Alicia Wagner Calzada Members of The Blend? say you can hear San Antonio influences in their music because they are proud of where they are from.

WHO: Daniela Oliver, 25

MEDIA: Drawing, printmaking. “I think printmaking is quite fascinating. It has lots of possibilities,” Oliver said, referring to choices of colors and papers used to create the prints.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Introspective works that explore identity and “trying to find your way or place in life.” She often incorporates text into her prints.

CURRENTLY: “Loss and Grief: A Universal Journey,” a series of seven black-and-white etchings on display at Joan Grona Gallery, examines the complex emotions of bereavement and the permanence of human relationships, even if those relationships are changed by death.

The pieces were based on conversations with people who had lost loved ones. Each piece shows a faceless figure contorted in apparent pain, connected by a cord to a round orb that symbolizes the spirit of the dead person. Phrases in Spanish expressing the pain of grief are written on the cords.

BACKGROUND: Born in Mexico City, Oliver grew up learning about art from her artist mother. “When we were little, our bedtime story would be Van Gogh's life,” she said. She spent a year in Italy as a studio apprentice, learning traditional drawing and painting techniques. She graduated from Trinity in 2006 with a degree in communications and minors in art and business.

DAY JOB: Oliver is a curatorial assistant at the McNay Art Museum and also teaches art to children in her Stone Oak studio. “I love doing that,” she said of the classes. “To look at their faces when they made a drawing is really a wonderful feeling.”

CHECK HER OUT: Oliver's etchings can be seen at Joan Grona Gallery, 112 Blue Star, through Saturday, March 29. Call (210) 225-6334. Catch her fast — Oliver will begin a graduate program in arts administration at Columbia University in New York in the fall.

Jessica Belasco | 210SA Contributor