Marlo Saucedo

About

I use words to create form.

I specialize in work that literally tells a story, art that can be read.

My actual art can be the word “home” – or “cloud” – in 175 languages, or a family’s story, or the history of any city or landmark or drink or organization, or everything about a sports team or a list of everything bees pollinate, or a company’s goals, policies, and business statement, or 2,000 bands from the cassette mixtape era, or anything a client wants it to be. These words can create the Houston skyline, or any city’s skyline, or a sparrow, or a house, or a bee, or a cross, or trees, or cassettes, or a stadium, or a clipper ship, or anything a client wants it to be. I can set pieces up for large groups where everyone can sign or write on the piece but once I fill it in, it becomes a recognizable silhouette of a logo or whatever represents the group – so individuals each have representation in the art on the wall, which together represents the group or the company.

My art is in public spaces like Google Cloud's lobby at Buffalo Heights, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church's main entrance, and the lobby at HPD’s Mounted Patrol headquarters. I've had the honor of helping employees at eight Methodist hospital locations through community art to come to terms with their first year of dealing with Covid cases.

I'm so thankful for those who've seen where my art could go, and helped me create works utilizing corporate stories and personal ones, or allowed me to use art to bring people together, weaving many people’s signatures and/or words together for collective pieces in public spaces. In my line of work, the greatest compliment is to have its uniqueness recognized and enjoyed in public and private spaces, and the greatest honor is to work with clients to make their visions reality.

In 2021 I had the honor of working with Google Cloud and St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston, and the Harlowe Boutique Apartments in Nashville, and am most proud of work created with the Methodist Hospital system. Hospital employees and staff at 8 hospitals contributed to 8 pieces for 8 hospital locations, commemorating the first year the hospitals treated Covid-19. In cathartic culmination, art pieces with hundreds of signatures were installed at each hospital, marking the end of a long year of teamwork in an unprecedented situation. Attention to detail and respect for the client’s time in prompt communication, clarity of expectations, and consistency in meeting deadlines are essential across industries, and qualities I attribute to success. My goal is to always to meet a client or collector’s needs with joy-inducing accuracy. Art exists to enhance life.

Selected exhibits and projects:

Commission, Google: 48 x 72” piece with history of Houston timeline and “cloud” in 100+ languages, installed in the lobby of the Houston Google Cloud office, 3663 Washington Ave.

Community Project, Houston Methodist Hospital system: All staff signatures and stories, commemorating the Year of Covid. Eight pieces installed, at 8 locations: Fannin, Sugarland, Baytown, Katy, Willowbrook, West, The Woodlands, Clear Lake.

Color:Story 2021, The Silos at Sawyer Yards: Fellow Silos artist Leslie Gaworecki and I co-organized our second collaborative art exhibit/event with 17 other Houston-area artists and 34 local, national, and international poets chosen via submission by our artists. Poets read at a smaller event due to Covid.

Mural, commissioned by Boulevard Realty, The Heights, Houston: Indoor mural, 9-by-7-foot skyline in the word “home” in 140 languages. Part of Boulevard’s community and office space at 927 Studewood, Houston. Completed in May.

Color:Story 2019, The Silos at Sawyer Yards: Joint exhibition with fellow Silos artist Leslie Gaworecki and exhibition partner Writespace Houston. Our collaborative art exhibit/event bridged two Houston worlds, visual and written art. We chose 17 Houston-area writers/poets and created a visual representation for each. The authors were the focus of the opening in January, each reading their work by the piece it inspired. The Reading/Poetry Slam/Art Opening was the best-attended opening The Silos has ever had.

Commissions, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center: Based on visuals from the Apollo missions with words from MD Anderson’s Cancer Moon Shots Program: the action plan, doctors involved, discoveries etc. Installed at MD Anderson Cancer Center, League City, 2018.

Commission, Woodlands Arts Council: AncesTree Project: Three-foot-diameter ink and acrylic on round canvas, live oak tree with 260 personal stories from attendees of the inaugural Woodlands Cultural and Heritage Festival who wrote memories, traditions, cultures and heritages initially onto paper leaves hung on the TWHS Sculpture Club’s papier mâché tree at the festival. The 2018 permanent piece on canvas represents the community’s diversity entwined and growing together.

Commissions, Travis Elementary in The Heights: Three 48” x 48” pieces using 300+ fourth graders’ poems on (1) art cars, (2) oak trees, and (3) leaving 5th grade for 6th grade, completed 2017.

Public Art, City of Houston: Individual Artist Fellowship Grant Award, funded by the City through the Houston Arts Alliance. 36”x36” Mounted officer and horse in front of City Hall with 11 officers’ interviews regarding their lives in Mounted Patrol. Installed at Mounted Patrol Detail's facility, 5005 Little York, 2007.