Aneka Ingold graduated from Grand Valley State University in 2003, pursuing a career as a professional artist and art educator. Her works often examine the transition of the body and self as the human form. Aneka was named the winner of the first Bennett Prize (2019), the largest ever awarded solely to women painters. The Prize is meant to propel the careers of women figurative realist painters from across the country. In the exhibition catalog, the four-member jury praised Ingold’s paintings for powerful and expressive representations of femininity. Ingold described her creative process: “I look for ways to show a female perspective in the making of history and try to imagine what the past would be like if seen through the eyes of women. Making these images is not only a way for me to understand the woman that I am, but the woman that I want to become…My artmaking process thrusts me into a place where I can truly realize and celebrate the growth and progress made by women.” Her works have been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally.