Rosemary Kralik was born in Cairo, Egypt. She is the only child of an Egyptian mother and a British RAF father, raised by an Arabic governess who had been educated at the Sorbonne. In a culture repressive against women, Rosemary only found freedom in the art museums of Cairo. When she was five the family moved to England where she attended school until her mother brought her to Canada at the age of thirteen and she has lived in Ottowa since. Kralik’s scientific illustrations were published by the time she was eighteen. She worked as an illustrator and photographer, but throughout her life, art has been Rosemary Kralik’s mainstay. She has worked as a graphics designer in advertising, as a forms designer, and as a systems analyst and management consultant for the federal government of Canada. In the ‘60s her daring and innovative fashion designs were popular in Ottawa, and in 1972 she established Atelier Kralik on Hinton Street. For decades artists from all across the globe have congregated in Kralik’s studio and exhibited their works.