Biography
Ponytess, a.k.a. Myrna L. Enamorado, is a Honduran American artist specializing in painting, drawing, and bookarts. She graduated with honors from Tulane University in 2002 earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Communication, and a minor in Film Studies. Her first poem was published by the Poetry Foundation in 1998. She was awarded the Henry Prize for Excellence and Enthusiasm in French in 2000.
From 1999 until 2016, Ponytess worked in radio as an on-air personality, producer, and board operator, in addition to production director for WTUL, WODT, WRNO, WWL, WSMB, and WLMG. She was art director for the VOX zine, a Tulane publication, and published interviews and articles on indie rock. In 2002, Ponytess was voted to be 24 hour DJ for WTUL's marathon fundraiser. She was the second woman ever to be trained on the board at The Big 870 WWL where she broadcasted "The Midnight Trucker Show", while simultaneously running "Coast to Coast" on WSMB. Ponytess produced the drive time sports and politics presentation on Fox Sports 1280 AM in 2016.
She also worked on multiple films, and was part of a team that won the Audience Award for Louisiana Short Film at the 2012 New Orleans Film Festival with a film called A Most Complex Form of Ventriloquism. Besides New Orleans, she lived in Paris where she studied art history at La Sorbonne, and New York where she studied art therapy at School of Visual Arts. Ponytess was nominated to be Artist of the Year by the Arts Council of New Orleans in 2011. In 2017 she published her first artist book entitled Waterfalls In Oregon. She has since published four illustrated fairytales and one coloring book.
Artist Statement
I started drawing people to make connections during a period of isolation. The first person I drew was myself. As I looked in the mirror and created the lines that loosely tied my head on to my body, it became apparent that my self-portraits became more lifelike when my clarity of thought was more anchored in reality. As time went on, and I felt ready to rejoin society, I began to draw the people around me, usually close friends, or acquaintances that I wanted to get to know better. The careful way I delineate people’s features as I approach their contours with my pen on the paper makes them feel closer to me. I use archival ink on watercolor paper to trace their shapes. Piece by piece the individuals on paper are small, but together they make up a sizable crowd.
Praise
"Enamored. Thank you, Myrna."
-Marion Lasiter
"Myrna your art is beautiful."
-Marcelle Mouledoux
“I absolutely LOVE!!! This portrait that my fellow artist friend Myrna Leticia Enamorado composed for me... We met via the FB group "Art In the Time of Quarantine"... I love her interpretation and loose marks... and it's fabulous... I feel it is a very flattering rendition of me... <3 Thank you Myrna!!!
-Chris Bell
"There is something so genuine about the way you draw people. It’s hard to describe in words. It’s really striking. [...] Honestly, (Pony)Tess, I think you are one of the most skilled and talented (and those are two different and separate things,) draftspeople I can think of. Your drawings are fucking incredible. It’s your ability to capture so much with just a few lines. Really really expressive and really really animated. It’s amazing. The way you do human anatomy and faces, there’s no wasted mark or line. Other people do all this shading and value and tones and subtle variation, and you say more than many many of those people can with just a few marks and lines. It’s very difficult to pull off. Real virtuosity. It’s rare. I’ve always been jealous of that."
-Jack Wittenbrink
"I wanted to thank you for the art you made of Alexis and I on our wedding! We both were so excited when we saw it. Really love your work and It meant a lot to us that you felt inspired to create that, you're an incredible artist so keep doing what your doing and thank you again for inspiring Alexis and I with your work!"
-Dennis Galindo
"Myrna Leticia Enamorado is my new favorite artist in New Orleans. So good."
- Dane Hansen
"Your work has this wonderful naïve playfulness, but also a skill and a deftness. I rarely see both in a single image anywhere. And your work has it again and again. Very impressive."
-Jack Wittenbrink
"Myrna's drawings truly capture the essence of a person. She did a beautiful drawing of my daughter and I during Mardi Gras last year that I treasure. She brought across the essences of fun and love that we had that night! I also love her angel drawings - they're my new favorites."
-Rebecca Kastl Millsap