Baker Artist Portfolios

Born and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Monica moved to Baltimore in 2014 for her love of meditation, community-building, and art. Her large-scale psychedelic portraits and landscapes juxtapose color, historical events, and community identity to converse and reflect upon on past and present American political and cultural issues in the hopes of communal insight, celebration, and healing. The themes she explores include the Movement for Black Lives, the spirituality of nature, and her practice of Buddhist meditation to inspire peace, presence, and connection to lived experience. Working in the mediums of pencil, charcoal, acrylic and oil paint, her works are influenced by revolutionary muralists like Diego Rivera and other local Baltimore-based artists. Monica hopes to collaborate with other artists and teachers in the DMV area to give back to the community.

In January 2019, Monica began the Art Education 2nd Bachelor program at Towson University. Her love of working with children and her joy for making art inspired her to become a teaching artist and educator. In May 2020, as a Maryland Teaching Fellow, she graduated from Towson. In August 2020 she began teaching in Baltimore City Public School system at ConneXions: A Community Based Arts School teaching middle and high schoolers visual art. She has 129 students ranging from 6 - 12th grade and is grateful to work with each of them! 

In 2023, Monica began a Masters of Fine Art Degree at Towson University which she is currently working on.