Elena Golberg was born in Barnaul, an industrial city in the Siberian part of Russia. At a young age she attended an art school for gifted children, where she was strongly influenced by powerful, Russian realistic art traditions. Most of her classes were taught by talented, Soviet painters, who created a wonderful atmosphere in the learning process. Elena earned her Fine Arts degree with a teaching license from a Soviet state university in 1989. Following her graduation, Elena taught art history, painting, drawing, composition, sculpture for over 14 years. Elena happily moved to the United States in 2004. In America, she became fascinated with Native American culture and painted many Native American portraits. Her works were displayed at the Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art in 2011, hosted by the Legacy Gallery. In 2019, she explored and transitioned to a new subject – Saguaro cacti. Today, Elena sketches enthusiastically in the Arizona desert. Where she fine-tunes the “movements” of the Saguaros’ muscular trunks and branches. She likes to catch the early morning light, which helps to portray the Saguaros’ strong expressions as they gesture toward the immense, Arizona sky.