Zavala opened Not For You Gallery at the Blue Star Arts Complex last year with her partner, Edward Perez.
Creativity was discouraged in the conservative, religious household Ursula Zavala grew up in on San Antonio's South Side.
Her parents tried to steer her toward a practical career as a doctor or lawyer, but Zavala was more interested in finding her way in the less-tangible realm of art. Some of her earliest art-making memories center around collages she made from junk mail — specifically Toys "R" Us circulars she fished from the mailbox.