Widely considered to be the most significant female sculptor in South America, Margarita Checa’s work is epic in its eloquence, breathing new life into archetypal symbols and dreams. Her hauntingly beautiful figures are at once mystical and primal, conveying an emotional experience unbounded by time.

Checa hand-carves ancient olive wood taken from trees that were planted by the Spanish during their conquest and colonization of the Incas. Into this olive wood Checa imbeds inlays of silver, bronze, bull horn, or other exotic South American hardwoods. Checa relates that this aspect of her work attests to her deep ties with her homeland of Peru: "I went to live in Costa Rica in 1992. There I had the strongest sensation that regardless of where I might find myself I carried with me my entire country - its culture, its history, like tattoos all over my body. It was at that moment I started to inlay woods in the different colors and hues offered to me in Costa Rica."

While her artistic materials and inspiration derive largely from the rich cultural heritage of Peru, her artistic expression and philosophy are universal. Taking imagery from dreams, Checa's work is a manifestation of the collective unconscious, startling in its clarity. "The essence of human is captured in Margarita Checa's melancholy and sensuously provocative sculptures. Haunted by psychological and emotional undertones that are communicated through the decidedly organic nature of wood or rich surfaces captured in bronze, her figures have a unique and expressive power," writes Carol Damian, art critic.

For over three decades Margarita Checa has exhibited her sculptures worldwide, including exhibitions held in Peru, Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, and several solo exhibitions with the Bill Lowe Gallery in the United States. Checa is completing a large-scale, commissioned work for the new Le Jardin residential development in Atlanta entitled "Doors of Perception II."

BORN
October 17, 1950

EDUCATION
1984-85 Christina Galvez Atelier, Leslie Lee
1975-1980 Christina Galvez Atelier
1972-1979 Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, with Honors

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009 Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2007 "Love, Loss and Longing", The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2006 "Unveiling of the Doors of Perception", Woodward Academy, Atlanta, GA

2005 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2004 Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2003 The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2002 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Galería Arte Consult, Panamá

2000 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Arteconsult, Panama
-- Lucia De La Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru
-- The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia

1998 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

1997 Unveiling of Gea with the Museum of Modern Art, Knoxville, Tennessee

1996 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Corriente Alterna, Lima, Peru

1991 Enrique Camino Brent Gallery, Lima, Peru
-- Galería de la Municipalidad de Miraflores, Lima, Peru

1989 Miraflores Mayor's Gallery, Lima, Peru

1986 Miraflores Townhouse Gallery, Lima, Peru

1985 Galería Macarrón, Madrid, Spain
-- Taller Cristina Gálvez, Lima, Peru

1984 Galería Enrique Camino Brent, Lima, Peru

1981 Galería Enrique Camino Brent, Lima, Peru

1979 Galería Enrique Camino Brent, Lima, Peru

1977 Galería Enrique Camino Brent, Lima, Peru

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2010 "15th Anniversary", Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2008 Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2007 "International Exhibition of Sculptural Objects and Functional Art", New York, NY
-- "Noche de Arte 2007", Lima, Peru

2006 Body Sacred, Benefit Exhibition, Knoxville, TN

2005 Feria de Arco. MAdrid
-- Miami Art Fair.USA

2004 Lucia de la Puente Gallery
-- Tensiones Generacionales, ICPNA, Peru
-- Museum of Latin American Art

2003 Inaugural Exhibition, The Lowe Gallery, Santa Monica, California

2002 13th Anniversary Show, The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Italian Museum, Homage to Anna Maccagno, Lima, Peru
-- Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2001 12th Anniversary Show, The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Club Empresarial, Lima, Peru
-- El libro del Artista, Petro Peru Gallery, Lima, Peru
-- Arte Consult Gallery, Panama
-- Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

2000 11th Anniversary Show, The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia
-- Tension Between Generations, ICPNA, Lima, Peru
-- 20th anniversary, Art Consult Gallery, Panama
-- 5th Anniversary, Lucia de la Puente Gallery, Lima, Peru

1998 Galería del Banco de Comercio, Lima, Peru

1997 Noche de Arte, Museo de Arte, Lima, Peru
-- Primera Bienal de Lima, Lima, Peru

1996 Museo de Osma, Lima, Peru

1995 First Biannual on Wood Sculpture, Alajuela, Costa Rica
-- Tres Mujeres, San Jose, Costa Rica

1994 Jade Museum, San Jose, Costa Rica

1993 La Madera, Museo del Banco Wiese, Lima, Peru
-- Art Consult Gallery Inauguration, Panama
-- Exhibition ltinerante, Peru, Santo Domingo, and Mexico

1992 Fifty Years of Art in Peru, San Francisco, California
-- Corriente Alterna, Lima, Peru
-- La Galería, Lima, Peru

1991 Women Poets and Artists, Banco de Credito, Arequipa, Peru
-- Dibujo Sobre Tela, Galería Forum, Lima, Peru

1990 Nude, La Galería, Lima, Peru

1988 Erotic Art, La Estación Barranco, Lima, Peru

1987 5 Sculptores, Gallery El Taller, Lima, Peru
-- Erotic Art, La Estación Barranco, Lima, Peru

1986 Drawing on Linen, Forum Gallery, Lima, Peru

1985 2° Bienal, Trujillo, Lima, Peru
-- Homage to Anna Maccagno, Mayor's Gallery Miraflores, Lima, Peru

1983 First Bienal, Trujillo, Lima, Peru

1982 Homage to Cristina Galvez, Petro Peru Gallery, Lima, Peru

1981 100 years of sculpture, Art Museum, Lima, Peru

1979 40th Anniversary, Universidad Católica, Italian Museum, Lima, Peru
-- Nine Drawers, Galería 9, Lima, Peru

1977 Young Artist, Forum Gallery, Lima, Peru

1975 Países no Alineados, Conferencia Ministerial, Hotel Crillón, Lima, Peru 30th Anniversary, Universidad Católica, Italian Museum, Lima, Peru

TEACHING
1992 - 1993 Corriente Alterna Drawing Atelier Head Supervisor, affiliated to Autonoma University of Mexico

1982 - 1993 Drawing and Sculpture Main Teacher, Christina Galvez Atelier, Lima, Peru

1988 - 1989 Drawing and Sculpture Teacher, School of Arts, Universidad Catolica Del Peru

1979 - 1981 Drawing and Sculpture, Consuelo de Aninat Atelier, Lima, Peru

LECTURES
2004 Museum of Latin American Art, Louisiana

2002 Inspiration Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
-- Veritas University, San Jose, Costa Rica

2000 On my own work, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia

1996 Vermont Studio Center, Vermont

1993 On Drawing Techniques, Kandinski Gallery, San Jose, Costa Rica

1991 Jury of the Conquest Mask, Caretas Magazine, Lima, Peru

1988 On My Own Work and the Current Peruvian Art Developments, Davis University, California

1985 On Composition, Campo Abierto, Lima, Peru