Summertime

Cafe Ficelle

I create art simply because I think everything weird and beautiful is inspiring. And I think everything is weird and beautiful. In my artwork, I most enjoy sharing the perspective I experience through my own eyes. Cliché? Sure. But with each piece, I want to bring the viewer into the moment—as if they’re there, experiencing it with me… and also maybe holding my hand too if they’d like.

My favorite mediums tend to hover around painting, drawing and printmaking. I use painting to brighten. I like to keep my colors vibrant and my lines fluid-like. The goal is to bring out the colors that make me excited about what I’m seeing and use them in a way to get the audience to understand the feeling of that moment.

Drawing and printmaking go hand in hand for my artwork. I like to watch people and observe their life. Life is beautiful and scary and super uncomfortable. These two mediums help me to pull characteristics and nuances out that I wouldn’t have picked up on before when I sit in that one café and stare at people in their own uncomfortable lives and they stare back asking me, “What gives woman? Stop drawing me.” Drawing was my first love and we will die alone together. And although printmaking is a new medium for me, it is special to me and there is a quality there that makes me feel like I’m freezing time more than any other medium.

No matter which project I’m working on, the process seems to roll in the same motion. When I see something that catches my eye, I take a picture and when I have a feeling or emotion about it, I’ll write it down. It’s what inspires me the most and allows me to collect the cool things I’ve seen and felt throughout my life.

Enjoyment of Life

Time Keeper

Lucky Rocky

Elena Berdnikova is a Ventura-based artist currently studying art at Ventura College. Her work bridges the tangible and the intangible, exploring the interplay of form, emotion, and storytelling. Rooted in a strong foundation of artistic training and a lifelong passion for creativity, her practice spans a variety of mediums, including painting, ceramics, and mixed media.

Her art evokes a sense of connection, exploring relationships between the natural and human worlds, the spiritual and the material, and the dynamics of interpersonal relationships. Each piece is informed by her cultural heritage and a deep curiosity about the human condition, offering viewers a narrative that invites reflection and engagement. Her work aims to resonate with audiences, sparking introspection and offering moments of tranquility and meaning in an often chaotic world.

Through her practice, she captures the universal within the personal, crafting works that embody her vision while leaving space for individual interpretation.

Blue Drop

Dream House

My artwork aims to capture clay in a precious state. My intrigue with clay motivates me to sculpt with it. I appreciate its origin, coming from the earth, and its conclusion, turning back into stone. There are many possibilities of creation with clay because of its plastic, tactile nature. I use my hands to sculpt any living thing from earth then morph it into a degraded fossilized form. While most forms are recognizable from Earth, some forms have evolved to become completely other worldly.

A Catch On The Beach

Self Portrait

I’m grateful to once again return as an alumni artist for the Emergence Exhibition. In the years since my last appearance, I’ve carefully crafted my skill set as a artist while also remembering my roots as a former student under the guidance of Professor Christine Morla at Oxnard College. I’ve cultivated an understanding of color theory and the importance of detail, which serves as the foundation of my artistic voice. My work spans many ranges of mediums but now in the digital realm with bold, captivating pieces celebrating color and intricate line work. Each piece reflects my growth as an artist, honoring the people, places, and lessons that have shaped my creative journey.

Bicky Fernandez

Mi Corazon Es Sagrado

My name is Lulu Fernandez, and I am a first-generation Mexican-American painter, illustrator, and animator. My work explores themes of youth, nostalgia, friendship, and love through brightly saturated colors, graphic figures, and freeform mark-making. Inspired by my childhood, lived experiences, and cultural heritage, I strive to create pieces that authentically reflect my worldview and the stories that inhabit it. I primarily work with acrylic paint and digital illustration, often blending the two to build vibrant, layered compositions. Using the CMYK color wheel, I create illuminated, highly saturated works that balance graphic forms with intricate textures. By experimenting with color and mark-making, I push the boundaries of both mediums, infusing whimsical details to tell compelling stories. Much of my inspiration stems from the love I have for family, friends, my cultural background, and the nostalgia of cherished memories. My work captures the fleeting emotions of life—whether love, heartbreak, or the moments that transcend time. I aim to invoke a sense of nostalgia and connection, encouraging viewers to see their own stories reflected in my art. In the future, I plan to create larger series exploring friendship and the universal moments that connect us all. My ultimate goal is to build immersive worlds that combine storytelling with whimsical, intricate design, cultivating a deeper connection with a broader audience. To its core, my work celebrates life, love, and the beauty of shared experiences. Art is an authentic reflection of my heart, my mind, and my affection for life itself.

