Luz Maria Perez was born in Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico the last of twelve children.

Her family moved to the United States, embraced the American culture, and tried to do their best. Many times they did not know where their next meal was coming from.  Her experiences as a child were very similar to those of other Mexican children who had only one pair of shoes for the year, and picked fruit or cotton in the fields to help the family meet its quota. To this day, she can feel the prickly cotton boles scratching her hands.

Luz always knew that she could draw and paint.  In first grade, she won a contest at school and knew from that moment on that she could draw, that she could see what made up all the colors, shapes, and lines.  She knew what the colors underneath needed to be, and fell in love with oil paint.  From then on she started doing copies for relatives and friends. Her own style didn’t evolve until five years ago when a very catastrophic event in her life changed everything.  From that moment on, it was as though her mind could see, her heart feel, and her soul was free to express and follow the path she should have been on from the very beginning.

Her paintings depict American men and women in the many faces of war.  They are not meant to glorify war, merely to depict situations and to honor these men and women who give so much.  The situations vary from the Norman Rockwell style of “American Me” to the almost visceral quality of “Today is a Good Day to Die.”

Her images are soul searching, powerful, sometimes painful, and at times funny. They are painted in a realistic style with sometimes other-worldly, ethereal qualities.  And, they are always accompanied by a poem.  Some of the poems were written by Luz herself, some by her very good friend, Margie Rogers, and some Trino del Toro.  

Artist Picture by: Michael J. Elderman
Orange Picture by: Carla Conti Bender