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Maya Elston graduated from the Department of Monumental Paintings at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. The various techniques she learned there guided her choices to execute works in oil painting, tempera, graffito, mosaics, photography, illustration, charcoal, metal, and low relief.

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Maya was a member of the Union of Bulgarian Artists in Sofia, and she was chair of the Mosaic section. She received national prizes for her artistic work, which has been exhibited at the numerous venues of the National Art Exhibitions in Sofia, Prague, Bratislava, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Hamburg. She also had a solo show and later participated in exhibitions in Beverly Hills and at Pepperdine University, CA.

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Trained as an art conservator, Maya spent twenty years as Associate Conservator for the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu. She traveled abroad to lecture, published extensively about her projects, and co-wrote a book on Greek vases published by the J. Paul Getty Museum.

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Recently, Maya has developed a line of murals and prints for the world of children; simultaneously she has returned to her artwork, changing the tools by using enhanced digital imagery. Although she worked in tactile media for most of her career, she got immersed in the new world of art expression made possible by technological advances.