My Sister

Newport Beach

Through my works, I wanted to explore the significance of reflecting on the people in our life and life around us. My pieces reflect how the people around us such as family may support you and some of my pieces reflect on the environment and nature around us. I produced works in multiple mediums such as charcoal, acrylic paint, graphite and colored pencil to foster the discussion on how we impact the environment and how the people that surround you also impact you. Through portraits, such as my self portrait and a portrait of my sister, I reflect on myself and my family members. My piece, Microwave Portrait displays my self reflection and I used a microwave which is a non-traditional mirror to show how we self reflect throughout the day about ourselves even if we are not in front of an actual mirror. I showcase works that include nature such as the ocean with the sun reflecting the waves and flowers to show how we should reflect about the environment around us. I also created an artwork of polar bears impacted by climate change to promote sustainability and to have us reflect about our impact on the overall world.

Horned Larks of Santa Rosa Island

Sycamore Cove

Collecting Buckwheat Seeds

Mom

My name is Mara Soleia Hales-Garcia. Using any tools at hand, often brushes and acrylic paint on canvas, I create art that stems from the solace I find in the landscapes of Southern California, which I am grateful to call home. My art explores humans in nature, as integral part and product. I find that most everything is worthy of awe and my efforts are a devotion to moments caught in memory and the small endemic or endangered life around us that could easily be passed by. Often depicting the detriment to individuals and the environment caused by human action, I hope to inspire questions about our designations of science & art, nature & home, and success & tragedy with my art.

“Easy to know
that diamonds are precious
good to learn that rubies have depth but more to see
that pebbles are miraculous.”
– Josef Albers

Approaching Midnight

duality // self

reverie // mom

Statement

As two paintings from a triptych that includes my mother, my father, and myself– reverie // mom (2023) and duality // self (2023) explore the complexities of identity, inheritance, and the relationships that shape us. Rooted in attention to detail, these works blend the timeless elegance and symbolism of old masters with a contemporary, almost photorealistic sensibility.

My current work explores the often fraught aspects of womanhood, such as aging, commodification and objectification of the body, and issues surrounding autonomy. As the first piece in a shift from portraiture to larger figurative works, Approaching Midnight (2024) represents the inevitability and ever-looming presence of time over the body. It brings to life an exploration of one of the most physical and psychological dimensions of womanhood, inviting reflection on how time—both in the sense of biological aging and societal judgment—shapes our understanding of self-worth.

Biography

Corissa, a Los Angeles based artist with a Bachelor’s degree in Art, is currently pursuing her MFA at California State University, Northridge after receiving her Associate’s Degree from Moorpark College in 2021. As a graduate student, she continues to refine her vision and technical skill.

Clown Cult Picnic

Thalia (At Home With the Boys)

As a person and artist I often find myself focusing on appearance and the way we communicate who we are through dress, decor, behavior, interests, and so forth. This isn’t a unique fixation, but I particularly enjoy highlighting and constructing narratives that are particularly humorous or intriguing to me through narrative figure painting. Often derived from my personal experiences, or of the ones close to me, I aim to celebrate and critique certain behaviors, beliefs, and obsessions witnessed in my own life or as portrayed on film, television, and social media. Typically set in domestic environments, I seek to elevate my subjects’ mundane status by constructing fantastical scenes, creating humorous and clichéd situations; rendered with a copious amount of detail. Depicting idiosyncratic items and occurrences is an exciting part of my process, as they create micro narratives that give viewers the opportunity to discover subtleties and reinterpret the ostensible story. I take moments from my personal life that I believe are relatable, iconic experiences and integrate broad social commentary in hopes that my viewers will see how people are connected by shared obsessions or behaviors while living as distinct individuals. My goal is to shift one’s perception of the ordinary, to look more critically at it and notice what is amusing and absurd in the banality of life.

La ultima despedida

The Morning Staple

Una noche con la familia

I am an artist who focuses on photorealism, and I’m deeply inspired by the satisfaction of taking pictures and transforming intricate details into works that mirror them. My creative process is as rewarding as the finished piece— methodically crafting each element with patience and precision. I find immense joy in capturing the subtleties that bring a piece to life, and my goal is to share that appreciation for detail and dedication with my viewers. Through my art, I aim to evoke a sense of admiration for the beauty found in everyday items.

