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Artist Anna Valdez’s California studio is full of plants. Vines tumble from shelves stacked with art books, and succulent green leaves frame oversized canvases. Her childhood home bloomed with flora, too: her dad grew up on a farm and worked in a nursery.
“Plants remind me of home and they just bring life to a space,” says Valdez (’13). “And they provide form in my paintings. They grow into the space and create lines. They really help me in navigating my compositions.”
Self-Portrait in Studio (2019) Oil and acrylic on canvas 72 x 72 in. In this piece, Valdez has obscured her face behind a fiddle-leaf fig plant. The painting uses bright colors and is filled with greenery.