WONDERWALL – Vallo Riberto, SWC's talented and well-connected gallery director, works wonders with a tiny budget and a big vision. Photo by Cindy Borjas

WONDERWALL – Vallo Riberto, SWC’s talented and well-connected gallery director, works wonders with a tiny budget and a big vision. Photo by Cindy Borjas

Longhaired New York artist Vallo Riberto arrived in San Diego in the 1960s expecting to find a dull, conservation Navy town.

 

 

Not even.

“I lived in Los Angeles so I definitely had a sense of California culture, but San Diego I didn’t know at all,” he said. “There are tremendous inroads with the art pulse and border culture.”

Riberto liked the South County so much he came back after earning his MFA from Notre Dame in 1995. He began teaching at SWC in 1997. He had previously earned a BA at Governors State University in fine arts and art history, and Yale for a two-year graduate program in fine arts.

His education began in 1963 as an apprentice to a master printer for stone and plate lithography at the Pratt Graphic Art Center in New York City. It gave him a look into the education of college students from the perspective of a director.

Transitioning to a West Coast community college was a big leap.

“It was a challenge,” he said. “There are more adults in the system which brings more problems in terms of single-parenthood, joblessness and people trying to rebuild their lives.”

Riberto was a single parent during his years at Notre Dame and the experience helped him to develop empathy for others.

“Students who begin following their creative endeavors later in life do not know what is out there for them,” he said. “They have no idea what their community has to offer in terms of art culture or gallery culture.”

Seeing his students succeed as artists and teachers makes his work fulfilling, Riberto said. His students have graduated from UCSD, SDSU and the Art Center College of Design, he said.

Riberto exhibited a collection of portraits entitled “Life Old and New” that depicted people he had met in the Art world, including artist Janin Philippe, Museo d’Arte della città di Ravenna artistic director Claudio Spadoni and photographer Gustavo Mayoral. Originally a software engineer, Mayoral was inspired by Riberto to pursue photography.

“Seeing my portrait by Riberto in a gallery is such a great experience,” said Mayoral. “It is a completely different vision.”

Mayoral said he has known Riberto for 13 years and has seen his work evolve. He knew Riberto’s wife, Rosa Sandoval Riberto, since childhood and reunited with her while she and Riberto were dating.

“Vallo is extremely talented and I consider him a mentor,” said Mayoral. “He has been in the arts for a long time and I am astounded by his great passion and hospitality. I hold him very near to my heart.”

Timothy Earl Neill, an art instructor at SWC, is a former gallery exhibition student of Riberto’s who earned a degree in graphics. He helps his former professor in the gallery and with marketing.

“Holding fund raisers and symposiums are just some of the ways that we have used to raise awareness to the gallery and build inroads with other galleries and museums,” said Riberto.

Reinvigorating the college’s poorly-funded gallery involves encouraging all types of students to experience art. Neill is a valued Riberto adviser.

“We are looking at things that are more cutting edge, choosing the right shows to showcase contemporary art but also lecturing in academia,” said Neill. “This creates the opportunity for art to be built upon and not replicated.”

San Diego’s stereotype as laidback beach community is slowly starting to change in terms of its blossoming art scene, Riberto said. Barrio Logan is a hotbed of culture where work is gaining new visibility due to its proximity to the Gaslamp Quarter.

Still, concerns over drop in viewership of the gallery have raised questions on how to increase exposure.

Robert Matheny, the founder of the SWC gallery in 1961, said times have changed.

“Public Relations have evolved so much over the years that I would not know how to begin to attract viewers to the gallery,” he said.

Riberto said he considers SWC to be a premier center for culture in San Diego County. SWC ‘s reputation in years past as a theater hub and its current status as a mariachi and vocal music center help support the visual arts as well, he said.

For SWC’s visual arts guru, it’s never a dull moment.