Karina Puente can’t remember a time when art didn’t exist in her life. She began drawing at a young age, and used whatever she could get her hands on—crayons, Play-doh, paper—to translate the world around her, a place she describes as “…a light-box world filled with telling characters.”

As a girl, Puente had an expansive imagination to dream; and surprisingly, as a 23 year old woman, she has managed to retain t

 As a girl, Puente had an expansive imagination to dream; and surprisingly, as a 23 year old woman, she has managed to retain the distinct, and enviable, child-like quality of being inspired and awed by the sometime hardened world around her. 

Risk is a big word in PuenteÕs vocabulary. ÒItÕs easy to compartmentalize artists, so IÕm trying to push beyond borders.Ó Puente said. That explains, in part, why she has delved into several media such as oil, pastel, clay and plaster, only to abandon it all to study video and photography at The School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, through Tufts University.

ÒI wanted to submerge myself academically at school and move beyond what had become familiar. I wanted to be stretched.Ó Puente said.

With this in mind, she studied film by day and painted at night for pleasure. 

Although the ÒdisciplineÓ of creating comes natural to Puente, this new post-University phase has brought about the challenge of breaking through her personal barriers—the human things that often keep artists from producing—and finds the motivation inside her to create.

ÒIn school, deadlines and assignments turn a studio into a painting factory. Now IÕm learning how to nurture my natural drive to create, without anyone standing over me,Ó she said.

From Boston and then Oakland, where she re‘valuated her art, Puente has returned to the Valley to source inspiration close to home. Over the summer she was selected as one of fourteen local artists for an exhibition called ÒOn the Edge: A new generation of artists from the Santa Ynez ValleyÓ showing at the Elverh¿j Museum of History and Art in Solvang. 

ÒWe selected young, home grown, artists who have a passion and drive for their art,Ó said Esther Jacobsen Bates, Executive Director of the Elverh¿j. ÒSince she was young, Karina is someone I have had my eye on. She has done well with her art, especially her drawings.Ó

All exhibiting artists graduated from Santa Ynez Valley Schools, and according to Bates six of the fourteen featured artists are considered professionals, earning their living solely from their art and art commissions.

ÒOf the six Puente is the only one whoÕs come home.Ó 

When Puente found out she was being considered for the exhibit she met with Bates several times to survey the space prior to submitting a proposal. 

ÒAs soon as I saw the windows, I knew I would harness the light and make a work that was truly unique for the space.Ó Puente said.

The outcome of the light-filled window is a piece called ÒA Lambent LamentÓ. The medium she used is a semi-transparent paper called velum and acid-free, color construction paper cut-outs. What viewers see is essentially a shadow. The depth, value and tone of the art is created by the colored paper cut-outs of faces and figures that float between the sheets of velum, and are captured in suspended-motion within the panes of glass.

Like most of PuenteÕs work there is more to the piece than meets the eye. A few years ago, she began infusing her creations with intellectual weight and has been on a mission to pair her art with pertinent content ever since. In the case of ÒA Lambent Lament,Ó Puente used the play on words, lambent meaning to ÒlightlyÓ address an issue, and lament: an expression of sorrow or grief.

ÒOver time the light will eliminate the color in the paper, emphasizing the form,Ó she said.

ÒThis is the result of my ongoing reflection on the importance of color in our society, how it plays into politics and skin color and social norms. When the color is gone from the paper you will be forced to focus on the image and the material in its purest form, as opposed to the color, which evokes a certain emotion and judgment,Ó she said.

As an alternative take, Puente likes the idea of non-permanence in her art.

ÒNothing IÕve experienced is permanent. Why should it be different with my art?Ó she asked.

The ÒOn the EdgeÓ exhibit will be on display until November 4th, but already Puente has moved on to other projects. She has been commissioned to create a mural on the newly built library in Oxnard, along with two other artists, and currently she is combining oil, pastel and plaster sculpture for an upcoming show in February at the Judith Hale gallery in Los Olivos. This new collection of work focuses on the body and skin, drawing on personal narrative and art history. It is work she hopes will become a blue print for larger projects in her future.

The future is exactly where Puente has set her sites. Exploration and boldness is her mantle, and her plan is continuously to create throughout the world, beginning with the Santa Ynez Valley.

ÒDrawings, book covers, cathedrals—I want to live with limitless vision and ambition,Ó she said. At 23 and quickly climbing, Karina Puente is off to a good start.

Karina can be contacted via email at kpuente123@hotmail.com or on her business line (805) 688-6246. ÒA Lambent LamentÓ can be viewed at the Elverh¿j Museum in Solvang until November 4th.