Born on a pastoral wheat farm in the outskirts of Cungrea, Romania, Alexa Kelemen helped her parents from a young age in the planting and harvesting of their crops. At the age of six, she was given a set of pastels and an elaborate sketching pad by her mother, and set out each day for an hour at lunch to render a different corner of their farm on paper. Kelemen began her formal art education at the Institute of Art in Constanta. With a concentration in both realist landscape and abstract figural painting, and with two years of experience as a graduate teacher’s assistant in oriental decorative art, she attained her art degree with highest honors in 1965. Alexa quickly built her reputation throughout Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, where numerous exhibitions of her works were held. In 1983, she chose to continue her training at the School of Popular Art, this time focusing solely on the art of the still life. With her formal training completed in 1986, Kelemen was excited to move to the United States with her husband and son, where she immediately entered the Deljou studios. She has exhibited her work in Atlanta and New York.