May Artist of the Month
Meet Maria Babb
Maria Babb was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first began to love the vibrant colors that are celebrated throughout her culture. She was always drawn to art but did not think it would become such a big part pf her life. Babb was president of her high school art club, but had no formal training as a child or young adult. She briefly thought about majoring in Commercial Art in college but practicality took over. She married right after college, and started a family as well as a successful career in banking. Needless to say, she did not have a lot of time to pursue art, but even then she used the time after her children were in bed for therapeutic crafting; “It was such a relief of tension and I have always been a night owl.
Babb had a very fulfilling career in commercial banking and then running business development for her bank. In 2012, she began having some memory issues and was finally diagnosed with a rare neurological disease (called CADASIL) for which there is no treatment or cure. When she was no longer able to work in banking, she turned to art to regain a voice; “Art allowed me to express myself in a different way. I immersed myself in it.” She first started taking watercolor classes with Sarah Alexander and Nan Rumpf, “an absolutely wonderful teacher.” She painted in watercolor for three to four years but was drawn to acrylic painting for its ability to provide the vibrant colors that were so important to her and reflective of her Puerto Rican heritage.
In 2016, Babb began studying with Leslie Graff of the Danforth Museum. “I learned a great deal from her.” She quickly became very proficient in her own eclectic style of painting: “I do a little bit of everything: landscapes, still life, flowers and figures. I tend to enjoy detailed realistic paintings the most, but I have tried some abstract painting.” In some of her recent works she mixes realism with abstraction very successfully. “I get so absorbed in the process. I often think Mozart must have felt this way as he composed.” Her compositions are absolutely stunning and she has won multiple awards for her distinctive and unique paintings.
Babb is an active and exhibiting member of the WSA, Arts Worcester, the Danforth Museum and the Attleboro Art Museum. She has a studio in her home and enjoys painting there-“It is my outlet.” Her growing family is another great love for this artist, who has two sons and now has two grandchildren. One of her most recent paintings captures one of her sons proposing to his fiancé. At the wedding of her other son, she presented the couple with a painting that was a collage of their favorite places and moments. She has also painted her granddaughter in a work that is cherished. Aside from passing her works onto family, Babb sells a great deal of her paintings on Facebook and at exhibits. She recently sold a sunflower painting at the Awakenings Show at the Webster Bank in Wellesley to benefit the Relief Fund for Ukraine. “The buyer purchased the piece for double the cost when she realized the cause.”