Biography:
Lillian Verkins is an Altamonte Springs contemporary acrylic and mixed medium painter. Her canvases are filled with motion and expressive brushstrokes, oftentimes eliciting a meditative response. She states painting places her in the moment of creation and evolution.
Verkins didn’t start out as an artist. She went back to college in her 30’s and found photography. Her concentration of study was photo-etching, using her own photo images in creating collages on copper plates.
In 1987 she received her BFA in Studio Arts from University of Central Florida.
Due to necessity for steady income and insurance she went to work for the state.
In 2004 she was introduced to Oriental brush painting. “It loosened me up” she states. The brush work was freeing and therapeutic just like the darkroom experience some 20 years earlier. Through the combination of her brush training and the new found ease of acrylics she has become successful in evoking the spirit of her subjects ranging from deep outer space she calls “Spacescapes” to abstracts or palms swaying in a storm and figurative works.
Ms. Verkins has received a total of 34 juried awards, among which are five “Best of Show” and seven “1st Place” awards. Ms. Verkins has been selected four times to be one of the artists represented in the Mennello Museum Invitationals (2018, 2019, ‘22 and 2024). She was the First Place Winner in the Celebrating the Genius of Women in 2016.
Currently she is represented by Gallery 500 in Daytona Beach Fl.
Prior to the Pandemic shut down she completed a beautiful space journey solo exhibition “Over the Moon” at the Orlando Science Center, Fusion a STEAM Gallery. Her solo exhibition From Whence We Came at the Seminole State College Fine Art Gallery in Jan. of 2018 was outstanding. Verkins had a solo exhibition of her abstract Spacescapes called Atmospheres at the Lake Eustis Museum of Arts on Feb 4th 2017 and her Landscapes “Where to Find Respite” at the Gallery at Leu Garden House through Jan 12, 2017. In 2016 Ms. Verkins had an exhibition titled Dream Catchers at the Henao Contemporary Gallery with famed sculptor Fay Samimi.
She has exhibited her paintings in group shows at: Museum Of Arts & Sciences, Foosaner Art Museum, Mayor’s 3rd Floor Gallery, Larimer Art Center, Lake Eustis Museum of Art, Bloomingdales, CityArts Factory, Art Gallery at Mills Park, Art League of Daytona Beach, Casselberry Art House, The HUB, OMA for the 1st Thurs. programs and various other venues in the central Fl Area. See CV for a full list.
Ms. Verkins was featured in the: Palatka Daily News May 14 2022, Orlando Arts magazine Nov/Dec 2019 issue and has been written about in the Orlando Sentinel, Altamonte/Wekiva Springs Life magazine, Artborne magazine, Arts & Entertainment section of the Seminole Magazine, the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, www.wonderingeducators.com and Emerging Waves. She has been interviewed twice for the Spotlight program on 90.7 WMFE program.She was also interviewed by Mennello Museum for their Virtual Studio Visit : https://youtu.be/NZ2UINUB5hY
Her paintings hang in Orlando Health Regional Medical Center where she volunteered to teach cancer patients to paint while they were receiving their chemo treatments. They also hang in many private residences throughout the U.S.
Ms. Verkins is a current member of Beaux Arts of Central Fl.,The Art League of Daytona Beach, FLAG and Women Artists Group.
For more information you can visit her website at www.lillianverkins.com or write to her at :artbylverkins@gmail.com