How did you first get inspired to become a local Allston artist? What was your biggest influence? One of things that inspired me was seeing my mentors, for example, this artist, ProBlak. He is a huge, significant person that I’ve looked up to over the years. He’s a graffiti artist, muralist, and he also does murals all over the city and beyond. He used to be my mentor at Artists for Humanity in South Boston. He was also very supportive of other younger peers like myself at the time, and he helped me. He inspired me to grow and I went with the beat of my own drum and realized that, yeah, I want to be a muralist.
I did see on your website that you’ve painted murals across the greater Boston area. So could you go in depth with your experience and process in mural painting, and maybe touch on some of the more difficult murals you’ve had to embark on? Yes, so with mural painting, you use your body a lot, especially the bigger the surface. When I was doing murals, especially my own murals, I would do smaller scale walls, and then I’ve just started challenging myself more and more. Eventually, people wanted me to make larger scale work. I am a very competitive person. I love challenging myself, and saying “what if?” My goal in my art career is to do a building-size mural, and that’s something that I can just see myself doing. Five years ago, I would not think that, but now I feel very confident that I can see myself doing something more massive.
So my more ambitious piece would have to be the stairwell mural. It was all done against a wall that’s encased with stairs. It was a very complex mural to install because it wasn’t a super flat surface. It was all in sections, and we had to install scaffolding as well. So that was a huge challenge. We had to balance ourselves and reach certain heights. It was a little scary, but it was just such a very complex job. That’s one mural and the second one would have to be the Rollerama. Yes, the roller rink that I did in Kendall Square.
I did also see that you have been kind of doing this since high school. You’ve had some commissions and some artwork that you’ve been doing since high school. So how was it when you first started off? I’ll never forget my very first commission in high school. I had this girl in high school who really liked my artwork, and she was a student, and she wanted me to do a drawing for her. So I did a drawing, and I gave her the drawing, and she didn’t have the money.
After that, I learned from my mentors and learned from this place, Artists for Humanity. They’re a nonprofit organization. They teach high school students and inner city high school students. They get paid to make art, basically. These kids are involved in different departments, from painting to graphic design, sculpture, you name it. They basically get paid and get commissioned to make art. So I learned from Artists for Humanity. I learned how to price my work and sell my work even. As I got older, I have more self worth as an artist. And I’ve gotten much better at sales and talking to potential clients.
So do you also generate income through services related to your artwork? So how do you think more artists can learn to become more entrepreneurial and handle that side of the arts world? If you want to become an artist, try to build the business side. I recommend watching videos like, especially YouTube, or social media on building your business,. It’s really important that you don’t ever under-price yourself. We have these thoughts like “I’m not good enough.” Or “maybe, this is like, bad, not too good quality, or whatever, so I should maybe price it this low or whatever.” No, people need to get that out of their head, and those hours you’ve spent with your work to travel to getting those materials — your talent — that’s how much your work is worth basically.
Also, networking is so important; you have got to put yourself out there.You can’t be shy. I always carry business cards on hand with me, and I put them in my purse, in my pockets, everywhere. So when I’m at an art gallery or an event or whatever, I’m always handing out my business cards. Also build a portfolio, make a website, build up your Instagram, make content, make reels. It’s so important because that’s how you’re going to bring in clients too. And, then with like, sending emails off to potential clients. That’s almost like you’re becoming a salesperson.
Out of all your artwork, what do you think is your favorite and why? So, out of all the murals I’ve done, my favorite mural is Crimson Archway. The exterior mural out here. And the reason why that one’s my favorite is that I feel like it really resonates with who I am as an artist, and it’s this vibrant piece, and it has this radiant glow to it, and it almost feels kind of like a portal, like a sanctuary, like a spiritual portal to it. So, that’s why people gravitate towards it, and they would interact and take photos in front of it. It’s definitely my favorite piece, and it was also very easy to install. That mural was a breeze to work on.
What do you think is your most impactful mural, and why? Like, what do you think is the mural that made the statement, “I am Massiel. This is my artwork,” to really put you on the map? Rollerama, 1,000% because, the 7000-square-foot mural I told you about earlier, it’s a roller rink, right? It was a massive roller rink. What my work does is it celebrates nostalgia. And as you can see, it’s vintage, like ‘60s, ‘70s, retro-type of work. I’ve always wanted to paint a roller rink, and that’s always been my dream, because it’s very nostalgic and retro. So, my dream finally came true, and I feel like the Rollerama roller rink resonates with who I am as an artist.
What elements of the Allston community and your personal mission do you intend to capture with your style of art? Bringing people together. Allston carries this very diverse community, especially in the music scene, and there’s also a lot of development changes happening here in this community. What I want to capture is just bringing the community together and, and making it colorful and, and just bringing back the familiar.
I don’t know if you know Ozzy Osbourne from the band Black Sabbath, who passed away not too long ago. And again, Allston is a very music-based community, and so I just decided to do a mural of Ozzy Osbourne, and I did it in two or three days, and it was a week after he passed away. So after I had finished it cars were just honking, loving the piece. People would come, bring roses to the mural and take photos in front of it.
And that is for Allston. That’s what I wanted to do. And I did that. I was grieving, so I just wanted to give back to the community. I did not get any pay for this. I didn’t want any pay for this. None of that. I just did it because I just wanted to do it and, and I was also a huge fan of Ozzy, and I know a lot of musicians in this community are huge fans of Ozzy as well. I want the community of Allston to just come together and just celebrate the nostalgia of things.
Has there been anything you’ve learned or adjusted during your time as an Alchemy Station Studio Artist, any signs of growth? Yes, my work has been building very vastly, and it’s overwhelmingly exciting, because I’ve never been this busy in my life. It’s also just been great to be able to come here and just create. I’m grateful for having a space where I can actually create and do what I want to do. And yeah, other than that, I have zero complaints. I really love being here at Alchemy Station.
Where do you want to see your artwork head in the future? I would like to do murals outside of Massachusetts, outside of New England, maybe even outside of the US definitely, bigger-than-life murals. That’s what I want to do. I have dreamed of doing murals for basketball courts, more sports, sports affiliated, or fashion affiliated, like working with my favorite dream company, that sort of thing.