Meet Amber Huelasquez | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amber Huelasquez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amber, let’s start by talking about what inspires you?
As an artist there are so many different ways to get inspired. But ultimately I can narrow it down to my city Los Ángeles and big beautiful women. Kind of an interesting mix, I know.

I love my city, I’m proud to be born and raised. I grew up seeing so much street art, walking by art galleries, staring at slap tags, and admiring huge murals all over the city. I am a firm believer it really routed me into an artistic path I decided to take from a young age. Los Ángeles really is a such a creative capital. I’ve been inspired all over almost anywhere & everywhere I’ve stepped foot.

Big beautiful women (and people) inspire me and overall my art. I truly appreciate the bigger body because it often gets ridiculed & never gets represented in a beautiful light. I’m big myself and I think it’s important to be inclusive and advocate for those who don’t believe their body isn’t as beautiful as mainstream media portrays. I’m strongly inspired to represent the bigger body in my art work and I will continue to do so.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art started out being a coping mechanism for myself, I struggle with depression and anxiety so expressing myself creatively has helped me survive. I owe art everything. I wouldn’t be here today if I didn’t create. Art has been an apart of my life ever since I could remember. I fell deeply in love with drawing, fell in love all over again when I began painting, and digital art really solidified my passion.
I believe what sets me apart from other artists is I focus on to represent the bigger body and I often don’t see that in a lot of art settings, and I think it’s important to be inclusive in that way. The bigger body is beautiful taste well, and I believe deserves some recognition.

I also feel that I take on different kinds of mediums and I don’t really have one that I focus on. It’s just what really inspires me at the time. I’ve created paintings, purses, lighters, tote bags, coloring books, logo designs etc. Anything that really catches my attention at the time.

As a woman in an art world, it’ definitely has not been easy to be taken seriously and I just have to remind myself that I am just as valid as anyone. Just because my art is feminine, doesn’t mean that it is weak, it can be as strong as any other work of art. Biggest lesson I’ve learned is just to be true to myself and not everyone’s gonna be a fan of you and that’s all right. As long as I’m authentically me I’ll be okay.

It’s been an uphill battle to be proud of myself, but I have come to terms that I truly am proud of myself, and all that I have accomplished. There is many other things I want to do but I have to remind myself of what has been done so far.

I really want the world to know that I exist, that I am Latina, I am queer, I am here, and I’m not going anywhere until my art reaches volumes.

Really excited about taking on new projects in 2024. I have so many in the works and I can’t wait to share them with my audience.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting for the week, I think the first place we’d have to go to is to get some food. We would probably hit up a pupuseria first. There’s so many good spots in East Hollywood. Head on over to the LACC swap meet to support local vendors. We definitely need to go to the beach so we would probably head on over to Will Rogers or Malibu. I’d take them to explore Olvera street. Take them to eat at Rodeo then take a nice walk to echo park right after, get a sweet treat from an ice cream person. Depending on the time of year we would also have to make our way to exposition park’s beautiful rose garden. Maybe walk on over to one of the museums next door. And I think to tie the whole trip together we’d watch the stars at Griffith observatory.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Honestly, I have a such a large group of individuals who have contributed to my story. My partner, family, friends & mentor have truly supported me with every aspect of my art journey. They’ve all showed up and/or helped set up at my art & craft shows, they’ve shared my art whenever or wherever they could and given me guidance along the way. I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I love my village.

Here’s to name a few from the top of my head my mother, my sister Tiffany, my partner Divonn, my friends Ren C., Michelle B., Dominick R., Jason H., Cianna D., Jorge T., Nathalie E., Crystal A., Jackie M., Katia V., Giselle G., Kimberly M., Kristine E.,and my mentor Alexis Xol.

Website: Huelasquez.bigcartel.com

Instagram: @huelasquez