Rosa Naparstek came to America from a Displaced Persons Camp as a young child, a refugee of WWII. Much of what she does centers around childhood memories and experiences, cruelty and its source within us. She believes that the primary source of evil lies in our ability to deny our own pain, fear, and vulnerability. 

Naparstek studied physics in college hoping to understand the world by understanding the fundamental elements of the universe. She was a political activist and then became an attorney in her commitment to social and political change. After years of practice, she realized that fundamental social-political change cannot occur without personal transformation. Her found-object art is a result of her own quest. Sculpture, collage, original text, installation, her work resists easy categorization but is unified in purpose.

Naparstek is a co-founder of the Washington Heights Uptown Arts Stroll. She is the director/co-founder of Artists Unite, Inc., an arts organization which has organized the MTA-Artists Unite Subway Elevator Poster Project for ten years, the only community art project of its kind in New York City. 

Naparstek has been in solo and group shows in New York City and nationwide. She presents programs and speaks in various venues. She facilitates community building circles where participants explore feelings, communication, and connection, often through art. Rosa Naparstek fuses art, self-actualization, and the quest for a just society.