EVA MONTEALEGRE
Montealegre’s art education emerged under the tutelage of abstract painter, Robert Kingston. She previously studied graphic design at West Valley Occupational College and Pierce College Art Department.
She is a recipient of the Puffin Foundation Grant for her 2014 performance Birth of the Universe. This unique project featured inner city youth dancing to improv classical music in front of Montealegre’s painting titled, Higgs Boson, inspired by the Peter Higgs theory and depicting the creation of the universe. The performing ballet students used ribbon, fabric, and hand-created headpieces to produce a 3-D experience of asteroids, comets and nebulae portraying that first moment in time and essentially bringing the painting to life. Professional choreographer, Beatriz Vasquez, her dance troupe and Montealegre performed with the youth.
Montealegre’s gallery debut was at Long Beach Arts, where her painting Lady Starskull Ponders the Cosmos was awarded a prize. Since has exhibited her work widely at many California galleries including Beyond the Lines at Bergamot Station, Blue Bird Art House, Modern Art Gallery, Orlando Gallery, TAG Gallery and Verve Gallery. Her work has also been shown at Art Raw Gallery in West Chelsea, NY.
In addition, she has auctioned her paintings at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art to raise money for water wells in Haiti. Other successful fundraising ventures include California Rural Laborers Advocates and HeartTouch.org, a non-profit that services those in medical facilities needing compassionate touch. Montealegre continues to win prizes for her paintings. Montealegre’s museum presentation of her painting, Deep Vein 3, was presented in the Picture Foundation international exhibition titled “I Have a Right”. In 2018 she was featured at bG Gallery in Santa Monica. Her work was previously featured at the prestigious Adagio Gallery on El Paseo in Palm Desert, and she was also mentioned in ARTSLANT as an “artist to watch.”
In 2015 she was included in the prestigious Latina Art Initiative founded by Linda Vallega. She has been vetted as one of the best Latin Artists in the US. Eva Montealegre was named “Best Artist” by ARTAVITA Magazine in an international contest. In 2015 “Portrait of The First Woman” a depiction of the birth of the universe, was featured in First Post to announce the Nobel Prize Award to Peter Higgs for his creation theory explaining the origin of the Universe. Eva’s painting Moon One was also featured in the art book Art Takes Times Square. Her figurative painting titled Creative Call was featured in the art book, Women's Rights: An Artist’s Perspective sponsored by UniteWomen.Org.
Her work has been honored by the City of Los Angeles in calendars and catalogs. In 2012 Eva's painting of the sun titled “It’s Alright” received first prize from The Women’s Caucus for the Arts and in that same year “Deep Vein #3” was presented at The Museum of Latin American Art Women’s Festival.