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ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

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Colette Lilley is a drawing artist whose work examines focused perception and the slowing of habitual looking. Working primarily on paper and within tightly controlled parameters, she constructs portraits through duration rather than immediacy, requiring sustained attention from both maker and viewer.

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Her drawings are developed through grid-based structures in which each square is drawn in isolation before accumulating over time. fragmentation slows visual recognition, disrupting expectations of instant comprehension and reasserting looking as an active, temporal process. Restriction of medium and format is central to her practice, not as an aesthetic choice, but as a method of sharpening attention and compressing time.

 

Lilley holds an MA in Art and Design Practice from Loughborough University (2009), where she explored the relationship between dyslexia and her creative process. She is an Associate Member of the Society of Graphic Fine Art. 

She has exhibited nationally, including at the Mall Galleries, London, and with the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the Royal West of

 

England Academy, the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, and Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. Awards include the Visual Arts Association Exhibition & Scholarship Award (2024) and the Comme Ca Art x AWOL Studios Open Call (2023).

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SELECTED C.V.

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Education

MA Art & Design Studio Practice, Loughborough University (2009)
BA (Hons) Visual Communication in Illustration, Loughborough University (2006)

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Awards & Prizes

  • Visual Arts Association Exhibition & Scholarship Award — Winner (2024)

  • Comme Ça Art × AWOL Studios Open Call Exhibition — Winner (2023)

  • Artist of the Year Awards — Best New & Emerging Artist, Shortlisted (2025)

  • Liverpool Hope & The Leaders Club Awards — Shortlisted (2019)

  • New Platform Art Mentorship — Selected Artist (2024)

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Solo Exhibitions

  • Drawings by Colette Lilley, Cass Art, Liverpool (2019)

  • Draw Draw Draw, Art in Windows, 5 Bold Street, Liverpool (2018)

  • Learn to see / learn to draw, Art in Windows, 5 Bold Street, Liverpool (2017)

  • Learning to see, through the act of drawing, The O Gallery, London (online, 2017)

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Selected Group Exhibitions

2026

  • You Shed Your Names With The Seasons, 50 MV, Waterloo

  • Being There - Conversations In Drawing, Residency and Exhibition, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool

  • Society of Graphic Fine Art 104th Annual Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2025

  • The Williamson Open, Williamson Art Gallery & Museum, Wirral

  • Royal Society of Portrait Painters Drawing Prize: Revealing the Human, University of Hull

  • RWA 172nd Annual Open Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

  • Drawing (Paper) Show: Curators’ Corner, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool

  • Clyde & Co Art Prize, London

  • Society of Graphic Fine Art 104th Annual Open Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London

2024

  • Guildford House Open, Guildford House Gallery, Surrey

  • Summer Selection ’24, Ladies Drawing Clüb

  • Shuffle, Liverpool

2023

  • RBSA Drawing Prize, RBSA Gallery, Birmingham

  • Drawing (Paper) Show, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool

  • Liverpool Art Fair, Royal Liver Building, Liverpool

  • Comme Ça Art × AWOL Studios Open Call Exhibition, Manchester

  • Drawing is Free: 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Paris College of Art

  • Paper Cuts, 50 MV, Waterloo

  • SHE, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool
     

2015 –2019 (selected)

  • Threshold Festival X, Liverpool

  • The Drawing Show, The Bridewell Studio and Gallery, Liverpool

  • Lancaster Open, Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk

  • Hull Open, Ferens Art Gallery, Hull

  • Magical Geometry, Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk

  • The Dark Side of LightNight, 104 Duke Street, Liverpool

  • Soup Collective, Tate, Liverpool

  • The Independent Artist Fair, London

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Curated & Co-curated Exhibitions

  • Drawing (Paper) Show, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool (2023)

  • SHE, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool (2023)

  • The Drawing Show, The Bridewell Studios and Gallery, Liverpool (2020)

  • The Drawing Show, Arena Gallery, Liverpool (2019)

  • The Dark Side of LightNight, 104 Duke Street, Liverpool (2016)

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Residencies

  • Stwidio Maelor, Corris, Wales (2015)

  • Mini Residency, Arena Gallery & Studio (2015)

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Projects

  • Hidden Gems, Newspaper project, Independent Biennial (2016)

  • 23 Artists Exhibited Next to Van Gogh for a Minute, The New Art Gallery Walsall (2009)

  • From Morning till Night, Tate Modern Live (2011)

  • @Artist_Parent, an Instagram account sharing the work and stories of artist parents

  • @talk.drawing, an interview account featuring contemporary drawing artists

 

Groups & Networks

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Professional Memberships

 

Press & Publications

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