Rocio Villanueva

Rocio Villanueva is a San Diego, California based artist and Army Veteran. Her artistic practice includes visual art and social practice to explore themes of self discovery, freedom, and authenticity through her work. For the last six years Villanueva has been volunteering in the arts education to teach kids who bring their diverse backgrounds, world views, intuitions, insights, and ideas into the classroom, in turn inspiring and contributing to her education. Villanueva primarily works with ceramics to fuse traditional & contemporary elements from her heritage and American upbringing.

Villanueva was enlisted in the US Army for eight years and deployed to Iraq, as a bridge engineer in 2006 with the 50th Engineer MRBC Co. She is currently pursuing her degree in Arts and Ceramics at Palomar College. Rocio is actively involved in various organizations to include VETART, AJA PROJECTS and PATH WITH ARTS. Throughout the years, she has curated art exhibits at various galleries in California. Rocio’s artwork has been displayed at numerous venues including at the Oceanside Museum of Art, the Civil Rights Institute Southern California, the Bonita Museum of Arts, the San Dieguito Art Guild, the Boehm Gallery and several shows like the North County Students' Creative Art Show (NCSC). In  addition, her work has also been displayed in several Veteran Art exhibitions. She was awarded a Veteran Art scholarship to attend the “Surviving The Long Wars” exhibit in Chicago and most recently awarded the student John Baldessari scholarship of arts at Palomar College. The complexities of life experience and bicultural identities revealed her art practice. Using primarily ceramics and textures to foster unity and understanding within diverse communities. The majority of her work is made to evoke emotions and lead the viewer to reflect on themselves. Villanueva strongly believes that the practice of making and engaging with art can heal profound wounds. She lives a life that promotes connections for the environment and the ancestors who have left a healing legacy.

Much of my work pulls on my Mexican heritage and my roles as a mother, daughter, and warrior. Ceramics and mixed media are the mediums I explore to create an open dialogue with others. My work displays a femininity that is both soft, strong, and protective. I take my inspiration from mother nature's stunning colors, patterns and structures. My road to art practice began when I found healing in art therapy while having to shift, grow, and strengthen from a brain injury. Art became a tool to express emotions and ideas that are not visible but are given form through sculpting. I have found that I could express my emotions in a form where words are hard to find. Touching, working with, and connecting to clay grounds me to the present while simultaneously allowing me to connect to my ancestors. It gives an opportunity that allows us to start a conversation with a modality that has the capacity to transform and resolve our unmet effects of trauma that truly lie within us. The goal is to help others express themselves, reveal their skills, and achieve a better insight on their healing process.

One of my current projects is volunteering for organizations that help disabled veterans at events like the North  County Veterans Stand Downs (NCVSD). To include, traveling to Mexico and collaborating with other organizations like orphanages  and shelters. I love working with kids and adults who have been through rough times. When it comes to trauma, I feel we never know what others are going through and art is a gateway to understand the things that others have seen and experienced. There are no value judgments, just the encouragement to overcome social, medical and psychological barriers. No matter the medium of art, it all changes something deeply within. 

CA

United States