This is  Ya’el Pedroza’s third winter in Utah and, “since moving I have been very prolific in making art. I am very much a mountain and outdoor person and so living here has fed my work in a wonderful way. This has been a fantastic year job wise, as well. I now work at Weber State University in Ogden as an adjunct professor and get to meet other professional artists.”

Pedroza received her BFA at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, her MFA at Cal State Long Beach and says “it has been a bit rough moving away from all my art friends and network in Southern California.  I do not know many people out here and I am trying to find my place in the Utah art scene.”

Her work has been shown nationally in group shows throughout California, New York, Florida, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and Pedroza also has participated in shows internationally in Italy, and Denmark at the Roennebaeksholm Arts and Culture Center.

“Although my work often time deals with the interplay of humans and nature, and what may occur as a response, in my most recent works I have been transitioning into exploring my relationship with nature in a more spiritual, emotional, and subconscious way.  It has always been the beauty, strength, and complexities of nature that have drawn me to it as a major theme in my work,” Pedroza says.