Bio

Ondo takes her name from her grandmother—a name that signifies origin and inheritance; the root beneath the rock.

She has been painting for most of her life. Raised in a home where creativity was encouraged and making art was part of daily life, she learned early that visual expression could be both instinctive and disciplined. Her mother, an artist, was an important influence, and the natural world served as a primary teacher. As a child, she was given the freedom to paint expansively—transforming walls into murals and living spaces into informal galleries. By adolescence, she was receiving commissions.

Her professional path initially unfolded outside the studio. She worked in local television in Ohio and Boston, collaborating with highly creative teams, before transitioning to the nonprofit sector in New York, where mission-driven work and collective purpose shaped her understanding of storytelling and impact. Throughout these years, painting remained a constant, an undercurrent rather than a centerpiece.

The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point. Spending long hours outdoors, she observed the persistence and vitality of the natural world—hawks, herons, woodpeckers, trees—continuing to thrive amid global stillness. This period catalyzed a shift in her visual language, giving rise to heightened color palettes and imagined landscapes that move beyond representation toward states of transition and encounter. It was then that she committed to placing art at the center of her life.

Now based in Massachusetts, Ondo actively paints and exhibits her work, continuing to study with and learn from accomplished artists including Kathleen Speranza, Ruth Odile, Peter Hocking, Larry Moore, Corey Whisson, Lynne Adams, Marlene Rye, and others whose practices inform and challenge her own.

She currently divides her time between her studio practice and her work at the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Both roles inform her perspective: one rooted in service and collective responsibility, the other in attention, presence, and relationship with the natural world. Through her paintings, Ondo explores beauty, interconnection, and the often-overlooked kinship between humans and the natural systems that sustain us.