FRANCISCO GABUARDI, Miami, FL
Winner of the Latino Art Beat national competition
Hermanita

Hermanita is a very personal artwork. The expression Hermanita, and my painting, symbolize a beautiful child that is born when a Latino or Latina gets married to a person from a different country.

I was born in Nicaragua and my father is from Costa Rica. My father left us when I was five years old and ever since, our mother has been both a mother and a father. That's why one of my goals is to win this contest and make my mom proud of me, because I know that she has worked very hard to give us everything we needed.

Hermanita was inspired by my little sister, Ana Lucia, who was born in the U.S. but of parents from different Latino countries. The top she is playing with is a toy that is loved by children all around the world—I played with such a brightly colored top when I was a little kid. I used a variety of colors to represent Latinos and the beautiful mix of cultures that make up our people.

ANDY HERNANDEZ, Los Angeles, CA
Mi familia

My art piece for the Latino Art Beat Hispanic Heritage art competition is called Mi familia. In my drawing I wanted to incorporate the things that were so important to me while I was growing up, such as family and religion. I wanted to show how my family has grown and evolved to now include my mother, my sister and my nephew. I wrapped a rebozo (a kind of shawl) around everyone to show how close and interconnected we all are. I also added a rosary and La Virgin de Guadalupe to symbolize how important religion is to me. I used color pencils to give my artwork a vivid look and to add depth.

CAROL ANN PATITUCCI, Chicago, IL
Expedita

When I set out to illustrate what my Hispanic heritage and culture mean to me, the first thing that came to mind was my grandmother, Expedita Baez Ocasio. She migrated with my grandfather from Spain to Puerto Rico to live a better life. Shortly after her arrival, she gave birth to my mother Mayadet.

Expedita was very hip and artistic, and she had a soulful eye when it came to paintings. A self-proclaimed member of the Beat Generation, she loved art so much she ended up taking trips to New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s so she could be around the bustling art scene there.

Today my grandmother lives in my hands. Because it was she who brought out the artist in me I had my answer from the very beginning—Expedita Baez is my heritage! I know that what she has given me will help me in the future, and it is with great love and admiration that I dedicate this oil-painted portrait to the memory of my grandmother.

JOSUÉ JACOBO, Houston, TX
Mi heroe

My culture and my heritage are fully represented in this piece of artwork: the hands-on worker, with his restless Spanish-American blood, finding solutions to even the most tedious of problems. I based this archetype on my beloved father.

The warm reddish flame represents the respect and affection I feel for my father. It was he who taught me a vocabulary in which the expression "I can't do it" doesn't exist! He also taught me that there is a mechanical, electric, logical, physical or moral solution to any difficulty. These lessons have proved vital to me in my short lifetime, and I hope to pass them on to my children in much the same way. Then they, too, can help me to maintain "the vision" just as I had helped my father.

OMOTAYO AKINBOLAJO, Washington, D.C.
Isabel

To me, the Latino Art Beat competition is an opportunity to learn more about cultural diversity and a life style different than my own. I titled my piece after Isabel, a Latina friend of mine.

I have always loved traditional costumes and I have come to view them as true art form. I admire the fluidity of the Latin dress and how gracefully it moves. And the colors and patterns are so beautiful! Even the swirling movement of the cloth seems to keep time to the rhythms of Latin music. I hope I have captured, with honesty and affection, the essence of this beautiful Latin icon.