Artwork copyright Christie Tirado. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artwork copyright Christie Tirado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2021.

Florecer, 2019

Christie Tirado
(Mexican American, born 1990)

Location: Capitol Campus Child Care Center - Maple Park, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Christie Tirado created Florecer specifically to show it in a gallery setting. Florecer means to flourish, bloom, grow, expand in Spanish. Tirado also thinks of it as meaning "to empower." As a primary school art teacher in the Yakima Valley of Central Washington, Tirado wanted her students to be able to see themselves and their culture being validated and reflected in an art institution. She emphasizes how important this is because Latinx people are a huge part of the population in the Yakima Valley and across the U.S.

Tirado notes that Florecer is about empowering women, Latinx women, women of color, her own students, and anyone who feels underrepresented. It is about establishing your voice, and taking up space. She notes, "our voices matter, our culture matter, our histories matter, our struggles matter."

This artwork is part of a curated collection by Renee Adams for the Maple Park Capitol Campus Child Care Center in Olympia. The art selection committee wanted the art to be mainly for the children. They wanted to focus on Northwest artists from diverse backgrounds and geographies, and artworks with color and nature-inspired imagery. The Child Care Center has six classrooms, as well as outdoor classrooms and play spaces, for eighty-four children.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Department of Enterprise Services.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist and art teacher Christie Tirado creates prints and drawings that explore Mexican-American heritage and identity. Her art also focuses on the life of Mexican migrant farmworkers, who often go unheard, unseen, and underappreciated. Tirado wants her prints to spark conversations about the realities of the labor carried out by America’s essential workers, and their value and contributions to Washington State and to the nation’s overall economy. She is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico.

Tirado graduated from Tacoma's School of the Arts, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington in 2013 and a Master in Teaching degree from Heritage University in 2016. She taught art to elementary and middle school students in the Yakima Valley, Central Washington for seven years.