Toledo is a native of Argentina and lived twenty two years in the USA. She holds a MFA in Painting and Sculpture from Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes Prilidiano Pueyrredón in Buenos Aires.
She has exhibited her artwork in Argentina, Brazil,Greece, México, Bulgaria and the USA. She has won 21 awards for her drawings and sculptures in her native country. In 1997 Toledo was recognized as Outstanding Woman in the Arts and was honored with the Estrella Award by the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas.
Since 1993 she gave conferences about the diversity of beliefs, languages, traditions, races and lifestyles and their celebration, called "Pure Diversity: A quest for Identity" and they took place at Barnard College in New York, University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, University of Maryland at College Park, Texas Woman’s University of Denton, among others in the USA.
From 1988 to 2006 she was very eclectic in her activities: she has served as juror for Art and Literature Competitions , authored the novel "La Semilla Elemental" and a collection of short stories, "Dulce de Leche", and secured several book covers.
Toledo worked as a reporter for the Fort Worth Star Telegram and as a Curator for an Art Gallery in Austin, Texas.
Since 2003 she focused in her paintings that were permanently exhibited at Mi Casa Gallery in the South Congress area in Austin and in teaching, working as an Art Instructor for a Non Profit Organization.
Mirta Toledo says about her work: "Art is a magical tool that I use in a quest for identity. Through my sculptures, paintings and drawings, I show the beauty that exists in human differences, developing a theme of work that I call Pure Diversity. Although the mass media imposes cultural ideals, humans are diverse and creative. Diversity is the great treasure of humanity; this is the message that I communicate with my body of work."
Her Artwork is in private collections of the USA, Germany, Mexico, Japan and Argentina, also at Mexicarte Museum and Stone Metal Press Gallery.
Since March of 2007, Toledo is living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with the hope of living the rest of her life in her country of birth.
ABOUT HER WORK:
“…a doll, as any cultural object, speaks to in a social and geographical context, and, above all, of a particular human reality, because every game within a culture brings us a sense of value, desires, and ways of understanding life. This new series of paintings continues with a basic and persistent topic in Toledo’s art, that is, culture as viewed from its diversity.”
Anabella Acevedo Leal. Arriba News, Austin, October 2002.
“This exhibit by Toledo is an antidote against migratory policies, against the lack of understanding of a world that try to solve problems with bombs. “All should receive an education so that, from the bottom of our hearts, we would believe that we are all equal, that there is only one humanity, that is diverse, and that our humanity can not be silenced” said the artist.”
Francisca Oiz, EFE, September 2002.
“Journeying through Mirta Toledo’s paintings is a celebration of diversity. Toledo runs away from the fears and rejections induced by the unknown, even if unfamiliar, as if her work were to invite us to embrace diversity full of beauty. Her paintings are alive. The reds surprise the yellows which seem to play with the greens, blues, ochres and blacks. There are no landscapes. Only the human landscape. And a pair of eyes loaded with expression that pulls into the psychology of the person behind the portrait.”
Judith Torrea. Arriba News, October 2000.
“Mirta Toledo, originally from Argentina and now a Texan, has developed a visual vocabulary… Toledo large scale paintings slather bright acrylics on various surfaces, with brush strokes creating the motion missing from the compositions.”
Michael Barnes. Austin American Statesman, October 2000.
“The colors in her paintings do not blend, but bleed. There is orange an there is blue and the ugly compromises we must make, the shades of meaning where people equivocate and bury the past, these things are not there. The mouldy blending of hue is traded for sharp contrast, clarity; the exact point where night and day play shell games is now captured, again, in a reflection of what has collected in the brushes of Mirta Toledo.”
John Singleton. Arriba News, Austin, October 2000.
“Her sculptures, drawings, pottery and writings reflect the feeling of living in two cultures (Argentinean and American) and her struggle to find her identity within them. Her “Pure Diversity” reveals Toledo’s search for identity and features the theme of finding value in a racially and culturally diverse society.”
