Visual artist Maria Servellón creates with a little magic and a lot of herself

Maria Servellón is a visual explorer. She imbues her multimedia projects and independent films with reflective curiosity, moments of magical realism, and a lot of herself.

The 34-year-old’s boundless creativity fills her home studio in Boston, which is like a time capsule capturing her past and present. On a tour of the space, she pointed to film festival posters, crochet projects, virtual reality goggles and the first painting she ever made when she was 15 years old. “This is when I was like, ‘I don't know — I kind of like doing art,’” Servellón said, “but maybe I can't be an artist.”

Then her mother and father, who are from El Salvador, gave her a game-changer of a gift for her quinceañera: a Sony Handycam. “It had mini DV tapes, which I still have,” Servellón said, “and my parents were both like, ‘just find something to do with this — see what you can come up with.”

So, she filmed herself around the family’s East Boston neighborhood. Servellón also explored music and theater at the nonprofit youth organization Zumix. When it came time to apply to college, Servellón considered art school, but her younger self’s nagging doubts returned. “It sounds really hard to be an artist, and I don't really know a lot of artists,” she thought at the time.

Instead, Servellón decided to study psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. But she also took digital media and video classes, and ultimately switched her major to studio art. After graduating in 2012, Servellón taught video and art in Boston Public Schools. Five years later, she took a leap to pursue a master of fine arts in film and media art at Emerson College.

At first, Servellón struggled to choose a subject for her final project there. Then she had a revelation: “I know myself the best.”

Servellón went on to write, produce, direct and act in her poetic coming-of-age short film “Hyphen.” It follows an imaginative daughter of Latin American parents from childhood through her 20s as she searches for her artistic identity and voice.

“It’s an inspirational story,” Servellón said, “especially for young women in the arts to feel comfortable navigating the world around them, and to believe in that voice.”

Servellón shot “Hyphen” at familiar locations, including a childhood friend’s kitchen, the East Boston Social Center and Zumix. She even flew to Iceland to fulfill her main character’s journey of self-discovery that, in so many ways, mirrored her own.

Servellón’s calling card is dreamlike and emotionally authentic. "Hyphen" features young, first-time actors, surprising pops of animation, a choreographed dance scene and arresting transitions. The story subtly explores generational trauma and the immigrant experience. It’s no wonder “Hyphen” was selected to screen at film festivals in multiple cities, including Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Portland, Oaxaca, Mexico and beyond.

Servellón’s former professor Cat Mazza — who currently chairs the art department at UMass Boston — reflected on the filmmaker’s evolution.

“I just re-watched ‘Hyphen,’ which is beautiful.” She went on to describe a kinetic short film Servellón produced for her digital media class that was, “jaw-dropping.”

After Servellón graduated, Mazza continued to share the short film as an example for her students. “It was an animation that used all these different filters,” she recalled, “and it was organized to sound in a way that was spectacular.” In it, driving music buoys a stick figure-like girl who transforms from a cartoon character into a flesh-and-blood Servellón.

Mazza described Servellón as sweet, serious and curious. “She's been collaborating with dancers for a long time, and doing interesting visuals for projection on the stage,” Mazza said, “then she also has a very polished film practice.”

That practice has informed the projections Servellón designed over the past few years for plays produced by Company One and the Boston Playwrights’ Theater. “The first show I did was ‘Black Superhero Magic Mama,’” she said. “I really enjoy using visuals and graphics while combining them with a filmic essence to immerse people in the audience.” Servellón added it was invigorating to collaborate with the theater community.

For her, collaboration itself is its own form of art. Recently, she’s been working with a post-production team that’s helping craft her latest film. “I love seeing people work their magic,” Servellón said, “when it comes to the camera, the art department, the sound, the editing.”

On a late summer afternoon, film editor and colorist Victoria Wojick scrubbed through footage with Servellón in a darkened edit booth at Emerson College where they met as graduate students. “You're always working one-on-one with the director,” Wojick said. “You’re giving them some ideas, they’re giving you some ideas.”

She focused on adjusting hues for a pivotal moment in “Phantasma,” a short mystery drama. “I have a first pass done for this scene,” Wojick explained, “but we're still fleshing it out a bit.”

Servellón wrote, produced and directed the existential project. “It’s about a woman who's a disillusioned writer, and she doesn't go to work one day because she can't stop hearing this bell that keeps ringing,” she explained. The character embarks on a quest to find the source of the ringing, and along the way, meets with “society’s overlooked souls.” “Each of these chance encounters help her discover who she is — and also get her closer to the bell,” Servellón said.

The bell is metaphorical. And magical. Servellón’s taste for the surreal floats through all of her films. “There’s something that always subverts from the expected, or what you think you're going to be in for,” she said. “I like to play with the audience in that way.”

As a director, Servellón makes it a point to hire at least 50% women for her casts and crews, along with artists from other communities underrepresented in the film industry. “That's what I really like about independent filmmaking,“ Servellón said, “where you have more of that control.”

Now she’s excited to share “Phantasma” with audiences and is preparing to submit the final cut to film festivals. Servellón is also eager to support the next generation of visual explorers as a visiting assistant professor this semester in the film and video department at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. But, of course, she’ll continue to experiment with her own creative possibilities.

“There’s so many types of art,” she said. “I just want to try them all.”