Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bonita Roberts got early inspiration for her figural work from seeing a Degas painting at the Minneapolis Art Institute.

She began her art career as a portrait painter in Minneapolis where, in the 1980s, her next door neighbor was artist Richard Schmid's mother. Through her Bonita met Schmid who critiqued her work. She spent a year on the Fond du Lac Indian reservation near Lake Superior and became intrigued by the culture of the tribes.

In 1993, she gained her first major recognition when Stuart Johnson of Settler's West gallery in Tucson, Arizona accepted some of her work.

Her studio, and also the place where she keeps her large doll collection, is in Battle Lake, Minnesota.

Ms. Roberts describes herself as a representational painter interested primarily in the human figure. She works out of her studio in rural Northern Minnesota, finding many of her models in the local population. "I'm always looking, searching for that face, those eyes, that expression that grabs my attentions and begs to be painted."

Bonita is best known for her portraits of children even though she feels every age and ethnicity holds a special intrigue and the aesthetic uniqueness she desired to paint. Recently, Bonita has expanded her work to include still-lifes and landscapes, as well as privately commissioned portraiture.

Ms. Roberts is a member of The Portrait Society of America and The American Women Artists group. She has been included in such museum shows as The Masters of the American West in Los Angeles and The Prix de West Invitational in Oklahoma City.

Born and raised in Minnesota, Bonita Roberts's first encounter with a great work of art was during a visit to the Minnealpolis Institute of Art. It was there that she first saw Edgar Degas's Hortense Valpincon. The work, with its bright colors and child model, made an impression on the young Roberts, and the influence of this work can still be seen in her pieces today.

Roberts interest in art flourished as she grew older. By the time she reached high school, she was sketching the people and places of her local town, often on sheets of freezer paper that her father brought home from his job at the local dairy. Roberts had considered the idea of attending the Art Institute of Chicago, but her father discouraged that plan in favor of a more practical education. It was then that Roberts set aside her dreams of being an artist and began a career in social work. Still, the desire to paint and draw never left her and she frequently visited museums and libraries to study works on her own.

In 1981, Roberts married and her husband encouraged her to give up social work and pursue her original dream of becoming an artist. She began taking photographs and learning about light and composition and slowly started doing commission portraits, usually in charcoal. In 1993, she began showing her work in commercial galleries and from then on, her pieces have continued to gain popularity.

In 1994, Roberts became a member of the American Womens Artists Group. Currently, she continues to live and work in Minnesota.