Gabriela Monterroso is a multidisciplinary artist working in painting and sculpture. Her work centers on the figure as a carrier — of children, objects, memory, responsibility, and tradition — and on the tension between staying rooted and the pull to move forward.

Raised in Guatemala and now based in Houston, Monterroso draws from the visual language of Central American textiles, devotional objects, and everyday tools. Her ceramic forms often reference the tecomate, a traditional gourd vessel, merging the body of the woman with the shape of the container. These figures appear fragile, incomplete, or weathered, yet they hold their weight.

In her paintings, women and horses appear as parallel forces. One is grounded, holding, staying. The other insists on motion. Together they form a quiet contradiction — what is carried versus what is left behind.

Monterroso’s surfaces are built through layered firings, pit and saggar techniques, and the use of cobalt, chrome, and natural materials that leave unpredictable marks. Each piece carries its own history of heat, smoke, and chance.

She is the founder of Monterroso Gallery in Houston, where she curates exhibitions and leads community-focused artist residency programs and cultural art tours to Guatemala.