If you are looking for a creative night out come enjoy light appetizers and meet the artist, Gina Herrera, at the Town Center Art Space on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 6 p.m.

The Art Space is located at the Westfield Valencia Town Center adjacent to Sisley Restaurant.

Drawing from her Tesuque Pueblo and Costa Rican heritage, as well as her life-long rapport with nature, Gina Herrera’s intuitive sculptural process is an aesthetic and spiritual ritual to channel and honor Mother Earth. Natural and man-made objects scavenged from the landscape are re-configured into lithe, energetic, being-like assemblages. Precariously posed on the brink of movement, their haunting spiritual presence reminds us of their unfinished, continued existence, nudging us to question our consumption choices and our relationship to the earth.

Born in 1969, Gina Herrera was raised in Chicago and currently resides in California. She has a BFA in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In the course of her studies, she was deployed overseas in support of several war contingencies with the United States Army.

Once her final tour was complete, she obtained her MFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. During her time as a graduate student, she was awarded a Provost Fellowship, a MFA scholarship and was nominated for the Joan Mitchell MFA Foundation Award in 2012. Herrera received a full fellowship from the Harpo Foundation Native American Fellowship to attend the Vermont Studio Center in 2013. Post-graduation she has been privileged to exhibit and receive recognition for her work: she is a six time Art Slant Showcase Winner and has received an Art Kudos Merit award and The Manhattan Arts International Award of Excellence.

Herrera’s dedication to service extends to all aspects of her professional life – from her 20+ years in the military to educating and inspiring the next generation as an art teacher at Arvin High School and Adjunct Professor at Bakersfield College.