Gloria began her formal education as an artist in 1970 under the private tutelage of Ted Caja. In 1975, she joined the University of the Philippines Baguio's (UPB's) Summer Arts Workshops. In 1984, Gloria was among the pioneering students of UPB's expanded Certificate in Fine Arts Program  started by the late Professor Darnay Demetillo, the University’s artist-in-residence and professor from 1978 until his retirement in 2005. Gloria was among the vanguard female artists of the Baguio Group  of Artists  (BGA) and one of the 21 artists featured in BGA's first group exhibition, "Works on Paper" at the Pines Resort Hotel in October 1977. Gloria has been a materials benefactor of the annual "Darnay Demetillo Artist Award" at UPB since its inception in 2012.

Gloria immigrated to New York in 1988 to work as a nurse. In 1989, she studied with David A. Leffel at the Art Students League of New York. She was a member of the Brooklyn Working Artists Coalition (BWAC), participating in their Small Works Art Exhibitions and Pier Shows (where the oil painting "Trinity Church, Four Days After 9/11" was exhibited). She also participated in St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital Center's Annual Employee Art Show, winning First Prize for the oil painting "Say Goodbye to Summer" (1996) and the Grand Prize for her multiple submissions in various media (1999): "For Love of Home" (fabricworks, quilt), " 1992 Sisters at the Crossroad" (oil), and "City Windows I" (watercolor). Gloria retired from her nursing career in 2017 and now is fully devoted to her art. 

Last July 11, 2019, guest curator Johana Faith C. Almiron opened “Fil-Am Road” at Nyack, NY, "a mother-daughter (Gloria and Vina C. Orden) exhibition featuring artworks traversing across time and space from the 1970s to the contemporary moment, from the Philippines to New York, and beyond. Viewers were privy to a conversation between two distinct yet linked generations--a mother and daughter dwelling at the intersection of art, politics and transformation." (Johana Faith C. Almiron