Members of the Corner Gallery are delighted to welcome a new Young Artist for the next couple of months. Mia Uribe is the first to bring us three dimensional sculptural works in addition to wall art. Her eight feet of gallery space is guaranteed to impress viewers with a wide variety of visual treats.

 

Mia is 18 years old and a Mendocino County native. Born in Laytonville, she moved to Ukiah at age 5 and recently graduated from high school here. She now attends Mendocino College, with plans to transfer to a 4-year college to become an architect. It's not surprising, knowing that, that her favorite art form is sculpture, with its characteristic of three- dimensionality.

 

Mia explains, "My favorite medium is currently clay. I like it because it's very forgiving and easy to work with. It's also not as common, at least around me, to see someone use clay to sculpt. I enjoy a challenge so I am currently interested in wood/stone sculpting. I like that it's similar to clay in the sense that they are both 3D. I also consider wood and stone carving to be incredibly uncommon, and they take a lot of skill. I'd like to prove to myself that I can do it."

 

Asked about her artistic background, Mia responded, "I don't remember why I started making art, I just always have. I never took any art classes until my freshman year in high school where I took two. Even though I took those classes I still consider myself to be  completely self taught, since I already knew how to do what we were taught there. I'm not influenced by any famous artist in particular, though I am very fond of classical/hellenistic sculpture. The baroque/romanticism art styles also influence my drawing."

 

In addition to a couple of drawings, Mia will feature photography in her show. She describes a photo that she considers her second-favorite piece in the show, "It's a photo of a salamander I took in the middle of a rainstorm. I love this picture because it has a lot of interest in the photo. It captures the movement and gorgeous color the salamander has. I also just love salamanders and think they're very cute."

 

Mia got a teasing glint in her eye when asked about her favorite piece. She told us, "My favorite is definitely the clay bust I have sculpted, but since I'd consider it the star of the show you'll just have to come to the gallery to see it."