Helen "Elena" Escobedo (July 28, 1934 – September 16, 2010) was a Mexican sculptor and installation artist who has had work displayed all over the world from Mexico, Latin America, the United States, and Canada to the United Kingdom, (Germany), as well Israel and New Zealand. Her career as an artist spanned more than fifty years and explores ecological and urban problems through land art. Her works are site-oriented and ephemeral. Early life Escobedo was born on July 28, 1934 to a Mexican lawyer father and an English mother in Mexico City. She was educated in her home in a small neighborhood setting with her younger brother Miguel, taught by a French governess until the age of ten. At a young age, she learned ballet until she outgrew it. She was taught violin by Sander Roth, who at the time was a member of the world-famous Lener Quartet. Even though she became proficient with her violin skills, Escobedo eventually decided to switch to art. Education At the age of 15 in 1949, she decided to enroll at the Mexico City College and attended art classes in the afternoon twice a week. At Motolinia University, she took art classes under an abstract sculptor, Germán Cueto where she experimented with many different materials. Impressed by her work, Professor John Skeaping, a British sculptor from the Royal College of Art, encouraged her to pursue sculpture. He offered her a one-year grant to study in London at his institution, where she attended eventually with a three-year scholarship. She studied under the guidance of Frank Dobson, Henry Moore, Jacob Epstein, Leon Underwood, and for a short time, Ossip Zadkine. In her second year, she wrote her thesis: Renoir and Degas: Two Impressionists in Sculpture. She got her bachelor's degree in Humanities at Motolinia University in Mexico and her master's degree in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London, U.K. by 1954 at the age of 20. Career Aside from sculpture, Escobedo was a talented painter, printmaker, installation artist, writer, performance artist, lecturer, curator, and museum director in her lifetime. Escobedo accepted the position be the head and served as director of the Museo de Arte Moderno and the Department of Museums and Galleries at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1960, where she worked until 1978, organizing exhibitions. As she worked as director, she continued her craft and completed commissions as