Elvia Aguirre (she/her) is a visual artist dedicated to community based services in the Northeast San Fernando Valley with Tia Chucha’s Cultural & Bookstore, Pukuu Cultural Community Services, GRYD, and the cities of Pacoima and Sylmar. As a community artist, Aguirre has impacted lives of youth and adults alike by bringing creativity into their homes through step by step tutorials of various mediums including: mixed medium art, acrylic painting, drawing, oil pastels, soft pastels, and mural creations. During the pandemic, encouraging self empowerment in times of isolation became a critical component in Aguirre’s classes, in addition to enabling self expression through colors, palates, and artistic beauty to a community who has historically lacked access to the arts. Her participants have been adults and youth ages as young as 6 years old up to their teens, some of whom have been impacted by the prison industrial complex. Aguirre’s goal is to help individuals realize they can make art and be artists with the resources they have at hand, regardless of their background, income, or prior education.