ARTIST TO DONATE WORK FOR BENEFIT.

Byline: Victoria Giraud Special to the Daily News

Working mostly with prints - woodcarvings, lithographs, silk-screen prints and etchings - artist Vivian Lainfiesta's style falls somewhere between the concrete and the surreal.

``All my work is not conceptual. I start working very subconsciously,'' she said. ``I work best when all my thoughts are somewhere else.''

Lainfiesta and Miguel Ramirez, with whom she shares studio space in Newhall, are among the local artists who will donate their work to the Zonta Club's benefit auction May 4 at Le Chene restaurant in Valencia.

During the day, Lainfiesta is an administrator and uses her graphic design talents at Centric, a local ad agency. ``It's high stress, and I like it.''

Nights and weekends are set aside for her art.

``It allows me to think of everything else,'' she said. ``I sit there for hours, and it comes through the subconscious. People don't understand it right away.''

Lainfiesta was born in Guatemala, one of 22 children fathered by a wealthy philanderer. She, two sisters and a brother were raised by their grandmother, ``a real strong woman,'' on a small farm. Her mother came to the United States to work as a chef, and Lainfiesta and a brother and sister joined her in 1976.

Philosophical about her missing father in her young life, Lainfiesta says, ``I don't know what there is to miss, but I probably could have learned more about males.''

She recalled a time in 1981 when the family returned briefly to Guatemala, and her mother could afford to send Lainfiesta to a private high school. When the roll was called for Lainfiesta, Lainfiesta and another girl in her class stood up. Lainfiesta knew immediately that this was a sister. After school, the girl was picked up in a limousine. Lainfiesta had to make do with a bus ride home.

Because of her mother's cooking talents, the family has a restaurant, Las Delicias, on Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. Lainfiesta's mother combines unique Guatemalan recipes with elements from other cuisines. Guatemalan food, Lainfiesta explained, emphasizes condiments. A dish may use 20 kinds of peppers, but not be spicy.

Lainfiesta has mixed feelings about her native country. While she enjoys the spirituality more evident in life there, she can't accept the political situation. ``I'm a little too liberal for them. It's a very macho-type culture. I didn't fit, and I feel better here.''

Although she admits to inheriting the family female strength, Lainfiesta says her husband, Yanni, is very supportive. ``I'm completely domineering and controlling. He's a very patient man. He's been called a saint. He gives me a bit of sanity.'' She laughed and added, ``I know no other way to deal with anger than to yell.''

When she and her sisters get together (one of them still lives in Guatemala), the sparks may fly. The three took a trip to Europe not long ago, and fought every day. They managed also to laugh, and ``still love each other,'' Lainfiesta said.

An active participant in the multicultural art community of Los Angeles, Lainfiesta also has donated her work. She's also been active with a Guatemalan art project, House of Culture.

Besides art, Lainfiesta finds the time to have an English-Spanish translating business with her sister in Guatemala, and she's been working on writing a book about her unusual family.

Lainfiesta eventually would like to make a living with her artwork, but she also wants to have the calmness her husband has naturally, and to find ``a little bit of her inner peace.''

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4 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Artist Vivian Lainfiesta works on one of her etchings at Miguel's Gallery in Newhall on Wednesday evening.

(2--color) ``Breeched'' is one of Vivian Lainfiesta's etchings.

(3-4) These etched images by Vivian Lainfiesta are entitled ``Struggle.''

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News