María Brito

María Brito (born María Cristina Brito in 1947 in Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban-American artist specializing in painting, sculpture and installations.
In 1961, Brito entered the United States by way of Operation Peter Pan. She lives in Florida. Brito received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida International University (FIU) in 1978, and in 1979 obtained her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.

Maria Brito was born in Havana Cuba in 1947. She and her brother left for the United States, when she was only thirteen, through an “underground railroad” like system called ‘Operation Pedro Pan’. This system allowed children from the communist island to flee. When she and her brother arrived in the United States they traveled to Miami, Florida and grew up in a Cuban immigrant community.She later attained her Masters and Bachelors in Fine Arts, and is now known as a Cuban- American artist specializing in painting, sculpture and installations. Brito began showing her art in major venues in the early 1980s. After she started, she received significant national recognition. She later received commission to create a sculpture that would be shown in the Olympic Sculpture Park in South Korea and in 1990 her work was included in “The Decade Show.” In 2001, Brito was then invited to ceremonies with Laura Bush when the exhibit “Arte Latino” Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum” traveled to the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago.

Today, Brito still lives in the Cuban immigrant community that she lived in when she first traveled to the United States with her two sons. When she is not traveling with her art, she is an adjunct professor of art at Barry University in Miami.

In 1978, Brito attained a Bachelors in Fine Arts from Florida International University (FIU). Later, in 1979, she obtained her Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Miami. She also earned degrees in studio art and art education, and did graduate study at the University of Miami. Her most characteristic form of expression was explored through a ceramics course, and the work she accomplished for her MFA proved her growing talent with found objects and mixed media installations.

Maria Brito once told Helen Kohen, writer from the “Miami Herald” that her inspirations often come from random words that she hears spoken in a certain manner, from objects that she picks up at flea markets, or from common everyday objects. She says that her work "is a means of communication with others. Its is the medium through which I explore my persona experience as I engage in a dialogue with the spectator, who, by seeing my work, can identify with its content and message through the recognition of similar events that have shaped their lives." Much of her art is open to interpretation which Brito encourages, preferring the viewer to choose the meaning, rather than an "artistically correct evaluation." Brito's process of creating her work is very intuitive.

Brito has been praised for paintings and sculptures that use themes of loss and the search for identity. Her work is considered extremely symbolic and has earned a place in many permanent collections including one at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. She has also won two National Endowment fellowships, the Florida Department of State Grant, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant.

• 1980 - The Gallery at 24, Miami, Florida, E.E.U.U.,
• 1985 - "María Brito Avellana, George Dombek, Larry Rhoads", Florida Center for Contemporary Art, Tampa, Florida.
• 1989 - "María Brito Avellana: Recent Sculpture"´´, Interamerican Art Gallery, Miami, Florida
• 1989 - Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MoCHA), New York City.
• 1991 - "María Brito: A Retrospective", Barry University Gallery, Miami Shores, Florida
• 1991 - "María Brito: A Retrospective" Anne Jaffe Art Gallery, Bay Harbour, Florida,

She also formed part of many collective exhibitions:

• 1976 - "Craft Work’76" in Metropolitan Museum & Art Center, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.;
• 1981 - "Latin American Art A Woman’s View", Frances Wolfson Art Gallery, Miami Dade College, Florida, U.S.A.
• 1994 - "The Decade Show. Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s", The New Museum of Contemporary Art
• 1994 - "The Decade Show. Frameworks of Identity in the 1980s", Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MoCHA), New York City
• 1994 - "Breaking Barriers. Selections from the Museum of Art’s Permanent Contemporary Cuban Collection" in Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S.A.

During her life she has obtained many awards and recognitions like the

• 1977 - Excellence in Art - Florida International University, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.;
• 1980 - Merit Award - Grove House, Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.;
• 1988 - Individual Artists Fellowship Award - Florida Department of State, Florida, U.S.A.;
• 1988 - Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, U.S.A.

Her work can be found in several permanent collections:

• Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas;
• Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, Florida;
• Cintas Collection Inc, New York City, New York;
• Miami-Dade College, Kendall Campus, Miami, Florida;
• Olympic Sculpture Park, Seoul, Korea;
• Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.;
• Miami-Dade Public Library System, Miami, Florida