'I think I was born to paint': Tampa artist creates impactful pieces

TAMPA, Fla. - Ya La'Ford's home studio is where her creative juices flow freely from her hands.

"I think that art has the power to transcend and change humanity and our civilization by really taking, magnifying glass and looking at how we can better ourselves every single day," she said.

La'Ford is a first-generation American, born in the Bronx. Her parents hail from Jamaica, and she believes she was born to be an artist.

"I think I was born to paint, and I was born to create," said La'Ford. "Create out of materials that would transform and push forward the human race."

To fulfill her goal of impacting people with her creativity, she earned a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts from The Art Institute of Boston. She also has a law degree from the University of Florida.

"I think, set the precedent for me to really create provoking works that would, instigate or at least inquiry into change, questioning, what it meant to be alive today," La'Ford stated.

La'Ford has hundreds of artworks displayed throughout the country, and she even created a painting for Nike.

"I did an installation inside of their headquarters," said La'Ford. "So a painting, that was, a circle inside of a circle instead of a circle that really was about infinity."

All of her hardwork has led her to meet some famous people, but one she particularly cherishes is Maya Angelou.

"She engaged with me so deeply that she became a mentor of mine," La'Ford added.

She incorporates sand, shells, rocks, and more on her canvases.

"I sand them down and I grind them and I use them as material so that these pieces are not just telling a story, but you can actually feel our essence inside of each of these pieces that I'm creating," La'Ford explained.

She crafted a sculpture for the Tampa Housing Authority and is currently involved in a project for the St. Petersburg police department called The Courageous 12. The initiative focuses on commemorating 12 Black St. Pete police officers who sued the police department for discrimination.

"I pay tribute to these men who did something that was as important as Brown versus Board of Education, and that we stand on the backs of these heroes and what it was that they did in order to always remember what's right of wrong," La'Ford said.

A belief she says artists should be involved in creating.

"I think our mission is all about bettering humanity. And, as long as that message is what is felt or. A part of what people gain when they interact with our artwork, then I think that we've done the right thing," La'Ford said.

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