Maria Ojascastro, MFA ’91, to receive St. Louis Visionary Award

Artist and wellbeing instructor Maria Ojascastro, MFA ’91, will be honored as the 2026 Outstanding Teaching Artist at the Saint Louis Visionary Awards this April.

Ojascastro uses the transformative power of visual arts with diverse audiences to celebrate what connects us rather than what sets us apart. She has taught educators, medical and mental health professionals, cancer survivors, neurodivergent individuals, and trauma survivors for the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Prison Performing Arts, the Center of Creative Arts, the Cancer Support Community, PALM Health, and other cultural, health, and educational institutions. Ojascastro’s artistic practice is infused by her lived experience of finding hope and community amid hardship — including surviving the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School shooting, caring for her son during cancer treatment, teaching incarcerated adults, and raising three children on the autism spectrum.