Elsa Flores

Elsa Flores (born 1955 in Las Vegas, Nevada) is a well known Chicana street artist. Her mother's name was Maria Valenzuela and she was originally from a small village called San Javier located in Sinaloa, Mexico. where Chicanos comprise a large percentage of the state's population. While a high school student, Flores received a scholarship to attend the Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts. She then studied photography at California State University Los Angeles and afterwards enrolled at the Art Center College of Design While at the Art Center, she taught art and music education at Plaza de la Raza with artist Carlos Almaraz and Louie Pérez and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos. Flores occasionally performed in Los Lobos, as well as in the punk band The Knuckleheads formed with Pérez and Hildago. The latter band mixed electronic instruments with the accordion, violin and flute. a fellow Chicano who was part of the early Chicano street art movement. Almaraz was a member of the famed Los Four artist collective. Elsa Flores and Carlos Almaraz eventually married in 1981, and had a daughter named Maya in 1983. The couple collaborated on one of the most famed Chicano murals, the California Dreamscape. While Almaraz was already an icon among Chicanos because of his murals across California (as part of Los Four

Carlos Almaraz was diagnosed with AIDS during the 1980s, eventually leading to his death. After his death, Flores' fame continued to grow. Her paintings have been shown, to critical acclaim, in museums and art houses in places such as Hawaii, New York City and Mexico. She has had solo exhibitions in New Mexico and in Los Angeles. Many of her other exhibitions have been group exhibitions where her paintings have been showcased alongside those of other famous artists.