Artist Biography
Margarita (Ita) García is a visual artist from Puerto Rico who has made Indianapolis her home since 2015. Her artistic training was done at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño de Puerto Rico, Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico, and the Universidad de Puerto Rico. She has had a beautiful relationship with color in different artistic mediums. While in Puerto Rico, she traveled around the island as an artisan and workshop leader at fairs organized by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Industrial Development Company. She created mosaics on wooden tree trunks in the country, tiles, and found objects as a means of expression. As a mosaicist, she created the floor (mural) of the Schoenstatt Shrine in Juana Diaz, PR, and in the Rosa Bell School (mosaic floor). She participated in the making of papier-mache masks and scenery for various plays.
In Indianapolis, she works as an art teacher in the Lawrence district. At this institution, she shares her knowledge by creating and developing diverse cultural materials and by reaching out to the art community. In 2017, she was recognized with the "Larry Hurt Excellence in Arts Education ARTI AWARD." She currently collaborates with Indiana University (Indianapolis) to train aspiring art educators.
Ita wishes to continue to grow and take her art everywhere, and for the public to enjoy colors through her work. In her words, “I want the viewers to learn, appreciate, and understand that artists are an essential part of culture and the expression of a complete and inclusive social formation.”
San Peditro, 2025
El Misterio del Café, 2025
Trinitarias de Mayagüez, 2025
Pelea en la Losa, 2026
Artist Statement
My work celebrates the cultural heritage of Puerto Rico through symbols, traditions, and memories that have shaped our collective identity. These paintings, San Pedrito, El Misterio del Café, Trinitarias de Mayagüez, and Pelea en la Losa are part of an ongoing series that honors the island's icons, flora, fauna, craftsmanship, and customs, transforming familiar cultural elements into contemporary visual narratives.
At the heart of this collection are the traditional Puerto Rican baldosa tiles, once an important artistic and economic industry on the island. Their distinctive patterns serve as a bridge between personal memory and cultural heritage, recalling my "Abuela's" home in Miramar and spaces that shaped my childhood while reflecting a lasting sense of belonging. Through these recurring motifs, I explore how everyday objects become vessels of identity and history.
The works also celebrate treasured symbols of Puerto Rico's natural and cultural landscape. The San Pedrito, our "little giant", an endemic bird adorned with the jíbaro's pava, represents the island's resilience, beauty, and rural traditions, while coffee evokes the aroma, connection, and contemplation on a shared horizon. Alongside these symbols, the rooster recalls a longstanding cultural tradition that has occupied an important place in Puerto Rico's historical and social memory. By placing these elements within the visual language of the Puerto Rican tile, I create compositions in which memory, tradition, and symbolism converge.
Together, these paintings invite viewers to reflect on the enduring values, customs, and stories that continue to define Puerto Rican identity. They celebrate not only the island's tangible heritage but also the emotional connections that transform ordinary places, traditions, and symbols into lasting expressions of belonging and cultural pride.
