Olivia Peguero (born 1961) is a Dominican contemporary landscape and botanical artist. Painting most of the year in the Dominican Republic and Florida, she is known for producing all of her studies and the majority of her finished pieces en plein air. Unlike many other Dominican artists, her works are created in oil using a more traditional European style, many times depicting life as birth, existence and death within her flowers. Two common themes present in Peguero art are the conservation of old growth Dominican forests and pride in Dominican heritage. In 2007, Peguero enlisted the help of a few important collectors and corporate sponsors to form the Peguero Arte Libros Foundation and the Art Books for Education Program. A large percentage of the proceeds from the sale of her art are donated to the foundation. Early life and early education Peguero was born in Las Salinas, Barahona Province, and grew up in the small towns of Miches, El Seibo Province, on the east coast, and Las Salinas, Barahona Province, in the southwest. She attended the Mahatma Gandhi secondary school in Santo Domingo and after graduation, moved to New York City, New York, to join her parents who had immigrated a few years prior. Although she was mostly isolated from the arts as a child, she was strongly influenced by the Dutch Masters style and it seemed only natural that the same style be applied in a lush, Caribbean environment. Today, many people associate Peguero art as only tropical or island oriented, but much of her work and training focused on mastering traditional architectural, botanical and landscape methods with her early paintings often being completed in and around the Lake District in England. Training and university education Peguero attended university in New York and Florida and continued to refine her style during the course of her training. She completed a bachelor's degree of fine art studio painting from Florida Atlantic University, Florida; a bachelor's degree in management information systems from Mercy College, New York; and a master's degree in business administration from Nova Southeastern University, Florida. Peguero Arte Libros Foundation Peguero is the founder of the Peguero Arte Libros Foundations and the Art Books for Education Project that focuses on art education for young Dominican children in rural areas. In 2007, the case was presented that even today, many Dominican children in rural areas are not exposed to and do