Creating is a safe space…
Creating has always been a safe space for me, a place where I can breathe. I live inside the worlds I built from scratch. It started as an outlet or an escape from the real world, but I never grew out of it.I create from feeling and emotion. Words don’t always come easily, but ideas do. I see shapes, colors, and creatures before I can explain them. When I draw, paint, and sculpt, my thoughts finally slow down and make sense.
The things I make don’t really fit anywhere else. They look dark but calm, strange but peaceful, like nature mixed with imagination. I just want my art to feel alive and raw, like it could move or breathe if we stopped looking.
Hyla Grace Zamora
2024
Medium: Cardboard, glue, and wire
Dimensions: 8 × 17 × 7 in
Studio work
Following how the cardboard wanted to bend, this piece is caught between falling and flying. It’s an angel that has crumbled to its knees, a moment of grief and quiet sacrifice. The angel has fallen and can no longer fly.
Kneeling Angel
2024
Medium: Wire and wood base
Dimensions: 8 × 10× 10 in
Studio work
Made from wire, shaped by hand until it started to stand on its own. It’s a body paused in motion, like it’s remembering how to move. The thin lines feel like breath held in space. The base is built from paper towels and Popsicle sticks, finished with layers of acrylic paint.
He Who Walks On Four Legs
2024
Medium: Papier-mâché, acrylic, cardboard, feathers
Dimensions: 12 × 7× 23 in
Studio work
Painted to feel like it was made of cold air. The pattern came from frost on glass. It’s half animal, half weather, light and heavy at the same time. I wanted it to look like it was melting and growing at once. This papier-mâché head feels like a creature from another world, part of the Earth’s balance. It brings mercy with an innocent/prey demeanor.
Down
2025
Medium: Dried leaves, plaster, acrylic, clay
Dimensions: 7 × 11× 8 in
Studio work
I glued real leaves one by one until it felt alive. It’s part animal, part forest floor between breathing and rotting. The piece takes the form of an animal’s head, like a badger or skunk, overtaken by nature. As the leaves dry and darken, they mirror life fading and returning to the earth. It’s fragile but alert, like it could still wake up.
Scadger
2025
Medium: Cardboard and Glue
Dimensions: 30 × 27× 25in
Studio work
I tore and layered strips until it felt like the figure was pushing through its own skin. The raw edges aren’t mistakes; they’re where energy escapes. This woman, made entirely of cardboard squares, reaches out of the wall with the desire to change and become something new. As her desire to change overcomes her, she slowly destroys herself.
Egnahc
2025
Medium: Ink and wash on paper
Dimensions: 15 × 12 in
Figure Study
Drawn from life, but I left the head out on purpose. I wanted it to be more about the posture than the person. The loose lines and ink wash show how stillness can feel alive. This figure drawing captures a woman whose body is balanced, peaceful, and grounded.
Head Posture
2025
Medium: Ink and wash on paper
Dimensions: 15 × 18 in
Figure Study
Quick study of quiet movement, one figure waiting, one thinking. I drew it fast to keep the rhythm. The lines shake a little; it feels more human that way. Drawn from a live model using a Micron pen for the line work, then layered with ink to add shadows and depth.
Quick Movement
2025
Medium: Acrylic on recycled cardboard
Dimensions: 13 × 13.5 in
Painting Study
I painted this on a scrap of cardboard so the surface would show through. The wings spread like a shadow pinned open. I first sketched the idea onto a slim cardboard box, then finished it with layers of acrylic paint. It’s rough, but it feels real. The texture makes it breathe.
Bat
2025
Medium: Ink and acrylic marker
Dimensions: 16 × 16 in
Painting Study
These drawings started as bones and turned into bright creatures. I wanted the colors to feel alive and strange like decay turning into something new. Made with markers, the patterns explore the cycle of life and return, how flesh becomes nourishment and color becomes renewal.
The Cycle
2025
Medium: Exterior acrylic mural on concrete
Dimensions: 9 × 25 ft
Commissioned by Science Mill Museum, Johnson City, TX
This mural imagines a girl exploring microscopic life, an axolotl, a tardigrade, and single-cell forms. I used bright gradients to feel like energy under a microscope and treated it the same way as my sculptures: fast, instinctive, and alive. Created for a children’s science museum, it’s an eruption of color meant to spark curiosity and encourage kids to explore their own creativity.
Bio Bonnie
Accolades
National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) — 2021–2022
National Art Honor Society (NAHS) — 2024–Present
National Honor Society (NHS) — 2025–Present
Placed, Texas Art Education Association (TAEA): Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) — 2024
Placed, Texas Art Education Association (TAEA): Visual Art Scholastic Event (VASE) — 2025
1st Place, Team Mask Challenge — Texas Thespian Festival — 2024
Completed, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Pre-College Program — 2025.
