Chole Aviña Jackson was raised in El Paso, Texas and Los Angeles, California. She is the eldest of six children, many of whom share with her an active interest in art.

Although she was born and raised in the US, Chole's first language is Spanish. Overcoming the language gap, Chole excelled in school while at the same time helped with looking after her younger siblings at home. After graduating from high school, she put herself through nursing school and became an RN and eventually received a BS degree from California State University Fresno.

A momentous change occurred in Chole's life when she joined the Peace Corps and was preparing to leave for Honduras. Just prior to her departure, she met another young member of the corps who was also training for an assignment in Honduras, Howard Jackson.

Upon their return to the US, Chole and Howard married on a very hot day in July 1968. At present, their union has evolved into a very close family of two sons (Howard Joseph and Isaac), one daughter-in-law (Alicia), one granddaughter (Emma Rose), and one Australian Shepherd named Oso (who Chole affectionately calls "Osito").

Chole, Howard and Oso live in Fresno, California. Chole works for a non-profit organization providing care and support to medically fragile infants and their families.

With both children raised and out of the house, she now enjoys decorating her home, reading, cooking, and painting.

Chole generally works with watercolors but experiments with sketch-work as well. Floral still lifes and architecture are common subjects of her art, which often exudes a unique yet subtle Latin style. She takes inspiration from her own imagination, from photographs and from other artists such as Diego Rivera, Georgia O'Keefe, Henri Matisse and her own sisters.

Her art has been sold at auction and several of her works have appeared at a local Fresno gallery (Artes Americas). Many of her paintings are often available for purchase as prints or reproduced as greeting cards.

Please send all questions, comments and inquiries to chole_avina_jackson@yahoo.com.