La Sierra fine arts grad exhibits her life’s journey

Escudero’s show, on display at Brandstater Gallery through Aug. 24, presents works from various media, representing her dual majors in graphic design and fine arts. The graphic design component includes photography, printmaking and packaging, and logo design. The fine arts pieces will showcase sculptures made from vintage books. An opening reception will take place Aug. 20 from 6-8 p.m. in the gallery with an artist’s talk at 6:45 p.m. Admission is free.

The title of Escudero’s show, “Introspectrum,” is a combination of the words introspection and spectrum. Escudero says it describes “the use of my two majors -- graphic design and fine art -- on an introspective journey of various themes in my life, a spectrum of events.” Escudero’s show reflects the experiences which she has grown from, calling each a mask that she has worn. She hopes that viewers will “relate to their own masks of the past and see how those masks have helped shape them into who they are today.”

For Escudero, her creative inspiration begins with making a list of songs which coincide with an idea that she has in mind. Her process involves sketching ideas which she then turns into projects. Escudero’s projects can last hours to days depending on the complexity of her idea. Escudero uses music as her main source of creativity while completing each project.

Escudero graduated from La Sierra University on June 18 with a fine arts degree. She is currently a freelance storyboard artist for short films, a body artist and designer, and photographer.

She is no stranger to public showings of her work. A 2009 graduate of Riverside’s Martin Luther King High School, Escudero won the Riverside Banner Contest during her junior year which resulted in one of her art pieces being posted around the city. This achievement drew an invitation to enter the Wyland Ocean Challenge art competition founded by renowned marine life muralist, conservationist and educator Robert Wyland. “I led a group of student artists in creating an ocean-themed mural,” Escudero said. “It was a competition among school districts in California and our mural won. Because of this win, we were invited to a gala event in San Diego where Wyland and [former Vice President] Al Gore greeted us and awarded us.”

Escudero credits her professor Susan Patt with “opening my mind to new levels of creativity” in Patt’s handmade books course. It is in this course that Escudero realized she enjoyed making 3-D art, leading her to choose handmade books as her fine arts emphasis. Additionally, a tour arranged by a friend last summer of DreamWorks Studios in Glendale solidified her interests in 3-D design through a software program called Maya which creates 3-D effects and animation. During spring quarter at La Sierra, Escudero honed her graphic design skills while interning as a graphic designer in Irvine. She hopes to pursue a master’s degree in special effects, but says she will take the next year to explore and learn.

Brandstater Gallery is located in La Sierra’s Visual Art Center. The gallery is open Mon. - Wed., 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Thurs., noon - 7 p.m. Brandstater Gallery can be reached at 951-785-2170. La Sierra University is located at 4500 Riverwalk Parkway, Riverside, Calif., 92515. A campus map is available at https://lasierra.edu/campus-map/