Gloria Marie V. was born in Los Angeles in 1957 to a Mexican mother and Spanish father. Encouraged by her parents, and by public school programs for gifted students in the 60's, she pursued drawing, painting, and sculpture, eventually majoring in three-dimensional design at Cal State Northridge.  After a successful career in graphics, set design, and make-up, in 1993 Gloria left Los Angeles for Todos Santos, Mexico, where she devoted herself full-time to her art.

A versatile artist (ceramics, sculpture, mixed media), Gloria Marie V. is best known for her oil paintings, especially her dramatic portraits of Mexican women.  She is a patient, meticulous painter, adding layer upon layer until there is a depth and a detailed realism that goes beyond photographic to surreal. One canvas, Teotihuacan, took four months, night and day, to complete.  She works in her studio in Todos Santos, in a Greek style house of her own design.