Voices in Our Heads
Artist-Business Owner Marisol Gomez Just Can’t Stop Moving
Marisol Gomez is full of energy. Listening to her talk about her life, her schooling, her pursuit of the arts and music, her sports, and her recent road trip, she can easily leave you breathless. Gomez is an artist, musician and singer who owns a small business frame shop which also serves as a gallery featuring Latino artists (Picture this Gallery and Custom Framing); she just returned from a solo three-month cross-country bike ride from Long Beach, California to Long Beach, New York with a few detours along the way; and after we had completed our interview for this podcast, she nonchalantly mentioned that she preparing to go on a scuba diving adventure. Yes, she’s convinced me. She has to keep moving.
Marisol Gomez
PalacioMagazine.com sat down with Marisol Gomez at Picture This Gallery and Custom Framing at 4130 Norse Way in Long Beach, just blocks from Long Beach City College.
Marisol Gomez doesn’t remember
…much of her early years in East Los Angeles.
“I do recall we moved quite a bit when we were younger. It was myself and my older brother [Marisol is the only girl amongst three brothers] for a few years but we were in LA and I do recall our parents working a lot.”
The family eventually settled in Santa Ana and that’s where Marisol received most of her younger schooling. Her parents were hard workers with two or three jobs between them but, at her young age, Marisol didn’t realize that not every child had parents who worked this hard.
“You see your parents maybe in the morning and maybe in the evening but you certainly come home to an empty house sometimes with your key, latch-key kid.”
But, her mother and father always made sure that the children had something to eat and a roof over their heads. It’s a memory that influenced Marisol.
“…I saw how hard they were working and their struggles throughout the days, throughout the years to raise us in an environment they felt was safe enough for us.”
She added laughingly that even to this day, they’re still working hard. This might explain what I learned about Marisol’s own work ethic. She began her art and music training at a young age in elementary school. Marisol zeroed in on a cello.
“It was beautiful, I thought, it was big, you used a bow, and it made a wonderful deep sound and I thought, I want to play the cello.”
Practical considerations and her father vetoed her preference.
“My father says ‘No, a little too big’”
She settled on a violin. It looked like a cello but was small enough for her. The lessons were short-lived but they were long enough to have left a strong memory for her. Then, there were the art lessons.
“I was creating art in my own way…that means you find whatever you can and you make stuff with it.”
The way Marisol Gomez describes it, she would go into her backyard and get water and create mud out of dirt, “…get some twigs and leaves and whatever I could find and make these little clay figurines, animals, people, whatever, I would just make stuff.”
It was her playdough and she was making art. There was also the mural painting on the home walls which apparently didn’t go over well with Mom.
There was more art ahead for Marisol Gomez.
There were mentors like Mrs. Lynn Morgan at Santa Ana High School. Speaking of her today brings misty eyes to Marisol Gomez. Morgan spoke to Gomez after her first art class and encouraged her pursuit of art.
“She said that she saw that I had some talent and she wanted to put me in the AP class.”
That meant that Gomez could do whatever she wanted as long as she completed her projects. That drive and commitment would endure through her four years of high school into the present.
“She took me under her wing and she helped me get a scholarship to the Art Institute of Southern California which is now called the Laguna Art Center.”
Morgan encouraged Marisol Gomez and other students to pursue their dreams. However, dreams have a way of meeting the real world. In Marisol’s case, the reality check was the voice of her father.
“Couldn’t see anything coming from that. Didn’t see any money coming from that. He wanted his children to be successful and maybe money is successful and happiness…But he definitely did not want art and music for me.”
The limited choices presented by her parents didn’t sit well with Marisol: going to college with her brother or staying at home to attend the local community college. Into this mixture, we can also throw in the fast-pitch softball playing by Marisol and the promises of full scholarships for her.
“I boycotted, I rebelled. I’m just like, I need to get out and be myself. I’m out of here.”
She moved out and rented a room from a friend’s family to begin a life on her own.
“I’m going to be an artist and I’m going to play softball.”
Fast forward to Orange Coast Community College and art classes and playing softball and working full and part time and then Marisol left school so she could pursue full time work to support herself. (I’m exhausted just hearing this story. How does she do it?)
Then, life changes one more time for Marisol Gomez.
It would come in the form of a picture frame store.
Picture This Gallery and Custom Framing
“It was kind of dark and spider-webbed up and this older gentleman would run a frame shop out of here.”
Encouraged by dreams about an art gallery in addition to the frame shop, she and a friend would buy the business. Later, the friend would drop out and Marisol Gomez would become the solo full-time business owner of Picture This Gallery and Custom Framing in 1996.
But school did not leave her life. With the encouragement of another life mentor, Dr. Carol Clary, she restarted her studies in 2006 first at Long Beach City College and then finishing with a double major in Music and Art at Whittier College. By the way, this is all happening while still running her business. Are you impressed yet? Well, if you’re not, try this story.
Marisol Gomez is not afraid of a challenge.
She has been thinking about and planning a solo cross-country bike trip for the past five years.
“Why? ‘Why’ is the biggest question. I don’t think I shock my parents anymore…Why is because I wanted to see how far I could push my body.”
This was not an impulsive decision. She did extensive research on the equipment, especially the bicycle, and saved up her money because she was non-sponsored.
“I wanted it that way to know that I could do it by myself with no one’s help.”
She received advice including routes from a couple who had made a similar trip some time earlier. She was ready to go. But foot pain jumped into the picture and threatened the trip. According to Gomez, it got so bad that she began using a cane to help her stand. There were visits to doctors, medical exams, cortisone shots, and no definite causes found but time was running out on a decision.
“I realized that riding my bike does not hurt my feet at all.”
Gomez claims there was no pain the entire trip if you don’t count the times she was riding her bike. To this day, she still doesn’t know what is causing the pain.
There were, however, plenty of adventures riding that bicycle eight to ten hours a day. From surprising roadblocks to drenching rain downpours to a creepy lecherous man to the time when she discovered her brakes didn’t work, Marisol Gomez probably saw it all. Besides the great American countryside, she encountered an American people that left a lasting impression on her.
“There a lot of amazing kind people willing to help out a perfect stranger out there and it happened every single day. And every morning, I would wake up, I’d say ‘Who’s going to be my road angel for today?’ Whether they help me or make me feel like I can finish safely.”
Giving Back to the Community
While she didn’t start out thinking of her trip as a fundraiser, she eventually came up with a list of eight organizations, started a GoFundMe page and raised a total of $8,000 to be split between them.
You can find out more about Marisol Gomez on Facebook, her small business, Picture this Gallery and Custom Framing, and her GoFundMe page.
