About
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Chala Escobar is a first-generation Salvadoran-American artist who grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada. Alongside her creative practice, she works across arts administration, public programming, and collections archiving. After serving as a gallery assistant and archivist at Left of Center Gallery & Studio, she relocated to Milwaukee, where she now works at the Haggerty Museum of Art. With a degree in Art & Art History from Occidental College, she often loves to look to artists of the past for inspiration; her favorite art movements to research include Romanticism and Magic Realism. Her painterly style has often been described as "dark, gentle, and hopeful." She now plans to develop a new body of work while continuing to explore different public art opportunities. Most recently, she has worked on various independent projects as an illustrator and muralist. |
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Note: I have chosen Chala as my artistic pseudonym in honor of my family in Chalatenango, El Salvador. My legal name can be hard to pronounce for native spanish-speakers, so I think of the name "Chala" as mostly a nickname.
curriculum vitae
Education:
BA Art & Art History; Studio Art major, Media, Arts, and Culture minor
Occidental College (Los Angeles, CA)
Graduated magna cum laude
Additional credits earned from Art Center College of Design
Exhibitions:
2025 Juried exhibition, "Big Softy," Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center, Las Vegas, NV (Juried by Adriana Chavez)
2024 Juried exhibition, "UPCYCLE: Thrift Meets Fine Art," SloninaArtSpace x Goodwill, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Juried exhibition, Hanging by a Thread, Left of Center Gallery, Las Vegas, NV (Juried by Diane Bush & Denise Duarte)
2023 Juried exhibition, "Modern Romanticism," Charleston Heights Arts Center, Las Vegas, NV (Juried by JK Russ)
2023 Group exhibition, "VVAA Invitational," Mesquite Fine Art Gallery, Mesquite, NV
2023 Juried exhibition, "In Print," Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center, Las Vegas, NV (Juried by Erik Beehn)
2023 exhibition with Dyron Boyd & Jesus Orozco, "Dreamer of Dreams," Left of Center Gallery, Las Vegas, NV
2022 Group exhibition, "Saving Habitat for Wildlife," Weingart Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Group exhibition, "Studio Art Senior Comps Exhibition,” Oxy Arts Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019 Group exhibition, "The Remedy" Cannabition Nevada Cannabis Museum, Brett Fonfa Foundation, Las Vegas, NV
2018 Group exhibition, "ODS: An Avant-Garde Art Exhibition," Brett Fonfa Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
2018 Group exhibition, "Breaking the Starving Artist Stereotype," The Arts Factory, Las Vegas, NV
2017 Group exhibition, "Art Baesl" 835 N. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA
Public Art & Notable Projects:
2026 AMP Painting Program: California Ave and Main St
2025 Mural Assistant to "Striving Populace" by Adolfo Gonzalez, Historic Westside Education & Training Center
2024 Juror for CCSD's Annual Voice juried art competition
2023, Clark County Public Arts ZAP14; painted utility box located at Wildcat Way & Hollywood Blvd.
2023, "A Collection of Short Stories & Poems" by Indigo Palmer, series of 25 original illustrations in various mediums, private self-published book
2023, Live Mural Painting at Area 15's Omega Mart (Las Vegas), representing Left of Center Gallery alongside Adolfo Gonzalez
2022, Yorkdale Elementary School collaborative mural with Oxy Arts, Miranda Villanueva, and my fourth grade students from Yorkdale after a series of workshops; Highland Park, CA
2022, Kids Community Dental Clinic (Burbank, CA), volunteered to create an original mural within the kids x-ray room
2022, MakerSpace mixed media installation at Glendale Central Library; Glendale, CA
2021, Original Short Documentary Film: "The Art of Harold Bradford;" Las Vegas, NV
2021, Carolina Caycedo's "In Yarrow We Trust" Mural at Oxy Arts; Eagle Rock, CA
Awards:
2025 1st Place, Nylon Rabbit 002, "UPCYCLE: Thrift Meets Fine Art," SloninaArtSpace x Goodwill, Las Vegas, NV
2025 Honorable Mention, Nylon Rabbit 004, "Big Softy," Winchester-Dondero Cultural Center, Las Vegas, NV
2024 Best 3D piece, Skye Canyon Professional Chalk & Cheers Competition
2024 Best of Show Award, "Disclosure & Catharsis," Hanging by a Thread juried exhibition, Left of Center Gallery
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