Born in Czechoslovakia, Eva fled to Palestine at the start of World War II. She took part in the fight for independence of Israel and joined the Israeli Army in 1950. In 1953 she moved with her family to Venezuela and immigrated to the United States in 1963.

   Due to the unstable and turbulent times, she never obtained a formal art education. At the age of 15, she received instructions in pastels from Ahron Kahana, a well known Israeli artist who was famous for landscape paintings and portraits. He was a great admirer of Picasso and changed over to abstract painting later on. At the age of 17, Eva was introduced for the first time to oil painting by Czech artist Stanislavsky. He taught her to see colors in everything. “Look at the sky” he used to say, “Do you really think it is blue? Keep looking and you will detect a myriad of other colors. Green, orange, pink purple…all shades. The same goes for grass, trees and buildings. Do you see this white wall? It is not white at all. It has a mixture of yellow, yellow ochre, shades of orange, and even some blue, green and purple.” The other important lesson she remembers is how to clean brushes and how to hold them while painting. The further back one holds the brush, the more freedom of movement one has. For three months they painted landscapes together around the Tel-Aviv area and then he returned to Czechoslovakia.

    It was not until 1967 that Eva started painting again. She participated in side-walk art shows which earned her numerous ribbons. In the early 1970’s she attended evening art classes taught by Mira Damsker at Miami-Dade Community College and also joined Painting Holidays with teachers George Cherepov (oils) in North Carolina, Cherepov and Claude Croney (water colors) in Vermont and Toni Van Hasselt (water colors) in New Mexico.

    Her art career ended abruptly in 1979 when her husband died. She then immersed herself totally in the manufacturing process of their business. It was a harrowing experience, working up to 80 hours a week for over 15 years, having no time for art. But 20 years later things started looking up. The work load became easier and suddenly she discovered as if by chance, the Jean Leighton Art Studio in Hollywood. Immediately she joined, starting to work with oils. Eva is very fortunate to have found teachers Michele Krasny and Ann Wolkowitz to be great artists. They are immensely experienced and well versed in all media and all subjects, with a keen eye for design and color and a never ending patience with their students.

    Eva Engler expresses the essence of her painting with forceful colors, sometimes happy, but more often mysterious and eerie, capturing the mood of a lonely beach scene, a withered tree in the desert….