Maria Eskenasy was born in Coban, Guatemala in 1954. She studied Architecture and Psychology at the University of Kentucky U.S., Graphic Arts at the Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology, Canada, where she began to develop her rapid drawing technique. Her neo-figurative style features fantastic characters in spontaneous and rustic settings that reflect her Maya-Kekchi and European heritage. She has participated in over 125 solo and group exhibitions in Guatemala, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Denmark and the United States. Private collectors in over 35 countries around the world (Germany, Austria, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Holland, England, Italy, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland: Australia, China, Japan, Morocco, Singapore and Turkey, Central America, Caribbean, South America and North America, especially in the U.S. and Canada. She has won several awards and diplomas in Guatemala and the United States and has exhibited at The Guatemala World Bank offices and the Hispanic Museum, Nevada. In 2006 had an exhibition in Denmark for the Danish Trade Union Council For International Development and then from September 2008 to April 2009 in different cities. Art critics agree that the artist approaches her work with a naif and fantastic mode creating characters, objects or landscapes which seem to be suspended by no means in space and time, leading the viewer to perceive a simple and genuine spirituality. Currently her Studio/Gallery Via Rústica is located in San Cristobal Verapaz, km. 202, having the beautiful rainforest and coffee plantations as background. All her work is original, it appears in books, magazines, art catalogs, newspapers, TV, videos and online both locally and internationally. Studio visits by appointment only. Recently Maria Eskenasy received the Artist of the Year 2012 Arte En MAYO Award by Fundación Rozas Botran.