About

M. Aurora Oliva is a Filipino-American artist.  She immigrated to the United States with her parents in the 1980's.  Aurora grew up and was educated in New Jersey. As a child and young adult she was creative and was never far from a museum. An idealist, she pursued a  professional career in nonprofit including working at a national women's organization in New York City and fundraising for local and national environmental groups in Portland, Oregon. 

Largely self-taught, Aurora is drawn to bright, saturated colors and rhythmic patterns that evoke both playfulness and structure. She finds comfort in the repetition of geometric forms, using them as a meditative framework through which to work. Within this repetition, however, it is the moment of disruption that captures her interest. By breaking patterns—introducing irregularities, shifts, or interruptions—Aurora creates visual tension and movement, allowing the work to breathe beyond order and symmetry. These moments of fracture and variation reflect her an ongoing curiosity about balance, imperfection, and the expressive potential that emerges when structure gives way to change.   

Her favorite artists include Frida Kahlo, Faith Ringgold, Kehinde Whiley and the quilters of Gee's Bend. "Their works are a marriage of beauty and social commentary. I am always in awe."

Aurora resides in Oregon where the rain and coffee makes everyone crafty and creative. "There must be something in the water. The trees, wetlands and beavers keep me grounded."