Grand Opening of Village Gallery / Mireya Campos & Jorge Vales
About this Event
Join us as we officially open the doors to Village Gallery on South Fourth Street and celebrate artists Mireya Campos and Jorge Vales before they head into their next creative chapters.
Come create, connect, and gather with us! Explore the gallery, experience the work of Mireya and Jorge, meet fellow artists and neighbors, and help us celebrate the beginning of something new while sending two incredible artists off with lots of love and support.
This event is free and open to everyone. Artwork and other items will be available for purchase throughout the event.
Come as you are, bring a friend, and be part of our growing creative community on the South Side.
CREATE • CONNECT • GATHER
Mireya Campos
Mireya Campos is a Mexican American artist whose work reflects a lifetime shaped by visual art, dance, travel, and cultural heritage. Trained from an early age by her father in Mexico City, she later studied at the prestigious La Esmeralda, pursuing both careers, visual arts and professional dance.
Working in oil, acrylic, and mixed media, Campos creates richly textured paintings inspired by personal experiences, people, places, and memory. Influenced by Kahlo, Rivera, Siqueiros, and Dalí. Her work spans to ModernRealism while remaining unmistakably her own. Campos has developed a vibrant visual language she describes as “Meximalist.” Mixing symbolism, her Mexican heritage, dance career, and life in the United States, incorporates fabrics, jewelry, found objects, and layered textures into her paintings, creating works that invite viewers to slow down and discover new details with every look.
For more than a decade, Campos has also been a resident artist at Shadowbox Live, where she has contributed artwork to several productions. Her series Never Stop Moving celebrates the connection between movement and visual art, while Windows of the Soul explores themes of memory, love, loss, and identity. More recently, she collaborated with her son, Jorge Vales, on the Columbus Cityscapes series, showcasing at the Columbus Airport.
Campos has exhibited extensively, including solo exhibitions in Columbus, and is currently represented by AGI Fine Art in New York. In 2025, she received the Best Emerging Artist award at the Columbus Arts Festival, recognizing her growing impact within the contemporary art community.
My art is the story of my life, Frida Kahlo is my muse, my heritage. I’m inspired by great painters, influential people, places, emotional intelligence, and strong feelings. “I will continue creating art for as long as I breathe.”
Jorge Vales
Jorge Vales is a Mexican artist from Cancún, Mexico, whose work is inspired by animals, travel, culture, and the stories found in the world around him. He began seriously pursuing visual art in 2015 and has since developed a distinctive style combining intricate geometric line work, bold color, and realism.
Vales describes his painting style as “abstract-realism.” Animals are a recurring subject in his work, with owls becoming especially recognizable within his portfolio. He is also drawn to painting eyes, often saving them for last as the final element that brings a subject to life. This fascination helped inspire Windows of the Soul, a series exploring the emotion and stories communicated through the eyes.
His Mexican roots and experiences traveling between Mexico and the United States continue to influence his work. Vales has created artwork in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, including commissioned work for Mansion Seminole, and has participated in art and yoga retreats there. He also collaborated with his mother, artist Mireya Campos, on the Columbus Cityscapes series.
Vales is a resident artist at Shadowbox Live, where his work has accompanied numerous productions. He has exhibited throughout Columbus at venues including Wanderlust Studio Gallery, the Ohio Art League, BakerHostetler, and The Mansion 731. In 2025, Columbus Cityscapes was exhibited at the Gateway for the Arts Gallery at John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
In 2024, Vales received grant support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council. Alongside his career as a visual artist, he is an international chef and certified Spanish medical interpreter, bringing a diverse collection of experiences and cultural influences to his creative practice.
I’ve been an artist since I was a child, I doodled and found being creative was more interesting than anything else.
I never thought art could be a career path for me until 2015 when I sold my first painting of three little owls. My mom noticed that was no coincidence. I started to direct attention towards my artistic ability and it has flourished greatly ever since. I made drawings, paintings and some apparel eventually. I have been excited to explore a lot of corners the art field has ins store. I have been more know. For paintings animals, and more specifically owls. I am grateful to have this gift and intend to let it guide me along my career as it brings me joy seeing how people really react to my art. My time outside of art has been in the kitchen, and many positions in the Restaurant industry. Spent 14 years working my way up in many establishments. I am from Mexico and have been living in Columbus Ohio but I have two career paths that can lead me anywhere in the world and I appreciate my mother Mireya Campos for her support and guidance.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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