Mystic Mija is the creative project and work of Jynell Dimalanta.

Jynell is a Ventura based ceramic artist and educator. She currently teaches ceramics classes at the Santa Paula Art Museum and runs their new ceramics program as the Kiln Tech. She attended California State University Channel Islands from 2014 to 2019, only finding ceramic art and sculpture in her last three semesters. Before declaring art as her major, she was a double major in Accounting + Psychology.

She has participated in ceramics residency programs in Denmark, China, Mexico, and California.

"I draw inspiration from curiosities in nature: movements of the elements, the pull of the moon and the tides and how they echo one another in shifting rhythms. Natural patterns are my reminders of process and impermanence.

Clay feels intuitive to me—a material that meets me halfway in my process—and working with it feels like a constant curiosity. There isn't ever a final destination in this work. Even at the end of my building and firing processes, each stage builds onto the next and pulls you into an unknown direction.

I am fascinated by the math behind interesting forms and patterns, and how shapes respond to light and illuminate spaces around us.

My current body of work is mostly made for utility and necessity. Using my vessels as a canvas to play and learn. 

My goal in this endless pursuit is to travel and collect pieces of information from around the world and use my curiosity and skillset to find a doctorate program where I can nurture and fuse my ideas of nature, science, metaphysics, and clay."