Born and raised in Stanislaus County, California, Crystal has taken her artistic ambitions from personal artworks, to collaborative murals and exhibitions, commission based works, painting parties, and instructing summer art workshops to a small community of home-schoolers in her home town. She received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree at California State University Stanislaus, as a first-generation student of Mexican descent, with a mixed emphasis in painting, sculpture, and drawing. Now, you can find Crystal instructing at local painting party events, substitute teaching, or providing art lessons to children of all ages.
Personal Statement:
"My preferred mediums to work with are Acrylic, Oil paint, and charcoal on canvas or paper. I have grown with an admiration for art movements such as Baroque, Abstract or Neo Expressionism, and the Bay-Area Figurative Movement, to name a few.
My current work, in 'Figuratively Speaking', is an experimentation with color, paint application, and expression with the human figure. In some of these works, the addition of branches can be tied to the instability of generational knowledge/lifestyle, health, or institutionalized beliefs. However, I hope to still provide an open interpretation for the viewer. Color and texture play an important part in my work as I intend to use unexpected hues, saturation, and brush strokes to emphasize contrast, collision, and instability.
-Crystal.
Education
2015-2021
Modesto Junior College, A.A.T. Studio Art.
2021-2025.
California State University Stanislaus, Bachelor's of Fine Arts, Art.
Awards
2019
Humanities Award- 2nd Place in Painting Category
2021
Humanities Award- 3rd Place in Sculpture Category
Exhibitions
Solo
2022
Plants and People, at The Farmacy.
2024
Beyond Stained Windows, Stan State Art Space.
Group
2019
Humanities Art Contest - Virtual Exhibition, Modesto Junior College Art Gallery.
2021
Art Market, Downtown Modesto.
2023
Duo exhibition, Lofi-Laboratories