By any standard, Elaine was an extraordinary woman.  Most of her teenage years were spent living in Venezuela and Santiago, Chile, where her father worked for an international machine company.

After returning to the United States, she took a degree in Spanish and later taught at the prestigious Emma Willard Girls’ School in Troy, New York.

She then decided to go to law school, move to the West Coast, became a partner in the Berry & Berry firm in Oakland, and organized and streamlined evaluation of plaintiffs’ medical records in the massive asbestos litigation of the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1987, she married Franklin Bondonno, and after the arrival of Evan in 1990, she chose to quit the law and become an artist.

Elaine was always fascinated by paper and texture, as well as paints.

Realizing that there were inadequate programs for incarcerated in the local Santa Clara County jail, she and Reverend Louann Roberts, the jail chaplain, organized an art ministry for the women.  This led to some extraordinary art which was shown in various venues around California and led to the publication of a book entitled Transformation: Art from Within.

Sadly, Elaine died on August 3, 2018, but her memory is preserved in the hearts of many as well as by the art displayed on this web page.