Mariah Quintanilla

Mariah Quintanilla is an interdisciplinary artist based in Auburn, California. She is largely recognized for her editorial illustrations and detailed, energetic street chalk paintings. With degrees in entomology and scientific journalism, Mariah has found herself on multiple career paths. She has interned in operating rooms, run medical clinics in Guatemala, sorted beetles in forestry labs, and written for a science magazine in Washington D.C. Her unquenchable curiosity and experimental attitude fuel her artistic endeavors today.

While Mariah’s chalk drawings and illustrations often lean toward hyperrealism, her recent glass paintings are more symbolic and free-flowing. At her family’s residential glass shop in Auburn, she developed a multi-layered approach to painting that involves using various glass paints on thick back-painted glass panels, followed by a coating of epoxy resin, dye, and mica powder. Flowing lines and complex swirling patterns are often present in Mariah’s glass works. The resulting pieces are unique among most painted-glass, stained-glass, or fused-glass artwork.