Ester Hernandez

Ester Hernandez is a San Francisco artist best known for her pastels, paintings and prints of Chicana and Latina women. Ester was born and raised in California, on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevadas in central San Joaquin Valley. She received her graduate from UC Berkeley. Her work reflects political, social, ecological and spiritual themes.

She has had numerous solo and group shows throughout the U.S. and internationally. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art – Smithsonian, Library of Congress, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, National Museum of Mexican Art, and the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo in Mexico City. Stanford University recently acquired her artistic archives.

As a solo artist and member of Las Mujeres Muralistas, an influential San Francisco Mission district Latina women mural group in the early seventies, her career has marked her as a pioneer in the Chicana/Chicano civil rights art movement.

Her grandfather was a master carpenter who made religious sculptures in his spare time, and her father was an amateur photographer and visual artist. This combination of this rich cultural and creative background, along with the politically charged world of U.C. Berkeley in the early 70s helped Ester develop her socio-political artistic identity and her consistent commitment to political activism. Ester's work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and internationally. Her artwork was recently featured in the inaugural opening of the Museo Alameda -- Smithsonian in San Antonio, Texas.