She was barely a preschooler at St. Stephen’s when Tiffany Trenda’s calling began to reveal itself.

“In playtime I always got out finger paints or pencils,” she said. “Even at 3 (years-old), I was always painting or drawing.”

Twenty seven years later Trenda, 30, has traded in colored pencils and paints for LCD screens, video projectors and the human body — her own.

On Jan. 17, the video installation performance artist who grew up in the Santa Clarita Valley will present “Specular” at Frank Pictures Gallery in Santa Monica.

Trenda will float on an cloud of reflection creating a sense of vertigo, according to her web site, www.tiffanytrenda.com.

It will be far from her first time in front of a crowd of spectators.

In May 2008, the performance artist won Artist of the Year for “Condemned Opera” at the London International Creative Competition. Although it was the competition’s first year in running, Trenda showcased against thousands of worldwide artists.

“I won against architects and all different types of art: painters, sculptors and graphic design,” she said. “I was definitely surprised; I was not thinking I would have won it.”

In the May 2009 competition, one of Trenda’s performances made the top six in finals.

‘It’s automatic’
When it came to thinking about life as an artist, Trenda was always nervous to dream.

“I always loved art and wanted to be an artist, but there was a thing of, can you live off of it?” she said.

Trenda grew up in Newhall and took art classes at Hart High School.

Once out of high school, Trenda figured she could balance her creativity and need for a “real-world” job in advertising.

After a year at Pratt Institute in New York, she transferred to Arts Center College of Design in Pasadena.

There, an advertising professor told her: “You’re definitely not advertising, you’re definitely fine art.”

“I said, ‘OK, I guess I’m just going to do the thing that I was trying not to do,’” she said.

Trenda began to crave the cutting edge.

She took an interest in multimedia. Her fascination with video and technology grew.

Now, the Malibu resident is in her first year at UCLA for a master’s degree in design and media arts.

“When you have something inside of you that you just want to do, I think it’s automatic,” she said.

Video installation performance
She gets the question all the time – “What is video installation performance?”

“Installation begins as if the room itself is the art,” she said. “The idea is an assemblage of components to create something. It’s not just one object that you can pick up.”

Trenda inserts her own self into performances which incorporate video projections, cameras and LCD screens.

“Her central process is to take technology … and create a digital environment with an embodied performance that stimulates the human psyche inside a nostalgic digital world,” according to her web site.

She explores how human being is defined and redefined through the integration of technology, she said.

One of Trenda’s favorite works is “Entropy,” a performance she recently showcased at Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

“I took plexiglass that was nine feet tall and I made a dress of real moss,” she said. “With the dress there were three LCD screens.”

Two screens were hooked to cameras on her hands and one on her chest.

There also were “24 live monarch butterflies flying around in the box and then I had a video projection in the back of the rain forest,” she said.

And finally — a fish bowl on her head.

In creating the performance, Trenda said she was thinking about how life is connected with communication.

“I was thinking about biospheres and how biospheres completely separate life,” she said. “As soon as we try to contain life, it actually defeats the purpose of what life is.”

Her work is undoubtedly uncanny, Trenda said.

“My work definitely has that surreal effect to it,” she said.

While pictures of her work elicit different types of reactions, Trenda said she has never received a bad reaction from those who see her performances live.

“People act differently when they see it live,” she said.

Going further
In all honesty, Trenda admitted she’s not at the spot she dreamed she would be.

“I thought I was going to be further (at this age),” said the 30-year-old. “I’m definitely proud of where I’ve gotten but I’m definitely persistent.”

When she visits Europe on vacation, her art goes with her.

“I take my portfolio and just try to show as many people as possible,” she said.

Trenda said she typically hears one phrase, “They tell me they’ve never seen anything like my work.”

Trenda takes that as a successful mark of her originality.

“I think I’m going to be in the new generation of artists,” she said. “I’m still young.”

“It’s going to take some time but I definitely think I’m going to be more successful than I am now,” she said.

Trenda will present her “Specular” solo exhibition Jan. 17 at 7, 8 and 9 p.m. in Bergamot Station Gallery A-5 at 2525 Michigan Avenue in Santa Monica.