Coming Home
'La Reyna' 40' x 4.5' Latex Paint and Acrylic Paint. 2016.
Then
My art practice has shifted tremendously from adolescence to present-day, at 30 years old. My artistic voice reflected that of my Texas roots and focused on my mother’s family land in the rural east Texas piney woods and documented the landscapes of scenes from my childhood. I loved painting the old pastures, clearings in the woods, 100-year-old uninhabited houses, fallen trees, and my grandmother’s back porch at night using acrylic paints, oil pastels, colored pencils, watercolors, gouaches, and collages. Going into college, my work continued to be of an autobiographical nature, but I no longer focused on happy childhood memories. I came face-to-face with the darkness of human nature, namely betrayal, denial, and my own repressed emotions that stemmed from fears I didn’t realize I’d had. My sketchbook and paintings were a reflection of it all and functioned as a diary of things that I felt reluctant to share with friends and family. I began to heal after college, putting all of my energy into my freelance mural career, where my main artistic focus was on fulfilling the visions of my clients. I continued to use acrylic paint, as well as latex and spray paint, building on my skills and becoming obsessed with perfection. I painted 30 murals and illustrated my first published children’s book, Gloria’s Dream by Adriana Pernetz. In doing so, and in spite of my accomplishments, I became disconnected from my own practice and imagination.
"Everything I need is here."
– Elizabeth Hudson, aka Maria Allott
'Windows to the World- Dubai' Illustration. 2020.
Now
Currently, I’m integrating my healing journey and digital painting into my art practice. This has resulted in a more experimental and illustrative style, like colorful outlines and a looser drawing style, a bit different from the more realistic style that I aimed for in my freelancing career. My newest series is entitled Windows to the World, where I depict singular black women on balconies, patios, and window-dominant spaces overlooking the cities of Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Phoenix, Austin, Dubai, and Salvador da Bahia. My plan is to ultimately depict at least 40 various cities that I’ve visited, lived in, or plan to visit to show that black womanhood is full of agency, the ability to have moments alone to reflect, without being lonely. I love the idea of coming home to oneself, wherever you are in the world. I have found myself being fully present in different cities and environment during my healing journey. The resulting lessons that arise have been extremely cathartic for me and I want to share that feeling with the world.
About the Artist
Elizabeth Hudson, aka Maria Allott, is an illustrator and muralist whose love for history, geography, and spirituality formed her identity as an artist. She primarily works with digital, acrylic, and spray paint, which allows her to move through illustration and mural-making with ease. Her studies at Booker T. Washington High School (a historically Black school) in Dallas and the University of Texas at Austin allowed her to explore her identity as an emerging artist, especially in the realms of world and art history. She has been working as a freelance muralist for the past 12 years, completing a total of 30 large-scale works in Dallas, Texas; Austin, Texas; Scottsdale, Arizona; and Culver City, California. Her most current body of work deals with space and place in relation to black womanhood. The utilization of slightly stylized, colorful figures, and interior spaces re-imagined as dreamscapes pay homage to her own introspective journey to self through her travels and collecting of novelties. She is influenced by the works of many, most notably Faith Ringgold, Vera B. Williams, Michael McBride, and Kadir Nelson, all of whom produced art that influenced her vivid childhood imagination that has stayed alive through her dedication to artmaking.