About the Artist
Lily Curley: Figurative Oil Painter
I create art because I want to connect and empower others to recognize their own resilience.
To purchase or commission a painting,
Instagram: @lilycurleyart
Lily Curley is a contemporary painter living in Denver, Colorado with her husband and three cats. Lily’s practice focuses primarily on oil painting and charcoal drawings. Mental health, resilience, and human connection are prominent themes in her work.
As a child, Lily’s mother, a self-taught ceramic artist, encouraged her creativity from an early age. Despite frequently moving, every home had space for creativity. Visual expression became a fixture in her life.
Graduating from Marymount University in 2011, Lily received a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art. In June 2022 Lily graduated as a member of the Inaugural Cohort for the Advancing Creatives Intensive Program by the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts. Most recently, Lily traveled to Rome, Italy to further her education in portraiture with Rome Art Residencies. Her work was showcased in their International Exhibition. Lily is an active member of the Portrait Society of America, Art Student’s League of Denver, and 40West Arts.
In April 2022, Lily’s work was featured by Recreative Denver in the article, “3 Local Artists Who are Helping the Environment Through Their Art”. Her work was also exhibited in RiNo Showcase, 40West Arts District, and the ASLD Summer Market.
You can find her painting with other artists at weekly live figure modeling sessions, plein-air painting, or in her home studio. Currently you can see her work in local shops such as Griffin Coffee House and The Electric Cure in Edgewater, CO. She also shares her work in her Airbnb and art gallery, The Modern Historic.
ARTIST CV
Lily Curley
BORN 1988 Homestead, FLA
RESIDES Denver, CO
EDUCATION
2007-2011 Marymount University; Arlington, VA. Fine Art/ Pre-Art Therapy
2023-Ongoing Art Students League of Denver; Denver, CO. Oil Painting & Classical Drawing
2023-2023 Rome Art Residencies; Rome, Italy; The Roman Portrait
2022-2022 Colorado Business Committee for the Arts; Denver, CO. Advancing Creatives Intensive: Inaugural Cohort
WORKSHOPS INCLUDE:
David Kassan & Shana Levenson, Albuquerque, NM. Painting Beyond the Photo
Dorielle Caimi & Shana Levenson, Albuquerque, NM. Story beyond the Portrait
Alyssa Monk, Online, Color Mixing for Portrait Painting
Jen Starling, Denver, CO. The Contemporary Portrait
Shana Levenson, Albuquerque, NM. Painting and Anatomy of Hands
David Kassan, Albuquerque, NM.Painting and Anatomy of the Eye
Shana Levenson, Albuquerque, NM. Story-telling through Self Portrait
Dorielle Caimi, Albuquerque, NM. The Conceptual Self Portrait
EXHIBITIONS / SOLO
2021 The Art of Lily Curley, Griffin Coffee, Edgewater, CO
EXHIBITIONS / GROUP
2022 Rome Art Residencies International Expo, Palazzo Velli, Rome, Italy
2022 40 West Member Exhibition, 40 West Gallery, Lakewood, CO
2021 Creative Reuse, 40 West Gallery, Lakewood
FAIR BOOTHS
2022 Summer Art Market, Art Students League of Denver
2022 RiNo Showcase, Music and Arts Festival, Number 38, Denver, CO.
GRANTS
2022 Advancing Creatives Small business Grant, Colorado Business Committee for the Arts, Denver, CO.
2021 Colorado Creative Industries Artist Relief Grant, Redline Contemporary Arts, Denver. CO.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“3 Local Artists Who are Helping the Environment through Art.” Recreative Denver, April 28, 2022
"Artist Takeover at Griffin Coffee; Meet Lily Curley” Griffin Coffee Edgewater, September 2021
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
40 West Art District
Portrait Society of America
CBCA Advancing Creatives Inaugural Cohort
Marymount University Alumni
