Cover Artist: Andreina Bates

By Gina Malone

A healthy dose of curiosity has kept Andreina Bates exploring and creating throughout her life—whether that be taking radios apart to see how they worked, photographing the world around her or creating with textiles. She chose industrial engineering as a career and it was at the encouragement of a fellow engineer—who gifted her a watercolor painting she had created—that Bates considered a path she hadn’t before. “I was floored to learn she had painted it herself and my first thought was ‘are we allowed to do that?’” Bates says. “For some reason, I had never tried painting because it felt like something a child would be doing, not working adults.”

Bates grew up in Caracas, Venezuela surrounded by family. “At 17 years old, I moved to Kansas to study English,” she says. “Long story short, I never actually moved back home. The political environment in Venezuela shifted and I felt I had better opportunities here.” With her curiosity about how things work and a natural aptitude for math and science, industrial engineering appealed to her. After graduation, she found a job in Florida where she met her husband, had twins and lived for 20 years until 2020 when they achieved their dream of moving to Asheville.

When her friend gave her that watercolor painting—nearly 9 years ago now—she went out the next day and bought a sketchbook. Eventually, she graduated to experimentation on large canvases. “I feel my most authentic self when I am painting,” Bates says.

She does still work full-time outside of art, however. “Having a job that doesn’t rely on my creativity allows me to remain playful in my practice,” she says. “I believe this comes through in my paintings and people can connect with that playfulness. My creative process is uniquely influenced by my analytical skills. I work in layers, much as I would when managing a large tech project. Starting out with big bold strokes, before getting into the details. I am always curious and comfortable experimenting with mixing media and textures.”

That experimentation extends to subjects, surfaces and methods as well. “I do my best work when I allow myself to play and experiment without being attached to the end result,” she says. Because of the freedom she likes to give herself, she does not work on commission, feeling that it hinders her creative process.

The playful quality of her work resonates with those who see her art displayed at ArtPlay, in Asheville. “If you watch her Instagram videos, you’ll see she has a way of maintaining a child-like spontaneity while she paints—and this really comes through,” says Kristen Edge, owner of ArtPlay.

“People tell me her paintings feel joyful, and it’s so true. The color palettes she uses, but also the mark-making and the personality of each animal. It brings a feeling of aliveness and joy to the space.”

Family is and has always been inspirational in Bates’ life. In Venezuela, her mother owned a gallery for 20 years, and her father was also an engineer, who began delving into art after he retired. Today her husband and children—teenagers now—offer her support in her art career and, more practically, in the physical work of being an artist, including helping to set up installations, hand craft frames and prime canvases. “My studio is at home and my kids frequently come down to my studio and just sit quietly and watch me paint,” she says. “They say it is relaxing for them to watch me and they feel my studio is the happiest place in the house. I love showing them that creativity and art are important—for all of us. I believe we are all born creative and that it is an innate need for humans, whether that is through art, writing, dancing, cooking or any other form of creating.”

She works mostly in acrylics, but incorporates pencils, markers, charcoals and pastels into the work. “I also have a love for sumi-e (Japanese ink painting) and watercolors,” she adds, “and I have a special series that I call gaias where I only use this medium.” She considers this series, begun during the pandemic, to be her most personal. “The series explores the idea of our connection to the four elements (water, fire, earth and air),” she says. “The gaias propose that each individual is an ecosystem, intimately intertwined with the natural world and energies around us. They invite the viewer to examine their choices and surroundings, recognizing the direct correlation between what we absorb and emit.”

For her, creativity often originates when she is otherwise occupied. “My work notebooks are filled with technical notes from my work conference calls along with doodles of ideas that cross my mind,” she says. “This is very much how my caballitos (little horses) and pajaritos (little birds) series began. As soon as I have time, usually on the weekends, I take those ideas to the canvas. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. It is part of the process.”

As she taught herself to paint through the years, she also learned to allow herself to create without judgment and expectation. “I connect with my paintings and feel that the viewers can feel authenticity when they see a piece,” she says. “I want my art to evoke a sense of curiosity to connect with your inner child. When I’m painting, I am connecting with myself, but I’m also extending that invitation to the viewer.”

Find Andreina Bates’ work locally at ArtPlay, located at 372 Depot Street, #44, in Asheville’s River Arts District, and at The Marquee. Learn more at ArtPlay-Studio.com. Find Andreina on Instagram @byandreina and see more of her work at AndreinaBates.com.