Lillian Delevoryas was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, USA in 1932. In 1970 she moved to England and has made this country her adopted home.

Her initial art training in the ‘50’s was in New York, at Pratt Institute and the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. After graduation, she travelled and studied extensively in Japan, France and Greece. In her ‘70’s, Lillian’s repertoire covers a vast area, spanning over 50 years as an artist, which began in New York the ‘50’s and ‘60’s with large interiors with nudes.

When she moved to London in 1970, her work shifted to appliqué wall hangings and appliqué garments for the world of show business. During this period she produced many wall hangings and tapestries for private individuals as well as churches and public spaces.

In 1972, she married the writer Robin Amis, and they moved to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. This marked the beginning of her long and fruitful association with the English garden whose profusion of colour reinforced her already strong love of pattern. The watercolours produced during this period quickly translated into designs, and formed the basis of a tapestry needlepoint workshop which was formed in partnership with Kaffe Fassett. The work produced from Kaffe's and Lillian's designs and stitched into tapestries won many awards and were exhibited widely in such places as the V & A Queens Jubilee exhibition, as well as the Royal College of Art and ‘Threads of History’ at Courtauld House.

In the ‘80’s, the floral watercolours spun off into further areas of applied design including a range of fabrics and wall paper for Designers Guild, ceramics for Habitat and Royal Doulton, and cards for Elgin Court.

In the 90’s, she returned for a sojourn to her native Massachusetts, and during that period produced a series of landscapes inspired by the marshlands and tidal estuaries of the coastline.

From the ‘90’s onwards, she was influenced more and more by the icons of Greece and Russia, and for several years, devoted herself to learning the techniques of iconography in order to penetrate its secrets as well as to sharpen her own technique in painting. This gradually led to a series of works which combined the iconesque image with images of the world.

EDUCATION
1950 – 1953 – Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, Dept of Art and Design.
1953 – 1956 – The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City. Graduated with honours in 1956 (B.A degree in Fine and Graphic Arts)
1957 – 1958 – Studied woodblock printing and calligraphy in Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, with T. Yoshida and T. Tokuriki (‘Zen Flesh, Zen Bones’ )
1959 – Studied and travelled in France, Germany, Switzerland
1982 – 1995 – Studied iconography and Byzantine mosaics in Greece.

AWARDS
Louis Comfort Tiffany Award in painting, New York 1965
New York Art Directors Association Gold Award 1977
ArtQuest Finalist, California 1986
Hunting Group, Mall Galleries, London, UK 1986
Greek Cultural Centre, Boston, Mass. 1990
Copley Society, Boston, Mass. Awarded Artist status. 1993
Art in Needlework Exhibition, Celanese House, London, 1973, 1974. First prizes in two categories (tapestry needlepoint and applique).
Between 1972 and 1979 – awarded several apprenticeship grants from the Arts Council (UK) for tapestry design and fibre art, and for establishing and maintaining the Weatherall Workshops for Tapestry Design in the Forest of Dean, Glos.

EXHIBITIONS
1961 – 2000 USA
University of California School of Architecture, Berkeley, CA.
Robert Sabersky Gallery, Los Angeles
New York SIX Gallery
Robert Schoelkopf Gallery, New York
Royal Athena Gallery, New York
Drew University, Madison, NJ
Churchill Gallery, Newburyport, Mass.
Maliotis Cultural Center, Hellenic College, Brookline Mass.
Atlantic Gallery, New York

1972 – 2002 ENGLAND
Liberty’s of London
Gloucester Museum and Art Gallery
Lincolnshire Arts Centre
Packhorse Gallery, Bath
Ernest Cook Gallery, Cirencester Workshops, Glos.
General Trading Company, London
Crispin Hall, Street, Somerset
Ebury Gallery, London
Yew Tree Gallery, Derbyshire
Stroud Festival,Glos.
Gallery 10, London
Copernican Connection, E. Yorkshire
Century Galleries, Henley-on-Thames
St. Giles Church, Oxford
Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury, Wilts.
Penn Club, London
Parish of St. John with St. Andrew, London
Marian Study Centre, LSU, Southampton
Hellenic Centre, London
Art Garden Gallery, Bristol
College of St. Mark and St. John, Plymouth
University of Exeter

1979 – 1986 SCOTLAND, WALES, EUROPE
Edinburgh Festival, Scotland
The Gallery, Cardiff, Wales
Amerika-Haus, Munich, Germany
Kinsthandlung, Hanfstaengl, Munich, Germany
Designers Guild, Paris, France
Ina Boerse Gallery, Laren, Holland
 

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