About
Simona is a contemporary American-Chicana visual artist. She approaches each art piece with excitement, and although primarily a figurative artist, inspiration may find her painting still lives, landscapes, or abstracts.
Several local media have shown her art, including the Sacramento Bee Newspaper, KVIE televised Art Auction, and Sacramento Magazine. In 2006, she was included in a major anthology of Mexican American artists, "Triumph of our Communities: Four Decades of Mexican American Art."
Simona has exhibited her art at such venues as the California State Capitol; California State Fair; CSUS Library; La Raza Galeria Posada, Sacramento; Luna's Café, Sacramento; C.N. Gorman Museum, Davis; Allen Short Gallery, and Artistas de Valle Gallery (both galleries in Stockton); the Tahoe Art Center, Tahoe City; the Sacramento Mexican Consulate headquarters; and Sacramento's Annual Open Studio Tour.
In 1992, she co-founded the Co-Madres Artistas, six visual Chicana artists and long-time community activists within the Sacramento area. She exhibited with this artist cooperative for nearly a decade. In 2009 and again in 2015, she operated public galleries in Sacramento. However, with the advancement of technology, she found it beneficial to run her art business out of her home studio and exhibit at public venues.
Simona holds a double bachelor's degree in fine arts and journalism and a master's degree in public administration from the University of California, Sacramento. Her career outside the arts (painting, printmaking, and photography) includes over three decades of employment in public sector occupations.