Magic Windows (Illustrator)

Carmen Lomas Garza (born 1948, Kingsville, Texas) is a Mexican-American (Chicana) artist and illustrator renowned for her folk-style paintings, ofrendas, papel picado, and bilingual children's books depicting everyday Mexican-American family life and cultural traditions, such as Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia (1990), In My Family/En mi familia (1996 Pura Belpré Honor), and Magic Windows/Ventanas mágicas (2000 Pura Belpré Medal). Her works are in permanent collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Hirshhorn Museum, and she has received National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, exhibited in major museums like the Whitney and San Jose Museum of Art retrospective (2001), and had a primary school named in her honor in Los Angeles.