Maria Brito was born in HavanaCuba in 1947. She and her brother left for the United States, when she was only thirteen, through an "underground railroad" like system called ‘Operation Pedro Pan’. This system allowed children from the communist island to flee. When she and her brother arrived in the United States they traveled to Miami, Florida and grew up in a Cuban immigrant community. She later attained her masters and bachelor's degrees in fine arts, and is now known as a Cuban-American artist specializing in painting, sculpture and installations. Brito began showing her art in major venues in the early 1980s. After she started, she received significant national recognition. She later received commission to create a sculpture that would be shown in the Olympic Sculpture Park in South Korea and in 1990 her work was included in "The Decade Show." In 2001, Brito was then invited to ceremonies with Laura Bush when the exhibit "Arte Latino" Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum" traveled to the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago. Today, Brito still lives in the Cuban immigrant community that she lived in when she first traveled to the United States with her two sons. When she is not traveling with her art, she is an adjunct professor of art at Barry University in Miami.
Education
In 1978, Brito attained a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Florida International University. Later, in 1979, she obtained her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Miami. She also earned degrees in studio art and art education, and did graduate study at the University of Miami. Her most characteristic form of expression was explored through a ceramics course, and the work she accomplished for her MFA proved her growing talent with found objects and mixed media installations.
Art
Maria Brito once told Helen Kohen, writer from the "Miami Herald" that her inspirations often come from random words that she hears spoken in a certain manner, from objects that she picks up at flea markets, or from common everyday objects. She says that her work "is a means of communication with others. Its is the medium through which I explore my persona experience as I engage in a dialogue with the spectator, who, by seeing my work, can identify with its content and message through the recognition of similar events that have shaped their lives." Much of her art is open to interpretation which Brito encourages, preferring the viewer to choose the meaning, rather than an "artistically correct evaluation." Brito's process of creating her work is very intuitive.
Awards
Brito has been praised for paintings and sculptures that use themes of loss and the search for identity. Her work is considered extremely symbolic and has earned a place in many permanent collections including one at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She has also won two National Endowment fellowships, the Florida Department of State Grant, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.
Individual exhibitions
1980 – The Gallery at 24, Miami, Florida, E.E.U.U.,
1994 – "The Decade Show. Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s", Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art, New York City
1994 – "Breaking Barriers. Selections from the Museum of Art's Permanent Contemporary Cuban Collection" in Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.
Awards
During her life she has obtained many awards and recognitions like the
1977 – Excellence in Art – Florida International University, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.;
