Lia Bonagura-Transue was born and raised in New York City to artist parents. She attended the now famous High School of Music & Art in NYC, studied Design at the California Institute of the Arts and completed her formal education in Illustration and Painting at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.

After a ten year reign as founding director of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, Lia found her way back to her true passion…painting.

Connecting with her deep design & illustrative roots while painting with oil on canvas, Lia infuses highly personal yet commonly shared content with carefully composed, balanced, but often stark graphic representations of our shared reality. Painting about our mutual experiences in this manner exposes the viewer to a deeper, emotionally charged & individualized message.