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Maria Yolanda Liebana

@yolabola

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Mixed race 🇨🇴 🇵🇪
Mama 🌹
9/15-12/11: A Place to be Held @montclair_galleries
Latinx Artist & Art Educator
Represented by @kravetswehbygallery

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Have you ever wondered what gives pop icons the courage to break traditions?⁠
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In “A Call to Heretics,” Maria Yolanda Liebana embraces transformation, contradiction, and radical belief, inviting us to question and embrace the parts of ourselves that don’t fit neatly into society’s expectations.⁠
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“Maria Yolanda Liebana: A Place to Be Held” is the first solo museum exhibition by New York City-based artist Maria Yolanda Liebana @yolabola. The exhibition imagines a matriarchal world where chance, identity, and desire are always in motion. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Liebana explores motherhood as both a physical and spiritual terrain shaped by labor, wonder, and transformation.⁠
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Maria Yolanda Liebana, “A Call to Heretics,” 2024, mixed media, acrylic, mirror tiles, plastic decals, wallpaper, foam, foam clay, inkjet on paper, sequins, fabric paint, glitter, oyster shells, and plastic beads on wood panel, 48 × 60 inches⁠
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Courtesy of Kravets Wehby Gallery⁠
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#artgallery #artexhibition #montclairstateuniversity #montclair #RedHawkPride #newjersey #nj ⁠ by @yolabola

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11 days ago

What an honor it was to spend time with Collar Works’ 2026 Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency Parent Fellows-Laura Farahzad Mayer, Martha Clippinger, Adele Kenworthy, and Maria Liebana- and their incredible families, during our parent artist residency this summer! This program is quite special in so many ways. Artists have uninterrupted time in the barn studios, while their children explore nature, make art, play, swim, and build lasting friendships in their own parallel creative residency that culminates in an art exhibition during their parents open studios. We share delicious meals together, engage in meaningful conversations, and spend such caring time with each other.

It’s truly magical!

Thank you, @lfarahzad @marthaclippinger @yolabola and @themeowingbird for sharing in this wonderful, joyful experience together.

We can’t wait for next summer!

Our open application for Summer 2027 is open through October 1st! Apply today for our tenth anniversary season! Link in bio.

#elizabethmurrayartistresidency #collarworks @collarworks @elizabethmurrayart #artistresidency #artistcommunity #parentartist #artistsupportartists by @yolabola

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17 days ago

Edge-to-Edge Splendor Fills Maria Yolanda Liebana’s Buoyant Paintings 💜💜💜 @thisiscolossal

Liebana incorporates a wide range of materials into her vibrant works, including wallpaper, mirror tiles, pearls, glitter, disco balls, sequins, and rhinestones. She embraces the luminosity of joy and playfulness while nodding to Catholicism and ancient mythologies, invoked by symbols like chalices and cherubs.

As a first-generation Latinx immigrant who grew up in New Jersey, the artist has long been interested in the nature of selfhood and inheritance, and the birth of her daughter inspired a body of work that explores motherhood “as both a physical and spiritual terrain shaped by labor, wonder, and transformation.” She depicts confident, empowered women who dance, recline, and enjoy one another’s company, representing universal feminine dominion and strength.

A Place to Be Held opens on September 15 and continues through December 11 in Montclair, New Jersey.

Can't wait for next week! Congrats amiga @yolabola 💜 @montclair_galleries taken in Montclair State University by @yolabola

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a month ago

What if the Death tarot card wasn’t actually about death?⁠
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In “Elegy of the Virgin Beast (Death),” Maria Yolanda Liebana reimagines death from an ending to a new beginning, embracing the divine, the wild, and the complex.⁠
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“Maria Yolanda Liebana: A Place to Be Held” is the first solo museum exhibition by New York City-based artist Maria Yolanda Liebana @yolabola. The exhibition imagines a matriarchal world where chance, identity, and desire are always in motion. Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Liebana explores motherhood as both a physical and spiritual terrain shaped by labor, wonder, and transformation.⁠
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Maria Yolanda Liebana, “Elegy for the Virgin Beast (Death)” from the "Tarot Card" series, 2025, mixed media, acrylic, wood cutout, mirror tiles, wallpaper, foam, foam clay, spray foam, faux flowers, paper lace, plastic decals, inkjet on paper, sequins, fabric paint, glitter, rhinestones, and beads on wood panel, 70 x 48 inches⁠
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Courtesy of the artist and Kravets Wehby Gallery⁠
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Image Credits: ⁠
- Photograph of Rider-Waite Tarot Deck: Pexels⁠
- Photograph of Pamela Colman Smith: Wikimedia Commons⁠
- Photograph of Death Card: Wikimedia Commons⁠
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#artgallery #artexhibition #montclairstateuniversity #montclair #RedHawkPride #newjersey #nj⁠ taken in Montclair State University Galleries by @yolabola

