Raul Valdez, Ashleigh Norman and Jamie Danielson are exhibiting their collaboration FIGURE at the Harbor Village Gallery from January 19 to March 7, 2011. Opening reception will be on Friday, January 29 from 5 – 8pm.

In March 2010, Valdez, Norman, and Danielson, won awards in the Buenaventura Art Association’s 4th Annual Collegiate Student Art Competition This juried competition is open to art students from local colleges. These three artists were students at California State University, Channel Islands, and have been very active not only with studies but also curating or exhibiting in shows in student, private art gallery venues in the last year. Valdez graduated Fall 2010, and Norman and Danielson plan to graduate in Spring 2011, all three with a B.A. in studio art.

FIGURE is a multi media compellation of works exploring humanity from the artists’ perspectives of physicality, the range of human emotions, and spirituality. Viewing this exhibit is meant to stimulate different reactions in its viewers, including puzzlement, surprise, humor, wonder, inquiry and understanding.

Valdez was awarded 2nd Place and an Honorable Mention in the student scholarship competition last year. His work interprets the human figure in paintings with a “voyeuristic sensibility”, portraying nude or semi nude figures without the figure being aware of the viewer. His sculptures incorporate clothing and other objects in unexpected ways with parts of the human body.

Norman won 1st Place and a Merit Award. Her paintings are colorful, metaphorical narratives containing deep emotional content. Many of her paintings are biographical and can be viewed as self-portraits. Her sculptures depict the human form in dreamlike situations which blur the lines between the human and his or her surroundings.

Danielson won a Merit Award and the Christine Beirne Award. Her work is a commentary on nature, femininity, spirituality and transcendence. She uses the female form in a variety of ways, tweaking it to separate it from reality. Many of her pieces do not depict the figure as clearly dead or alive, including images that are part skeletal, part flesh. Her sculptures range from miniature to life-size.

The Harbor Village Gallery is located at 1591 Spinnaker Dr. Suite 117C, Enterance # 3 in the Ventura Harbor Village. Open everyday except Tuesday from 12 to 5 pm. For more information, call the gallery at 805-644-2750 or visit their website at www.harborvillagegallery.com . The Harbor Village Gallery is an art space of the Buenaventura Art Association.