February 5 – February 23, 2022
Celebrating the work of Studio Channel Islands to showcase and support emerging artists in our community.
Maria Laura Hendrix is a Mexican-born interdisciplinary artist, currently living in Southern California. She earned her MFA from Otis College of Art and Design in 2020, and her BA in Psychology from Cal State Northridge. In her thesis titled Hasta La Raiz/ To the Root, she created portraits, still lifes, and landscapes to link the themes of labor and privilege to narrate her history. She takes a closer look at labor as she links the painter’s hands with that of the laborer to show the shared similarities of both forms of labor with regard to job and financial precarity.
In her portrait paintings, the doubling and deconstruction of the form is an important element. She deconstructs the image to re-imagine a new form, one that makes sense to how she perceives the world around her. As a Latina and first-generation immigrant, she sees her art as a way of resistance. In her Mujer series she takes inspiration from the women around her. Women who struggle, persevere and resist against societal labels. She has exhibited in Los Angeles and Ventura County. You can follow her on Instagram @mlhendrixart or visit her website at www.marialaurahendrix.art
Andy Lepe is a previous recipient of the Award for Excellence and current Artist in Residence at Studio Channel Islands.
Andy Lepe received his Bachelor of Arts at CSU Channel Islands, where he graduated with cum laude and the highest program honors for the Art Department. His series “Shifting Balance” is all about play, positive energy and embracing the transitions life takes us on. At a young age he would lose himself for hours at a time playing a mix of different games. Board games, sports, anything that kept his active mind in that childlike mindset of excitement and discovery.
The lines he uses in his art sets calculated boundaries and parameters that often shape his abstract paintings into patterns of geometric shapes. Colors on the other hand, he sees as energy. By combining energy with creativity, it’s exciting to see the process of discovering something new through his art as it brings colorful life to each creation.
Angelina Artero
“Boy Crazy” emerged from an exploration of presenting and ‘preserving’ my favorite memories—photos captured on my cellphone. I started from a pool of images, including family, new and old friends, pets and my garden. What ultimately inspired me were the flowers from my garden as well as a few pet fish. These memories are arranged over the background image of a nebula.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, life as we knew it ceased, including many opportunities to make new memories and relationships. I left my home and garden in Seattle to spend time with family in southern California, where I grew up and would feel less isolated during the lockdowns. After many long months of adapting to a new lifestyle of safe practices and getting vaccinated, many of us began to venture out into the world and live life again, including at large events, gatherings and even dating websites. Out of a near-post-pandemic nebula cloud, new memories and new relationships are forming. The flowers spring off and spill over the sides of the canvas—new activity in mid-explosion.
Carolina Danu
Utterly consumed with the exploration of the nostalgia and human memory as well as our irrevocable connection to the natural world around us, my artwork creates a surrealistic, dreamlike impression of the world as I choose to see and convey it. While my body of work spans a variety of different media, my current focus is on oil painting and sculptural ceramics. Although my painting style varies by subject, I tend to be drawn towards a realistic style that draws in historical traditions of the medium. The realistic style choices in my paintings are complimented by fantastical elements that create a warped reality inspired by the surrealist movement. My sculptural work straddles the line between figurative sculpture and illustrative surface design.
My current work integrates my own personal connection to nature as well as my Eastern European roots and natural elements such as flora and landscapes that I am drawn to and build connections with. I Use personal photographs that I take throughout my day-to-day life as reference points for my work. My color palettes are carefully devised under the influence of the Impressionists’ manner of visually blending our world with evocations of human life and emotions through the subtleties of color; using the nearly unparalleled vibrancy and depth of color that oil paint allows. I want my paintings to evoke emotional reactions and connections in my audience through my subjects, compositions, and use of color.
Jullianne De La Cruz
The work that I do is highly influenced by the media I consumed growing up. As a kid I was constantly enamored by video games and their ability to make me fall in love, bawl my eyes out, fall in love while bawling my eyes out, and just feel like I’ve spent my whole life heroically carrying the burdens of a beautifully fictional world and its beautifully fictional people. Being at the emotional mercy of a game was something that stuck with me as I navigated my way through elementary, grade school, and even now in college.
“What do you wanna be when you grow up?”
I want to become an artist.
“Are you sure? What does that even mean?”
I honestly don’t even know.
And even now, with a bunch of art-related associate degrees under my belt, I still don’t know. I just really want to make cool experiences that move people and make them feel things – sad things, happy things, all the things. In the pursuit of poking at peoples’ emotions, narratives and interactivity embedded themselves at the core of my creative expression. And it was thanks to that, coupled with lots of reckless ambition and drive to push the envelope just a tad, that I was able to start finding my voice as an artist. If you’re reading this, you’re probably looking at a piece of that voice now. And for that, I give you my biggest thanks and sincerest appreciation.
