Orlando Wetlands

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. Verkins didn’t start out as an artist. After her husband’s death, she returned to college for a computer science degree. A friend advised her to take a photojournalism class for an easy A. She followed this advice. Lillian states “ I fell in love at the first darkroom moment. It was magic”. Verkins found the art program therapeutic and helpful in escaping what she calls her “monkey mind”. Her concentration of study was photo-etching, using her own photo images in creating collages on copper plates. She laughs as she states “I can actually invite a date to see my etchings”. In 1987 she received her BFA from University of Central Florida after which she went to work for the State in a non-artistic capacity. 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 ago. 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 to abstracts or palms swaying in a storm and figurative works. Lillian states “art is extremely personal and therapeutic for me. It is my meditation place where I can go to forget everything and truly be in the present moment of creation and evolution”. Ms. Verkins has received a total of 24 juried awards, among which are three “Best of Show” and five “1st Place” awards. She was the First Place winner in the Celebrating the Genius of Women in 2016. She had an outstanding solo exhibition From Whence We Came at the Seminole State College Fine Art Gallery in Jan. of 2018. 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 the lobby of the Aloft Hotel Orlando, in Bloomingdales, CityArts Factory, Art Gallery at Mills Park, Art League of Daytona Beach and various other venues in the central Fl Area. Ms. Verkins 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. Her paintings hang in many private residences throughout the U.S. Ms. Verkins volunteers at the UF Cancer Center at ORMC teaching art to patients receiving chemotherapy treatment. Ms. Verkins is a current member of Beaux Arts of Central Fl.,The Art League of Daytona Beach, ArtistRegistry.com. For more information you can visit her website at www.lillianverkins.com