Born in San Diego to Mexican parents, she was a U.S. citizen but grew up in Tijuana. From age 4 to 18, she was wakened every weekday at 4 a.m., in time to be driven across the border to the American side and dropped off at her grandmother's house, arriving at school by 8. In the afternoon, she would cross back home to Mexico. The long treks and jarring cultural contrasts "influenced my work, my personality, every single aspect of what I do," Aguiñiga says today. In this and other ways, she gives new meaning to the term "crossover artist."
Though she thinks of herself primarily as a furniture maker, her output runs the gamut from rope jewelry to room-size installations. She works in metal, fiber, wood, clay, plastic - whatever suits her purpose - using methods that range from welding to weaving on a primitive backstrap loom. She's at home in the design and craft communities, embraced by both the museum and gallery establishment and the DIY-indie crowd. All of this makes her hard to label, but then labels don't interest her.
"I never wanted to put myself in any type of box," she says. "There's this thing that's stayed with me, of jumping back and forth between cultures. You don't even know what you are and where you belong." Ultimately, however, her identity struggles have proven liberating. "It's nice, because you're able to float through a lot of different worlds."
Teotitlan 2, 2007; steel, lacquer, nylon twine; 24 x 22 x 16 in.
The Hole Table (2005), 40 inches in diameter to seat four, ensures no errant crockery goes sliding off the powder-coated steel surface.
Aguiñiga in the thick of her installation at CAFAM.
The Soft Boulders in context at Aguiniga's "Crossing the Line" exhibition at CAFAM (through May 8).
The glass top of the Mono Table (2002) rests on four loops of Italian bending poplar.
Boing-y Lowrider Stools of Baltic birch plywood, auto lacquer, upholstery springs and vinyl tubing look ready to leap into action.
The artist hand-felting one of her signature pieces.
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