Sonia Romero - prints and biography

Biography

Sonia Amalia Romero (b. 1980, Los Angeles, California) is a printmaker, mixed-media artist, and muralist whose work reflects Chicano heritage, daily life in L.A., and vibrant storytelling through public art. She was raised in an artistic family — her parents are artists Nancy Wyle Romero and Frank Romero — and her grandmother, Edith Wyle, founded the Craft and Folk Art Museum. Her lineage instilled a strong connection to cultural art traditions, which she translates into her own visual language.

Romero studied at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design in 2002. Early in her career she worked with block printing, linocut, paper cutting, and mixed media, gradually expanding into large-scale public art and murals. One of her best known public works is Urban Oasis (2010), a large tile mosaic installation at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles.

Her studio, “She Rides the Lion,” is based in East Los Angeles / Echo Park. Under that studio umbrella, she creates both fine art works and public commissions. Her Revolving Landscape print series uses block-print techniques to tell visual stories of people she has photographed, everyday scenes, symbolic animals (like bees, fish, deer), and motifs that reference the folklore, architecture, light, and community of Los Angeles. She works with traditional media like serigraphs, linocuts, but also mixed media and collage.

Romero has been artist-in-residence at Avenue 50 Studio (2007-2014) and has exhibited widely in Southern California and beyond. Her work is included in major public collections, including LACMA, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and more. She has completed many large scale public art projects—in MacArthur Park, in Little Tokyo, at community centers, pools, and Metro stations.

Her artistry blends fine art and public art, combining clear, crisp lines, strong iconography, and themes that are personal and political. Her work addresses identity, environment, community, and often uses her printmaking to reach audiences through multiples, public visibility, and accessible imagery.