Maria Arroyo (b. 1962) began drawing and painting in the 1980s as a participant in the Alpha Art Studio program. Since 2013, she has been an artist at Slingshot / Alpha Art Studio. Slingshot / Alpha Art Studio is a non-profit progressive arts center in downtown Santa Barbara that supports artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The center promotes the creative practice, professional visibility, and inclusion of artists with IDD living in Santa Barbara County. Slingshot is a program of the Alpha Resource Center of Santa Barbara.

Featured on Arroyo’s mural, entitled Nature Dream Windows, is a ‘warrior bird’ inspired by the Mexica Warriors. To Arroyo, this figure represents the great caretaker, the one who looks after all the plants and animals of the earth. All come to him because of his power and benevolence. He keeps equanimity, balance, and harmony. The artist has portrayed this great figure atop a hill with magnificent wings and an elaborate headdress. Cloaked in feathers and accompanied by a devoted bird, he seems to suggest the symbol of ‘one who sees all.’ The ‘warrior bird’ looks over flora and fauna native to the Central Coast, in addition to inhabitants of the area, standing atop an opposing hill.

Maria’s Latinx heritage gives her work a sense of magical realism. Her eccentric landscapes and iconic figures, often encompassed in ornate patterns, pull the viewer into a mythic world – suspended from the everyday without fully leaving it behind. Arroyo’s ability to envision and render new realities, to build new worlds is so very pertinent to current society as we are called upon to re-imagine and redefine our relationship to the land, all of its inhabitants, and our resources. Voices like Maria’s have long been muted and left out of these broader conversations that affect us all. We must now consider how our myopic discourse has led us astray and what can be learned from other voices.

Maria's mural concept was facilitated by the creative team at the Slingshot. The mural concept was supported and translated from Maria's original drawings and artwork by Hannah Henderson, Painting/Ceramics Artist Facilitator, and Jessica Schlobohm, Gallery Director. The mural will be executed by the Slingshot creative team, which also includes Christian Hali, Painting/Drawing/Print Artist Facilitator, and Mary Balda Delaney, Ceramic / Fiber Artist Facilitator.