ABOLISH ICE!

Danza de los Diablos

As a Mexican artist trying to live the American dream, my work is deeply rooted to the rich culture that I am part of. Through my photography, printmaking, and paintings, I seek to explore the different experiences that shape my identity. My photography captures a lot of moments that are very important to me such as my culture, my family, friends, and the hard-working people that make America great. In my paintings, I also try to display a lot of my culture and what makes me who I am, because I think it’s very important to share a part of me that many might not know of. Printmaking allows me to experiment with textures and forms which help me produce works that are visually impactful, and that have powerful messages.

My inspiration comes from Mexico’s history/traditions, the culture I am surrounded by, personal experiences, and important people in my life such as my parents. Music, culture, friends, and family all play a crucial role in my creative process. They provide a constant source of ideas and perspectives on life. I am also inspired by those who chase their dreams without fearing other people’s opinions which is why I am majoring in art because I have a strong passion for it and I want to prove people wrong.

Savor the Flavor

Self Portrait with Tessa

As an artist I like to communicate through my work. Art is a language in and of itself, and each piece should communicate to the viewer in the unique dialect in which everyone individually digests thoughts and emotions. My intention is not to deliver one specific message, but to provide an ambiguous foundational motif on which the viewer may build their own interpretation with their own pieces of life unique to them. I attempt to strike the viewer with an emotion or unique thought of their own creation. I hope to never strip someones personal meaning to fill its space with my own intentions. My artistic intentions are fluid, ambiguous and personal by design and I hope that any viewer of my work is able to create their own narrative for my art and my artistic intention.

Strawberry Story Cloth

Strawberry Story Cloth (reverse)

Womb

Statement

this body is proof of love : art is proof of this body

i am soil just as much as i am flesh for i am what the earth made me for i am this earth for i am alive just as much as i am dead, and everything exists for eternity because matter is never created nor destroyed,

my blood is the blood of the many who came before me and the many who are around me, i am the cells and the platelets, you are the cells and the platelets,

although my current form differs from the form i took the moment i was born, i am just as much energy and i am just as much force and i am just as much cosmic and i am just as much love as i was in that moment.

i am my mothers child and i always will be. and you always will be. and she always will be.

my art is the afterbirth; what comes after the body, created before. it holds, it feeds, and it releases. it returns to the soil. it is the soil. i am the soil.

we are the soil the water the food the feasts that our parents have sat before, and their parents, and their parents, we are all that has nourished them, all that has touched them, all that wrapped around them and held their soft bodies and brought them to me, to you, to us, to existence.

i am the second i was born. i am birth, and my art is the action of repeating that moment.

soil is bodies, is what’s tumbled through the oceans, is what’s fallen through canopies, is what’s touched by sun and water : everything that we see we touch we breathe is soil and everything that we eat and drink and live and die with is soil, is art.

Biography

Born and raised in California, Piper Snowber is a sophomore attending School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a Presidential Scholarship. Piper is a nonbinary textile artist, dedicated learner, and environmental activist. They incorporate natural materials they forage with textiles, writing, video, performance, and installation to explore their connection to the Earth. They strive to bridge the human and non-human worlds, to raise consciousness about the entanglements between these worlds and the responsibilities we have to them. Inspired by artists such as Cecilia Vicuña and Mary Oliver, Piper uses a variety of mediums to address different topics such as industrial agriculture, ecological grief, and the separation between body and environment. Piper has been involved with a variety of environmental justice organizations, including the Pesticide Free Soil Project and CFROG, as well as community gardens and small-scale, BIPOC-led farms. They hope to continue their artistic practice and complete several years of work exchange after school. They also run a sustainable clothing line called ETRNL, and are a practicing hand-poke artist.

My work is a celebration of intention within the mundane—a deliberate effort to elevate, honor, and bring awareness to the functional objects we often use without a second thought. I am drawn to the overlooked everyday items, seeking to bridge the gap between art and utility. Each piece begins with questions about form, color theory, intended purpose, striving for seamlessness against the human form. These considerations fuel my pursuit, transforming ordinary objects into vessels of beauty and purpose. Through this exploration, I aim to create work that not only serves but also inspires mindfulness in the rhythms of daily life.