In the vibrant world of art, where colors blend to tell stories and every brushstroke can reflect an artist’s soul, Cristina Martinez and Al-Baseer Holly have found a unique canvas that stretches beyond the walls of their studio and into the heart of their home. As partners in both life and art, the Seattle-based couple has cultivated a space filled with the rich hues of love, creativity, and the beauty of a blended family.
Cristina and Al-Baseer are more than just artists; they are storytellers, using their work to explore themes of identity, culture and the complexities of the experiences of Black people and other people of color. But the most profound story they tell is the one they live every day—a story of love and unity as the pair navigate the joys and challenges of being independent artists raising a blended family with three children.
“Our family is just naturally represented in a lot of our work.”
– Cristina Martinez
In a society that often tries to define what family and artists should look like, Cristina and Al-Baseer are redefining those boundaries, showing that self-taught artists can make a way for themselves, their family and adjacent communities.
“Our family is just naturally represented in a lot of our work,” Cristina explains. “The more we experience life together, it naturally shows itself in our work.” On any given day, the couple can be seen on Instagram sharing shots of their family time or championing one another in their comments section. The organic integration of family and art is a testament to how deeply intertwined their personal and professional lives are.
For Cristina, a contemporary visual artist known for her powerful depictions of women in bloom, motherhood continues to change her life and art. After having her youngest daughter and slowing down to nurse for a year, she began to experiment with other mediums. “I wanted to really use my hands and not just with a paintbrush. So, I started experimenting with making paper and carving linoleum blocks and creating prints that way,” she says.
Her work, often featuring bold, vibrant colors and striking portraits of women, reflects her desire to capture the strength, beauty, and resilience of womanhood—perhaps a reflection of the lessons she hopes to pass on to her children. Her latest solo exhibition, “& Still We Bloom,” ran from December 2023 through May at the California State University, Dominguez Hills Library Multicultural Art Gallery. It featured 10 original works of art as well as the artist’s viral “Water Me” series, depicting how Black and Brown people around the world continue to bloom despite the visible and invisible challenges and inequity they face.
Al-Baseer, a multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, music and fashion, shares this commitment to well-rounded Black stories. The Philly native’s art, often rooted in collage, like Cristina’s, is deeply personal, often exploring the intersections of culture, identity, and the human experience. These themes were brought to the forefront during his first major gallery exhibition, “PUBLIC FIGURES,” presented at the Band of Vices in Los Angeles this past summer. But beyond the canvas, the former recording artist’s role as a father and partner inspires him the most. Al-Baseer credits Cristina for helping him see different things within his art. “The way we create, you could see how the transitions have affected our work in a positive way.”
‘Forever connected’
Together, Cristina and Al-Baseer have found a way to blend their artistic visions, much like the way they blend their family. “Two artists being together on paper sounds great,” Cristina says “It sounds cool, but to actually have it be our life and be really authentic in how it happens is even better. We just live our life together, and both happen to be passionate about a lot of the same things.” This passion is evident in their collaborations, which flow as naturally as their relationship.
“The collaborations are the easiest part of our relationship,” Cristina adds. “That’s the part that happens so effortlessly. We don’t think about it.” One of their favorite collaborations, “The Flight of a Butterfly,” which is available for purchase on Cristina’s website (www.juneandmars.com) was a seamless blend of their individual styles. “He was doing his collage work and set it up for me,” Cristina recalls. “It’s like a language we speak, one that not many other people speak with their partner. We’ve used our art to communicate and bond. For some pieces we collaborated on, we might have argued that day and didn’t talk to each other the whole time we painted it, but it’s about the art. In that way, we’re forever connected.”
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Their connection goes beyond shared artistic endeavors. Al-Baseer speaks with deep admiration for Cristina’s talent and drive, especially in the face of the challenges of parenthood. “I know who she is and what she’s capable of,” he says. “I try to help her, especially with having a new baby, just to make her see herself and understand what she’s capable of artistically. I do challenge her in that way because she might fall back if [I] don’t.”
This mutual support is a cornerstone of their relationship in life and art. Al-Baseer often reflects Cristina’s influence in his work, particularly in his powerful depictions of women. “When I do women, I make sure it’s very powerful, and that’s because of her, hands down,” he says. “I ensure the woman is as powerful as possible—posture, subject, everything. Our first collaboration was something she tried to throw away, but it became one of our biggest-selling prints and one of our best pieces. That’s how our collaborations started, and they’ve just kept going from there.”
We intentionally make sure that our work is uplifting, powerful, strong
– Al-Baseer Holly
But their commitment to art goes beyond personal expression. Cristina and Al-Baseer are deeply invested in using their art to uplift others, particularly within the Black community. “We intentionally make sure that our work is uplifting, powerful, strong,” Al-Baseer explains. “Not powerful just because of imagery, but because it’s showing Black people at their best, in their excellence.”
Cristina echoes this sentiment in her approach to motherhood and how it intersects with her artistic journey. “My kids keep me humble,” she laughs. “I always say I have to literally walk in holding Beyoncé’s hand and telling them I’m about to make a painting for her for them to ever be impressed.” This humility is something she carries into her work, embracing both success and failure as part of the process.
“Failure doesn’t feel as scary because I’ve already told myself it’s possible,” she says. “Things are going to go well, and things are not going to go as well. That’s just part of learning and growing; sharing that with the people who connect to my work has helped the journey.”
Looking to the future, Cristina and Al-Baseer have big dreams—dreams that extend beyond their own careers and into the broader community. “We care so much about the youth,” Al-Baseer says. “One day, we want to open a museum that showcases the work we’ve collected from other artists over the years, as well as our own. We want it to be a place where kids can be educated about art, where the stigma that you need to know the lingo to be in that space is broken down. We both care about making that accessible to inner-city kids.”
For Cristina and Al-Baseer, art is more than just a career; it’s a way of life, a way of connecting with each other and with the world around them. As they continue to paint their lives together, blending colors, experiences and love, they are creating a masterpiece that will inspire generations to come.
Christina Santi is a writer with a master’s in Creative Publishing and Critical Journalism from The New School. Her work explores the intersection of race and gender in pop culture.
