For Valentina Azul, art has always been a language she spoke fluently, even before she knew it. Growing up in Tijuana, she was the girl at school known for her drawings, sketching anime-style cartoon figures of her friends and their backpacks in her free time. That early recognition lit a spark that has carried her all the way to a solo gallery show.
Azul is graduating from San Diego City College this May with a focus in sculptural and craft-based studio arts. Choosing City College was a practical and purposeful decision. Coming from Tijuana, she needed a school accessible by trolley, and City College's broad arts program with a clear transfer pathway in studio arts made it the right fit.
"I could just focus on sculptural and crafting practice more than painting and drawing, because that's what my focus is," she said.
Her time at City College has been shaped by a network of support. Programs like Puente and EOPS helped her navigate financial hurdles, from book grants to trolley passes that made her daily commute manageable. She also landed a work-study position with professor Terri Hughes-Oelrich in the art gallery, wood workshop, sculpture room, and ceramics lab, a role she has held for three years.
That position has led to meaningful contributions on campus, including a mural she painted in the college's parking garage. "That makes me proud and makes me feel satisfied with my time at City College," she said. "Just knowing that I made a mural in the garage."
Now, as graduation approaches, Azul is preparing for a solo exhibition at Personal Record Gallery in Barrio Logan, themed around the concept of "playground," not as a literal installation, but as a meditation on art as play. Looking further ahead, she has her sights set on La Esmeralda, a prestigious public arts university in Mexico City, where she hopes to deepen her practice.
For Azul, the next chapter is still taking shape, but if her journey so far is any indication, it will be anything but ordinary.