thought, but
it’s true.
For Christmas & birthdays, I always asked for art kits, kindergarten &
grade school I was constantly choosing the art projects over
socializing or games… I’ve had several hobbies through my life that
have come & gone, just to name a few: tennis, surfing, clarinet,
cheerleading, soccer, tap dancing, acrobats, volleyball, etc.
The only thing that’s been a constant is creating art. Oh, and hanging
out with dogs 
I don’t feel right if I’m not creating or in the process of creating,
it’s fulfilling in a lot of ways. It definitely started as a self
indulgence, an escape for me since I was so shy as a child, and now
it’s turned into that and more. I get a lot of satisfaction seeing
people relate to my work, seeing that I’ve helped make someone
smile… that’s been the icing on the cake.
5. Me and you have been showing at The Art Center for over a year
now. How did you first find out about The Art Center? I have learned
so much from the other artists at The Art Center. Do you feel that The
Art Center has also helped you to become a better and more
knowledgeable artist?
I was part of another artists’ co-op that kinda fizzled away. Me and
three other artists from that co-op (Elaine Bedell, Kenny Balser, &
Erik Penia) continued to work together on projects, mainly murals for
non-profit groups like the Humane Society and the Department of
Children & Families. Volunteering your art & talent is wonderful but
at the same time we needed and wanted a venue or opportunity to show
and sell our work, but not in traditional galleries, we wanted a place
that was about artists, run by artists, educating artists, empowering
artists, etc… JMOMA held a workshop about co-ops and people from
Torpedo Factory and other large co-ops were invited to speak about
their experiences and come to find out, we weren’t the only group of
artists in Jacksonville interested in this concept. We grouped
together with other artists with the same vision, we had actually
heard about each other through the grapevine and the rest is history.
Hard work, perseverance, creativity, and endurance has gotten us to
where we are now. It’s great because we all have different backgrounds
and different experiences. We really feed off of each other. The
biggest issue we have, which majority of artists have, is that most of
us have day jobs to pay the bills. Unfortunately, the day jobs get in
the way of our forward progress, but in the same token, some of our
day jobs have gotten us the business experience and contacts needed to
move forward. I love being around other artists, I love seeing us sell
work, get exposure, and be successful. We’re definitely reaping
something great from what we sow.
6. Thanks for doing this interview Yvonne. In closing do you have any
advice for those artists out there that are just starting out and
trying to get noticed?
There’s a great Bible passage that sums up my view on being an artist
and just life in general :
Proverbs 12:1 “Whoever loves instruction and correction loves
knowledge, but he who hates reproof is like a brute beast, stupid and
indiscriminating.”
It seems a little harsh but my interpretation of this verse is: always
keep an open mind, be humble, be open to opinions and advice from
everyone. This doesn’t mean you change to please other people or to
try to make everyone happy, it just means be open to the wisdom of
others, everyone has lived and experienced something in this lifetime
in some form or another. If you let your ego get the best of you, then
you only have a tendency to limit yourself and your growth as a person
and as an artist. Never stop learning…
I also believe you need to love the city you live in because here, is
where you’ll plant your seed and love the people who live here because
they are your future clients.
You can see more of Yvonnes work at:
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