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4 days ago

Another look at Still Life for the Devout ❤️‍🔥

Roses, chalices, and jeweled pomegranates await the claw. A little desire, a little devotion, and the hope that this time we’ll grasp what we’re reaching for.

How much do we really control, and how much do we leave to chance?

Part of A Place to Be Held at the George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University.

Image Credit: Installation photography by Cary Whittier by @yolabola

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14 days ago

🎨More chances to see our fall exhibition “Maria Yolanda Liebana: A Place to Be Held!"⁠
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Can’t make it during our regular gallery hours? Here’s your chance to visit on these select Saturdays and Sundays: ⁠
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Saturday, October 3rd: Galleries Open from 1pm - 2pm⁠
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Sunday, October 11th: Galleries Open from 11am - 1pm⁠
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Sunday, November 15th: Galleries Open from 11am - 1pm⁠
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Admission is free and open to the public. ⁠💫⁠
Open Monday – Friday, 12 – 4 pm.⁠
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We hope to see you in the gallery! 🫶⁠
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Image Credit: Ian Peters⁠
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#artgallery #artexhibition #montclairstateuniversity #montclair #RedHawkPride #newjersey #nj⁠ by @yolabola

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15 days ago

🌿 Connected: Art, Community, and Well-Being ⁠
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We are pleased to collaborate with Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) (@montclair_caps), on a special event for Mental Health Awareness Week.⁠
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Our fall 2026 exhibiting artist, Maria Yolanda Liebana (@yolabola), will be on site to welcome students into her work through friendship bracelet making, conversation, and community. Visitors will also have the opportunity to enter her garden installation, “A Place to be Held.”⁠
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Join us!⁠
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📅 October 5th | 2–4 PM⁠
📍 University Galleries⁠
🎟️ Admission is free!⁠
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Come make something, meet someone new, and take a moment to connect. ⁠
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Image Credits: ⁠
Photograph of Maria Yolanda Liebana: Gia Han⁠
Photograph of “Place to Be Held”: Carey Whittier⁠
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#artgallery #artexhibition #montclairstateuniversity #montclair #RedHawkPride #newjersey #nj⁠
⁠ by @yolabola

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16 days ago

Maria Mondays episode two 😘 by @yolabola

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18 days ago

by @yolabola

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18 days ago

✨ Still Life for the Devout ✨

Last summer, I became obsessed with the claw machines at Gatcha. The anticipation, the almost-win, the prize slipping away—it made me wonder: how much control do I really have over my own destiny?

That question became the starting point for this work. You guide the claw and choose what you want, but the outcome is never entirely in your hands.

I began imagining the machine as a contemporary Dutch still life, with chalices and pomegranates becoming treasures behind glass. Catholic imagery and mythology meet arcade culture, with a nod to the search for the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Part altar, part arcade, this work brings together desire, devotion, chance, and the hope that the next try will be the one.

Still Life for the Devout, on view in A Place to Be Held at the George Segal Gallery, Montclair State University.

Image credit: Ian Peters for Montclair State University by @yolabola

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22 days ago

Thank you for joining us on September 15th to celebrate the opening of “Maria Yolanda Liebana: A Place to Be Held” 💫⁠
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The exhibition is now open and on view through December 11, 2026. We hope that you can visit! ⁠
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Admission is free and open to the public. ⁠
We're open Monday – Thursday, 12 – 4 pm.⁠
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Photography by Ian Peters⁠
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#artgallery #artexhibition #montclairstateuniversity #montclair #RedHawkPride #newjersey #nj⁠ taken in Montclair State University Galleries by @yolabola

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22 days ago

by @yolabola

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25 days ago