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. View Angela’s Living Master page.
Public Commissions And Installations
| May 2020 | Enchanted Princess Cruise Ship by Holland America |
| September 2019 | Chiba University, Kaschiva-shi Chiba, Japan |
| 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 | Hedemarken Friskole, Adalsbruk, Norway |
| 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 |
Museum Exhibitions, Juried Shows, And Awards
| 2020 | Brookgreen Gardens People’s Choice Award for 2020, South Carolina |
| 2020 | The International Artists Professional League 92nd Grand National Exhibition |
| 2020 | National Sculpture Society’s 87th Annual Awards Exhibition, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina |
| 2019 | Looking West Exhibiton, Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO |
| 2019-2021 | Performance in Sculpture, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa, Florida |
| 2019 | Art Renewal Center (ARC) 2018-2019 International Salon Finalist |
| 2018 | Best in Show Award, Texas Visual Arts Association, Dallas, TX |
| 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 |
| 2007-2019 | 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.
Angela Mia De La Vega: Sculpting Wings for Freedom
Angela Mia De La Vega stands in her Lakewood art studio holding a small lump of brown clay in her hands. She is immediately taken back to her childhood where she would spend afternoons pulling bits of red Pennsylvania clay from her front yard, using it to craft tiny animal figurines. These moments were just a taste of her future career as a renowned sculptor. But even beyond beautiful works of art, Angela is leading a movement of artists who are making an impact.
As an undergraduate student at Clarion University, Angela studied fine art and was encouraged toward creating abstract forms, and heard the same after traveling to Spain to study at the University of Madrid. But Angela’s heart was still drawn to creating detailed figures of people and animals. “The day I went back to sculpt something realistic, I felt so connected – like it was something that could come to life,” Angela said. From that point on, Angela devoted her artistic career to creating pieces inspired by their real life counterparts, sculpting art for galleries around the world, as well as corporate and private commissions.
But one sculpture in particular shifted Angela’s trajectory. “One night I was about to fall asleep and I had a vision of a little girl flying through the air surrounded by butterflies. And I sat up in bed and said out loud, ‘Lift her with butterflies!’” Angela shared. She was hungry to give back to her community after friends had supported her through a personal crisis, and suddenly a sculpture seemed like the clear way to make a tangible difference. Angela shaped the image of a girl being lifted by a swirl of butterflies just as she had dreamed, using her standard process of oil based clay surrounded by a silicone mold. The mold is then sent to a foundry that creates a hollow bronze casting using a lost-wax method. Once completed, Angela named the new piece “Lift Her With Butterflies” and began dreaming of artists joining together to empower people who had been affected by abuse, trafficking, and social exclusion.
In 2015, FLITE to Freedom was born out of that dream, creating opportunities for artists to donate their work to help fund meaningful organizations such as Mosaic Family Services and DeliverFund. FLITE represents the phrase, “Friends Lifting Individuals To Empowerment,” and the Board of Directors focuses their efforts on an annual art show in Dallas, along with a year-round online gallery. “We exist to help people learn to spread their own wings,” said Angela. “I’ve come to understand the power art has to stir awareness, as well as the healing process.”
The “Lift Her With Butterflies” sculpture has been made into 45 full-size castings, 37 of which have already been sold, with proceeds given to FLITE’s nonprofit partners. But the sculpture is far more than simply a fundraising tool. “People never ask me why I made it, but the love I poured in always comes through and connects with their story,” Angela shared. One family purchased “Lift Her With Butterflies” in honor of their daughter, Katie, who lost her fight with childhood cancer, and donated the artwork to the children’s hospital that cared for Katie during her illness. “I am in awe of the beautiful bridges of humanity that are created between myself and the recipient of my artwork,” said Angela.
This year’s event, The Art of Freedom, takes place on September 22nd at the Lawley Art Group Gallery in Dallas. Artists of all ages and backgrounds will feature their work, highlighted by talented local musicians – everyone giving a piece of their creativity in honor of those who are not yet free from abusive situations. Local painter, Tanner Lawley will also be creating a brand new piece in real time during the event, which will be sold to benefit FLITE. With a little clay and bronze, a camera, or a rainbow of paints, these artists are uplifting those who don’t yet have their butterflies.
You can learn more about FLITE to Freedom and purchase tickets to The Art of Freedom event at their website.
If you know someone who is Doing Good in Dallas, we’d love to hear about it! Share their story with us.
Angela received a BFA from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She is an Elected Member of the National Sculpture Society, American Women Artists, and an Art Renewal Center Living Master. Awards include Best in Show and Best 3D Work (AWA) and The Purchase Award by the ARC Museum. Her sculptures are publicly installed across the USA and privately collected throughout the globe. Angela is president of FLITE to Freedom which harnesses the power of artistic expression to raise funds for enslaved or socially excluded people: www.flitetofreedom.com.
Artist’S Statement:
Freedom of spirit is my work’s purpose; to uplift and inspire feelings of love and joy.
I sculpt compositions that tell love stories, either those of others or my own. I like to imagine this as a bridge of humanity that connects my heart with that of another. 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 sense that nothing is finalized; it continues to develop and grow, like ourselves.
Affiliations:
Living Master Art Renewal Center, Texas Society of Sculptors; Master-Signature Member American Women Artists; Elected Member National Sculpture Society; Elected Member Texas Society of Sculptors; Social Venture Partners of Dallas, Dare to Soar Foundation
Galleries:
Signature Gallery Group
Las Vegas, NV, Oahu & Maui, HI, So. Lake Tahoe, CA
Mockingbird Fine Art
Bend, OR
T.H. Brennen Fine Art
Scottsdale, AZ
K Newby Gallery
Tubac, AZ
Thornwood Gallery
Houston, TX, Santa Fe, NM
Pitzer’s Fine Arts
Wimberley, TX
Angela Mia De la Vega Sculpture
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