Many artists live their entire lives going completely unknown for their work.

Mary Lou Rodriguez, a freshman art major at MSU, will not be one of those artists.

Though Rodriguez is still just a freshman, she has already set a foundation for her art career. 

“I have a small business that sells art prints and stickers, which I want to continue,” Rodriguez said, “I also take on commissions from time to time and that really helps inspire me in a way. But my main career path I think is just freelancing and seeing where that goes.”

Rodriguez has been doing art since she was young, but she did not seriously start considering it as a potential career until the pandemic hit.

”I think when COVID hit in 2020, that’s where I really looked at it as a career path,” Rodriguez said, “That’s where it kind of bloomed.”

Despite that, art was not always her first choice as a career. Like many artists, she considered job choices that are traditionally more reliable.

“I think maybe a lawyer or maybe like a nurse,” Rodriguez said, “but it’s is my passion and I can’t get away from it.”

From an early age, art has had an impact on Rodriguez’s life. She said she has been drawing since she could pick up a pencil.

“I think at an early age, art was my only thing, like my only companion,” Rodriguez said, “I really lived a lonely life, I’d say. I think that’s the only thing that really kept me going.”

Rodriguez’s main style of art is realism, branching into semi-realism or simple realism. She uses this style to portray how she experiences life.

She explained that art is a way for people to, “see the world in a different point of view.”

Many different things inspire Rodriguez to create, from personal experiences to nature. One inspiration for her is the simple act of living.

”I find it, just, life inspiring and like a piece of artwork,” Rodriguez said.

The two pieces she sent in are some of her favorites, despite not being named. One shows a black and white still life of skulls.

”The skulls piece was a still life I had to do in class,” she said, “I really liked how it turned out. I really could really see my improvement in that.”

The other piece is a colorful painting of traditional salsa that she created as a commission.

”They wanted something of hispanic culture,” she explained, “so I came up with the idea of making salsa like, in a traditional way and they liked it.”

For Rodriguez, art is not simply putting medium on canvas or paper. Art is an experience that can be both grounding and inspiring.

“When I’m making art, I am somewhere else that I can’t even explain,” Rodriguez said, “Like, physically I’m there but it’s like a meditation for me. It’s just being in the moment. I can’t explain it, it’s just, I’m there, and I’m just doing it nonstop. Like, I feel peace with myself in a way.”

As for her plans after college, Rodriguez explained that she’s just following where this dream takes her.

”I just want to continue doing what I can to live that artist dream,” Rodriguez explained.