Hailing from Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, and currently living in Houston, Ana Maria Ortiz (Ana Marietta) started painting on old wood pieces with tempera paint as a little girl in her dad’s wood shop in Barranquitas.

Getting into the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, she studied art and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. Known by the local art scene for her humanoid creatures, Ana paints and draws animals with exaggerated anthropomorphic features, creating sympathy for her iconoclastic subjects in a society of stereotypes with sensibility and dark humor. These noble beasts, that seem to look at us in silence, represent more than a design but a language that each must adapt to their own understanding.

Ana’s skills in creating large-scale murals have been recognized in multiple cities for the subtle brush strokes and shading of hybrid creatures that bear her signature beaks and human-like eyes. Her street pieces reside around the world in London, Miami, Turin, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and Kiev among many others. She has been exhibited in Mexico, London, and at the prestigious Station Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston. She has also participated in many renowned art events such as Life is Beautiful Las Vegas, Pow!Wow! Hawaii, Unexpected in Arkansas, Wynwood Miami, Artscape in Sweden, SXSW in Austin, Desvelarte in Spain, Saturce es Ley and Yaucromatic in Puerto Rico, Art United Us in Kiev, etc. At this moment, Ana lives in Houston where she works as an artist and art instructor at Glassell School of Art from the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.