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Kim Garza Chbeir is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and art educator based in San Antonio, Texas. Originally from the Laredo/Nuevo Laredo border, her artwork is deeply influenced by her borderland upbringing, personal experiences, and research. She earned a B.F.A. in Painting with a minor in Art History in 2005 and a Masters in Bicultural-Bilingual Studies with a concentration in Bicultural Studies from the University of Texas in San Antonio in 2014. Garza Chbeir is dedicated to promoting visual arts education as an art educator and resident artist in various San Antonio campuses. She believes that the heart of art education lies in the creation of collaborative projects, where students of all ages unite to transform spaces and express collective narratives through various art media. Her mission is to create, curate, and share the transformative power of art through education and collaborative projects, continuing to inspire and engage audiences to engage in visual communication. Recent projects include SAAEA Teaching Artists Exhibition, co-curating an exhibition at the Centro de Artes: “A Thousand Words: The Power of Pictures in Books” and is an Adjunct at Texas A&M University in San Antonio for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction where she inspires future educators how to teach art and theatre in the elementary classroom.
Resume (PDF)
Work Samples (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Type: Multi-Disciplinary: Multiple Art Forms, Performer and Writer; Performing Arts: Performance Art; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Illustrator, Mixed Media Artist, Muralist, Painter
Artist Style: Street Art; Teaching Artist/Instructor: Group Instruction, Guest Speaker, Instruction for Adults, Instruction for Children, Instruction for Seniors, Instruction for Special Needs, Multi-Day Artist Residency, Performer for Schools/Classrooms, Private Lessons, Workshop Presenter; Visual Art
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
I am a Latina multidisciplinary artist based in San Antonio, working across painting, drawing, photography, and installation. My practice examines how borders, geographic, domestic, and psychological can help shape identity and memory.
Growing up within a culture deeply informed by migration and matrilineal resilience, I became aware of the invisible lines that define belonging. These lines exist in family stories, in the architecture of our homes, in inherited patterns stitched into fabric and tradition. I use decorative motifs and domestic materials to reference comfort and continuity, while interrupting them with gestures that suggest fracture, tension, and survival.
Pattern in my work functions as both protection and concealment. It echoes cultural inheritance while questioning the repetition of violence, whether systemic, historical, or intimate. By layering found objects, family archives, and architectural forms, I create environments that viewers must move through physically, emphasizing the body’s relationship to containment and transition.
Through this work, I aim to transform borders from fixed barriers into spaces of reflection where memory, strength, and complexity coexist.
