Last year, fledgling artist Leslye Villaseñor visited Arts District Liberty Station but could only imagine having her own studio space there. Now, thanks to her selection as the winner of the 2023 Emerging Artist Program, she has her own space at that place.

The 27-year-old oil-painting artist was announced as the recipient of this year’s fourth-annual Emerging Artist Program by NTC Foundation, the nonprofit overseeing the development of 26 buildings in Arts District Liberty Station.

“The Emerging Artists Studio Program provides up-and-coming artists with the opportunity to grow their skill sets in an awarded studio space right in the heart of Arts District Liberty Station,” said Lisa Johnson, president/CEO of NTC Foundation. “This year we are honored to present the studio space to Leslye Villaseñor, an oil painting artist who captures the essence of human emotion through a personalized philosophical lens. The space will allow her (for one year) to build her career in San Diego and strengthen her ties to San Diego’s arts community.”

A recent studio arts graduate from UC San Diego, Villaseñor has participated in several exhibitions throughout San Diego including South Central Library in Chula Vista, the Student Gallery at Southwestern College, the Adam D. Kamil Gallery at UC San Diego, and most recently at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library in La Jolla.

Villaseñor noted she is “excited for the opportunity to get space for me in which I can create and explore new ideas, and to build my career and make my own projects and connect with other people.”

The emerging artist will reside on the first floor of Barracks 19 in unit 104. “I’ve been moving all my things for the past week and arranging the space so it’s comfortable for me to use,” Villaseñor said adding she plans to inhabit her space three or four days during the week.

She discussed her artistic style. “I’m really interested in memory, human perception, and emotion, while being primarily focused on oil painting,” she said. “I do mostly portraits. But I’m trying to explore more mediums. Mostly my oil paintings are realistic.”

Most of her work, which features melancholic and haunting themes, aims to capture a moment in time allowing audience members to feel connected with and insert themselves into her dream-like scenarios.

Villaseñor described her artistic style as being memory-based, drawing inspiration from her family and past. “The way I jump into the artwork, or the ideas, is from personal experience, my family relations in Tijuana, my ancestry, and moving here to San Diego,” she said.

The feet of Villaseñor are planted firmly on both sides of the border. She grew up in Tijuana but came to San Diego after high school to attend UC San Diego and Southwestern College. Having started out as an ESL student, she is now fluent in both languages and cultures.

“It was really overwhelming at first,” she said. “But you get used to it. Then you learn to love both places. I’m able to be part of both cultures, both societies.”

Besides the opportunity to exhibit her work, Villaseñor is looking forward most to “getting to know other artists in the galleries and museums and sharing my ideas and art with different people, having conversations together.”

For more information, visit ntcfoundation.org.