Hailey Falk
Life is the gathering of stories. My story begins with a girl in a yellow dress, standing knee deep in a mud puddle, discussing with no one in particular her plans for her upcoming art projects. About 15 years later, I am still a constant work in progress with an eye for bright colors. My hands are at their best when they are busy and a mess, so I tend to keep them that way. In my experience, people are much better at looking and pointing than they are at listening. Art gives me a voice. Each one of my pieces tells a story. Whether it be a clay sculpture, a dress, or an embroidered wall piece, they all have a personality and a tale to be told. Look closely at the details because each one adds a layer to the yarn of questionable decisions, laugh-worthy mistakes, and priceless memories I have collected so far.
Jose Galvan Martinez
Nard Hat
I spent the majority of my childhood and early teens in my native Mexico City, moving to Oxnard at the age of 15. One of the very few things that helped me get through the assimilation process and culture shock was punk rock, as it’s a genre that expands the globe and it was my home and comfort zone through those rough years.
This piece is inspired by one of my own hats I made and wore through my high school years. The process of making it took me back to making things for the sake of making them, those late nights making custom hats and clothes.
Verdad Asimilada
This work is inspired by my view of religion, Catholicism specifically, and how intertwined it is with my culture. Many seem to forget, or ignore, the brutal legacy of assimilation and the inquisition.
The influence the church has over Mexico and the rest of Latin America is disgusting to say the least. I witnessed first hand how opulent churches can benefit from the blind devotion of small poverty ridden towns.
This urn has a base composed of different dismembered body parts, representing the genocide of the natives and the destruction brought by colonization. The body of the urn is composed of skulls superimposed onto a cage symbolizing both enslavement and assimilation.
Alaina Murphy
Biography
Alaina Murphy is an artist, illustrator, and designer from Goleta, California. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Art at California Lutheran University, graduating in 2022. Her work tends to center around themes of nature, magic, and fantasy. Often this means diving into folktales and mythology from around the world, but it can also mean finding the beauty and magic in everyday scenes. Through her work Alaina aims to explore the place where art and stories intersect, navigating those motifs and archetypes that persist throughout time and across the world.
Statement
The paintings Old Pool and Dinner were created in the summer of 2021. At home with my family during this time due to Covid-19, I took the opportunity to develop my interest in gouache painting, with the goal of making one painting per week throughout May and June. The small, intimate paintings felt like the perfect way to explore some of the simple, slice-of-life scenes I had come to appreciate in those stressful times. A recent fascination with the Cubist movement also helped shape the outcome of these paintings, as I considered different methods of portraying the three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional format, and embraced a slightly less literal interpretation of space. My hope is that the love and tenderness I feel for these subjects will shine through, and inspire an appreciation for the beauty of ordinary things.
My name is David Reyes. I primarily create artwork through the mediums of illustration, painting, printmaking and sculpture. My work carries a dark, bold and experimental aesthetic throughout the variety of mediums I work in. As a laborer I am familiar with many different tools, materials and hardware/equipment. This knowledge becomes very useful when coming up with sculpture ideas with new or experimental materials and trouble shooting which methods will help me achieve my vision.
I have practiced and learned many disciplines throughout my college art career. It is my intention to utilize all I have learned to create original works of my own in whichever medium I feel is appropriate for the idea in mind.
This series of work is based on psychoactive plant life from around the world. My intention is to present them in a new context with their information written in a language that I have created. Once decoded, each description gives a brief explanation of the plant’s purpose within its culture of origin. This method of obscuring information is intended to introduce and inform the audience of these beautiful examples of plant life with a new understanding of what each plant does. As well as to provide the viewer with a sense as if they are discovering a lost plant species.
Chris Taylor
With a love for color and a dedication to exploration, my works of art emphasize the collaboration between form and the formless. Like a child birthed by Picasso and Jackson Pollock, my style fuses the abstract with the representational, the purposeful with the meaningless. My creative works showcase my unique style and my permanent quest for self discovery.
As a child I found entertainment exploring the outside world— climbing trees, investigating spiderwebs, and discovering communities of flourishing life by flipping over a stone. This principle of exploration is a central pillar to my identity and artistic style. I am a person who absolutely loves to discover the vast amount of life that lies just outside of view. This love for discovery drives me forward with a commitment to create, interpret, and re-create my works of art.
Elisa Torres
About
Elisa Torres is an Artist born in Ventura County California. Elisa learned to create images at a young age. After studying film in High School she decided to pursue image making with film, but found her passion in painting. Studying under her Oxnard College Art professors, she obtained her Associates Degree in Studio Arts for transfer while creating a body of work that celebrates her environment. Torres is known for her combination of various styles and she continues to experiment with new and traditional techniques. She is currently attending California State University Channel Islands to earn her Bachelor’s in Studio Art. Torres is now learning digital media to add variety to her studio work.
Statement
From an early age I realized how much creativity fascinated me. It has been a way to connect and communicate with the world through the language of Art. I grew up attending community meetings and classes in South Oxnard. The people that made changes happen through movements in my community have inspired me. My work touches political subjects, highlights essential workers, and the importance of celebrating diversity and basic needs. I strive to express the culture and importance of land acknowledgement in my work.