Eva Vilarubi. College Park International, Vol.6 - No.9, University of Maryland, Maryland,December 1995.
“Her work reflects the artist expression of the ethnic, cultural, and individual diversity within her own life experience and heritage: “Through my sculptures, drawings, pottery and writing, I am searching for answers. This is a creative way to express my feeling from living in between two cultures: the one I left , and the new one I want to become a part of, without loosing my identity” says Toledo.”
W/S. Latin American Studies Center News, Vol.6 – No.1, University of Maryland, Maryland, October 1995.
“Sometimes, Mirta Toledo’s paintings, drawings and sculptures are meant to evoke feelings or thoughts, by telling a story or expressing an idea. Other times they are simply appealing to our basic senses through colour, form, design and imagery. She values symbolism and uses it in her artwork frequently. I found her an inspiration. Her view on life is honest and admirable. Her ability to convert the life force surrounding her into beautiful pieces of art is an ability I myself desire. The challenge and vulnerability of opening herself to an audience takes courage and strength.”
Jacquelyn Lowry. The Collegian Magazine, Greensboro College, North Carolina, March 1995.
“Mirta Toledo artistic work is full of dreams and hopes of creating a society full of equality. The Fort Worth resident could be considered a complete artist. She had created sculptures, drawings, pottery, and currently, her artistic expression is focusing in what she calls “Pure Diversity”, the vision of a society that is EQUAL.”
Reynaldo Mena. Fort Worth Star Telegram-La Estrella, Fort Worth, March 1995.
“Quickly acclimated to life in Fort Worth, Toledo takes her sketchbook- journal to malls and other public places to record visual and verbal impressions. Occasionally she picks up a native stone and illustrates on the surface. Her works reflects, as well as the artist’s approach to several media, her awareness of the ethnic, cultural and individual diversity within her own life experience and heritage.”
Milton J. Sweet. Cultural District Good News, Vol.V- No. 11, Fort Worth, November 1994.
“Native of Argentina, Mirta Toledo is definitely One Woman Show. She is a painter, a sculptor, a potter and a writer. She said moving away from her homeland caused her to feel homesick and nostalgic. Those feelings prompted her to produce her work influenced by Latin American Mythology.”
Evelynn Siegel. Siegel’s Art Gallery Newsletter, Fort Worth, winter 1994.
“Toledo is a humanistic painter because she prints on her work things that usually we can not see with a naked eye: the ideology. According to Toledo beauty doesn’t reside in one basic place or group, but is multicultural, because each region offers different elements that enrich it.”
Enrique Gonzalez. Que VIVA! La Raza Magazine, Dallas, October 1994.
“You might say artist Mirta Toledo is a Renaissance Woman. She’s not easily classified. Toledo draws, paints, sculpts and make pottery. She’s published one novel in her native Argentina and is working in a collection of short stories. And now, in Fort Worth, Toledo said her surroundings seem to have a big effect on her work: “I am influenced by the diverse society living in Fort Worth” she said.”
Paul Bourgeois. Fort Worth Star Telegram, September 1993.
“Artist Mirta Toledo finds faces and figures in stones, mirrored souls in shopping malls, and the will to live in the moment of the loved one’s death. She brings them forward with ink, clay, paper, bronze, and embellished rocks.”
Juliet George. Novedades News, Dallas, September 1993.
“Toledo works both figurative sculpture and vessel- oriented raku pottery, the later embellished with designs inspired by the indigenous cultures of her homeland. Both kinds of work attest to an affinity with her materials. The figurative work allows Toledo more range in developing the metaphorical potential. Busts portraits of Mother Earth, Coquena, Anahi and Sisa Huinaj, are appealing personifications of deities linked to various aspects of Earth’s rhythms. Toledo is best with full-figure sculptures, such as the terracotta “The Tree of Life”.
Marcia Morse. The Sunday Star Bulletin & Advertiser, Honolulu, Hawaii, July 1990.
Argentina
