About
An Artist At Heart
Born in Bolivia, Maria Eugenia Martin is the youngest of five children; she first came to the United States as a student. While living in Maryland, Maria Eugenia Villavicencio attended a community college, where she studied English and a variety of business classes. She also entered and won the local beauty pageant, commemorating the fourteenth anniversary of the Spanish Festival held annually in Washington, DC. Maria Eugenia returned to La Paz, Bolivia and then seven years later, she was offered sponsorship to the United States, and this time found herself in San Diego, California. In San Diego she met her husband, a career Navy man, while attending church.
The Navy sent them to live in Italy and the beautiful island of Sardinia provided the perfect backdrop for Maria Eugenia to learn to paint, using oil on canvas as her medium of choice. An excellent artist, she has been hired to paint several still life pieces, murals and occasionally has time for freelance work. Maria Eugenia is a woman of other talents as well. She comes from a background of artisans; her mother and grandmothers, both tailors and seamstresses, taught María Eugenia to sew at a young age. She has since been designing and refining her own pieces.
In 2007 María Eugenia completed her first book, entitled Eternal Life, which is available for purchase in both English and Spanish (Vida Eterna). In 2012 she also obtained a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management from Park University. Most recently María Eugenia has delved into watercolor; learning this new skill has given her work new life and allowed her to explore her
love of fashion. Maria Eugenia is proudest of being a wife, mother of three children and enjoying the gifts that she has been given. She has taught art, English, Spanish, sewing, cake decorating, and volunteers at the National Marine Corps Museum. This year she exhibited her artwork at the Bolivian Embassy in Washington DC. As the Executive Director of the first Bolivian Conference Exhibit
Fair, EXPOBOL, María Eugenia executed a marathon work for the success of the ambitious project where she exhibited her late pieces celebrating the Bolivian Culture.