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Cristina Acosta is a visual artist and entrepreneur working in a variety of paint mediums. Her artwork includes painting, book illustrating, ceramic tile and tableware designer, interior designer color expert, art educator and author of Paint Happy! .

Early Life
Born in Los Angeles, California, Sept. 23, 1959. Acosta is the great granddaughter of Mexican American actor, Enrique Acosta.

Career
During the 1980s she was the outdoor advertising billboard sign artist for the sign company, Carlson Sign in Bend, Oregon. Print technology developments made the sign painting profession obsolete. Acosta then taught art classes at Central Oregon Community College in Bend, while developing her signature ceramic tile line as an entrepreneur. She distributed her tiles through her company, Cristina Acosta Art & Design, llc, to Ann Sacks Tile and Stone, and Home Depot Expo stores in the 1990s.

A Latina artist of Mexican American and European heritage, Acosta was positioned as a Latina artist in the 1980s-2010, before Latina artists were common in the home decor market. Other licensed home decor artists such as Laurel Birch, Susan Sargent, and Vera Neumann dominated licensed home decor. Acosta designed and produced ceramic tile patterns and motifs and began licensing her designs into other products such as floor mats and greeting cards. National magazines featured her ceramic hand painted designs, often emphasizing her Mexican American heritage as a Latina.