Angela Mia
About Angela Mia
Angela Mia, NSS, ARCLM, AWA
Freedom of spirit is my work's purpose: to uplift and inspire feelings of pure love and joy. My fulfillment as an artist is complete if I feel that my sculpture stirs or awakens personal emotion in the hearts of its viewers.
As I sculpt, I listen to an enduring memory of my own experiences. Each sculpture begins as dramatic light and shadows over form. Unique details then deliver a responding body that listens as a live face does.
Upon signing my works in clay, it is difficult to resist the thrill of creation...I have a strong sense that nothing is finalized; it continues to develop and grow, as do our children. I feel the spirit of life itself is emanating from the sculpture.
Because of the passion that inspires my sculpting, I hope to transmit a complexity of emotions to those who contemplate my work.
Exalting the human spirit through expressive faces and natural body movement has become the recognized trademark of Angela Mia De la Vega’s figurative bronze sculpture. Her work’s greatest inspiration is the ever-changing individuality of her children. Angela graduated Summa Cum Laude from Clarion University of Pennsylvania and completed post-graduate studies at the University of Madrid, Spain. She is an elected member of the National Sculpture Society, a Master Signature member of American Women Artists, and was named a Living Master by the internationally prestigious ARC (Art Renewal Center). Major awards include Best in Show and Best 3D Work by AWA and The Purchase Award by the ARC Museum. Her sculptures are installed in numerous universities, hospitals, public parks and city plazas throughout the USA and privately collected throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Dubai, India, China, and Japan.
Angela cofounded FLITE (Friends Lifting Individuals To Empowerment) whose mission is to harness the power of artistic expression and use it to raise funds and empower enslaved or socially excluded people.
May 2012: Angela named Living Master by ARC
Art Renewal Center is the largest on-line Museum on the internet housing all the known works of the greatest painters and sculptors in human history, cross-referenced to the largest encyclopedic online art reference library of historical texts, essays, biographies, and articles. The ARC defines a "living master" as one who has the rare talent, experience, and expertise to create great humanistic works of art that are seemingly executed with effortless perfection; one who has been trained under the rigorous academic principles of Realism, and mastered every parameter and nuance of great painting or sculpture
Biography
Angela Mia sculpted her first bronze in 1994 and ever since has been creating figurative bronze sculptures for international collectors, corporations and institutions. Exalting the human spirit through expressive faces and natural body movement has become Angela's recognized trademark. Her work's greatest inspiration is the curious and ever-changing individuality of her children.
“As I'm working, I find the sculpture gradually coming to life. The piece never seems finished; I want to continue its creation but have to push myself to finally let go. Having the concept so clear in my mind, I have already chosen my models: individuals who represent a multiplicity of humanity, glowing with spirit, and shaping light and shadows over form. In the end, I want my work to be remembered as something that inspires and awakens tenderness of spirit - something within us that allows us to stop and appreciate the more important things like family and emotions, especially love,” says the sculptor.
Angela's figurative sculptures emanate unique living spirit - something the artist achieves by truly knowing - and often loving - her subjects. She sculpts in clay her deeply honest observations which reflect even the smallest nuance in character and ultimately reveal an acute, mesmerizing likeness to her model. By providing meaningful insights into human relationships her works allow viewers to look beneath the surface of face and figure into the soul of the subject. This is the strongest appeal of figurative art; and, therefore, the works of Angela Mia De La Vega.
Public Commissions and Installations
July 2018 Stonebrook Business Park, Frisco, Texas
June 2018 Main Marketplace, Little Elm, Texas
June 2018 NW Arkansas Children's Hospital, Fayetteville, Arkansas
March 2018 USA Children's and Women's Hospital, Mobile, Alabama
November 2017 BancFirst, Edmond, Oklahoma
May 2016 CityLine, Dallas, Texas
November 2015 BancFirst, Edmond, Oklahoma
January 2014 University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas
September 2013 Little Rock Children's Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas
May 2012 Beatrice Community Hospital, Nebraska
October 2011 Stillwater Center for Domestic Violence, Oklahoma
September 2011 Bergstrom Corporation, Neenah, Wisconsin
March 2009 City of Sheridan Public Arts, Wyoming
January 2008 Claxton Elementary School, Greensboro, North Carolina
October 2007 Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas
September 2007 Cattle Barons-American Cancer Society, Plano, Texas
February 2007 Lena Pope Home, Fay Jones Plaza, Fort Worth, Texas
December 2006 Seabridge Marketplace, Oxnard, California
November 2006 Hackberry Creek Park, Highland Park (Dallas), Texas
September 2006 Steam Pump Village, Tucson, Arizona
April 2005 Providence Memorial Hospital, El Paso, Texas
February 2005 Santa Ana Courthouse, Orange County, California
June 2003 Las Palmas Marketplace, El Paso, Texas
January 2003 The Highlands of Flower Mound, Texas
October 2002 Candlelighters Foundation, El Paso, Texas
September 2001 Plaza El Paseo Shopping Ctr, Laguna Beach, California
September 2000 Chapel Hill Lifestyle Center, Fort Worth, Texas
October 1999 Huebner Oaks Lifestyle Center, San Antonio, Texas
July 1997 FEMAP Foundation Hospital, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico
Juried Shows and Awards
2018 Full Sun: American Women Artists Illuminate the Haggin Museum, Stockton, California
2018 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2017-2018 International Salon Finalist
2017 Under a Vast Sky: Tucson Desert Art Museum, Tucson, Arizona
2007-2018 Sculpture in the Park Juried Exhibition, Loveland, Colorado
2017 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2016-2017 International Salon Finalist
2016 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2015-2016 International Salon Competition Honorable Mention
2015 American Women Artists Signature Bronze Medal
2015-2017 Season Performance in Sculpture, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, Florida
2015 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2014-2015 International Salon Competition Honorable Mention
2015 Sculpture at the River Market, Little Rock, Arkansas
2014, 2016 Art in the Square, Southlake, Texas
2013-2015 Performance in Sculpture, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, Florida
2014 American Women Artists National Juried Competition
2013 National Sculpture Society Straz Center Exhibition, Tampa, Florida
2013 ArtCAN Juried Exhibition, Atlanta Ballet Center, Atlanta, Georgia
2013 Award of Merit - American Women Artists National Juried Competition, Fredericksburg, Texas
2013, 2015 Cottonwood Art Festival, Richardson, Texas
2013-2015 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2012-2013 International Salon Competition Finalist
2012 American Women Artists National Juried Competition, Tubac: Best in Show and Best 3-D Work
2012 National Sculpture Society’s 79th Annual Awards Exhibition, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina
2012 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2011-2012 International Salon Competition Purchase Award
2012 Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2011-2012 International Salon Competition Honorable Mention
2012 43rd Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair by The Guild of Artists and Artisans, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2010 American Women Artists National Juried Competition, Dallas, Texas
Education
1992 BFA, Summa Cum Laude, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
1990-1992 University of Madrid, Spain, Undergraduate Student Exchange
1992-1993 University of Madrid, Spain, Post-graduate
2000-2005 Artist Workshops in Loveland, CO and Richard MacDonald Studio, Carmel, CA.
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