BIO

Coni Grant is an expressionist landscape painter, both versatile and visionary. Her colorist paintings vibrate the senses and present a view of nature, full of emotional energy that can be, at times challenging and thrilling. She first picked up a paint brush at age 4 and by the time she was eleven her art pieces were selling in a California gallery. She earned her B.F.A. in Graphic Design from California State University Long Beach while working for Tomy Toys in Long Beach as a product and promotion designer. In 1981 she moved to San Francisco where she was an art director in an advertising agency and later, creative director in her own advertising design studio.

Coni’s career in graphic design stretched over 20 years and included design work for clients such as Levi Strauss, The Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pratt and Lambert, Visa Corporation, Southern Pacific Railroad, and The Bay Chamber Symphony Orchestra. During that time she also taught Senior Graphic Design at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in San Francisco, worked with the San Francisco Society of Illustrators, and served as Artist in Residence at the San Mateo First Presbyterian Church. In 1995, Coni turned her attention to painting full-time. In 1996, she earned her California Teaching Credential and became an Adult education, Oil painting Instructor for the Monrovia Unified School District in California.

In 2006, Coni received her Masters Degree in Painting from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado and opened the PleinView Painting Studio. She is an active member of PAAC (Plein Air Artists Colorado), PAPNM (Plein Air Painters New Mexico), a founding member of the High Desert Painters (an international plein air group), and founder of San Luis Valley Painters. Her work is in collections both public and private, in the US, Canada, and abroad. Currently, she lives with her husband and 2 children in Alamosa, Colorado where she paints and teaches. Read more about plein air adventures and outdoor painting at
www.pleinview.blogspot.com.

GALLERY REPRESENTATION
 Earthwood Collections, Estes Park, CO www.earthwoodartisans.com
Earthwood Gallery, Boulder, CO www.earthwoodartisans.com
La Veta Fine Art Gallery, La Veta, CO
 Link Gallery, Cheyenne, WY www.Linkgalleryonline.com
 Spanish Peaks Art Council Gallery, La Veta, CO www.spanishpeaksart.org
Wilder Nightingale Fine Art in Taos, NM

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2009
Rio Grande Museum presents
 Expressions in the Landscape, Jan 17 - Mar 28, '09
Coni Grant, Solo Exhibition

13th Annual PAAC Members Juried Show,
Plein Air Artists Colorado, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
Winner, Artist's Choice Award in 2008
www.pleinairartistscolorado.com

 Wyoming Plein Air Event 2009
Link Gallery, Cheyenne, WY, August 15 - September 30
Winner, Artist's Choice Award in 2008
www.linkgalleryonline.com
'09 Estes Park, PAINT THE PARKS, Plein Air Event
Winner 2006 Director’s Choice Award
Earthwood Collections in Estes Park, CO
 www.EstesArts.com
'09 Colorado Mountain Plein Air Festival, Salida, CO
3rd Prize Winner in 2008, People's Choice Winner 2009
Artist Reception Friday, Sept. 25, 7-9pm at the Virtuosity Gallery
www.coloradomountainpleinairfestival.com

 '09 Judge at the Florence, CO "Paint the Town" Plein Air Event
October, 2009

Great Sand Dunes Exhibit
at Denver International Airport
September 12, 2009 through January 10, 2010

Hearts & Stars Miniature Show and fund raiser
Taos Coalition To End Homelessness
Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, NM
November 2009

2008
Colorado Art Educators Association Show
Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO
1st Prize Winner, for 'Whispers in the Wood'

5/4 Time Five artists, Four bodies of work keeping time together
Durango Art Center, Durango, CO

Different Strokes, 3 Painters en Plein Air
Arkansas Valley Art Center, Buena Vista, CO

Coni Grant, Featured Artist for June
Earthwood Gallery, Boulder, CO

PAAC Show ‘08, Plein Air Artists Colorado
Juried Exhibition, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
Winner, Artist's Choice Award for 'Tracks at La Veta'

Juried Artist, Wyoming Plein Air Event 2008
 Winner, Artist's Choice Award, Link Gallery, Cheyenne, WY

Juried Artist, '08 Estes Park, PAINT THE PARKS, Plein Air Event
Featured at Earthwood Collections, Estes Park, CO

Colorado Mountain Plein Air Festival, Salida, CO
Winner, 3rd Place, Juried show and sale

Invited Artist, 'Art for the Sangres 2008',
San Isabel Land Protection Trust 12th Annual Exhibition & Sale
Westcliffe, CO

San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center presents
Solo Exhibition, 'Soul VIEW' on the 2nd Floor ‘ARTrium’
October - November 2008
SLV Regional Medical Center, Alamosa, CO

'Hearts and Stars', Miniature Show Fund-raiser 2008
Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, NM

2007
 'Colorado Color' Exhibition,
Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Juried Artist, '07 Estes Park, PAINT THE PARKS, Plein Air Event
Featured at the Link Gallery, Estes Park, CO

'07 Plein Air Painters New Mexico Paint Out Exhibition,
Zoeller Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

Summer Art Exhibition,
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, Mosca, CO

Solo exhibition 'PLEIN BREW', SLV Brewing Co., Alamosa, CO

KRZA Fund-raiser Art Auction, Alamosa, CO

'Hearts and Stars', Miniature Show Fund-raiser
Wilder Nightingale Fine Art, Taos, NM

2006
Juried Artist, '06 Estes Park, PAINT THE PARKS, Plein Air Event
Winner, Directors Choice Award, Earthwood Gallery, Estes Park, CO

ASC 'Trains, Planes & Automobile' Show,
Winner, First Place Award, Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO

Graduate Thesis Exhibition, 'Room With A View',
Cloyde Snook Gallery, Alamosa, CO

2004, '05, '06, '07
Exhibitor and Demonstrator, Alamosa Art Walk, Alamosa, CO

2004 Solo Exhibition in Alamosa, CO

2002 Member, Mid-Valley Artist Association, Temple City, CA
Honorable Mention, StepOne Gallery Show, Carpinteria, CA

2001 Winner, Best in Show, StepOne Gallery Show, Carpinteria, CA

EDUCATION
 2007 Studied with Kris Gosar, Alamosa, CO
Studied with Kim English, Ruidoso, NM

2006 Graduated, Master of Arts Degree, Painting
Adams State College, Alamosa, CO

2003, '04, '06, '07, '08 Studied with Ann Templeton, Ghost Ranch, NM

2001 Studied with Morgan Samuel Price, Laguna Beach, CA

1998 Studied with Charles Movalli, Cambria, CA

1996 Completed classes and received California Teaching
Credential, University of California at San Diego

1993 M.F.A. Program in Conceptual Design (degree not completed)
California State University at San Francisco

1978 Graduated, B.F.A. in Graphic Design
California State University at Long Beach

SELECTED AFFILIATIONS
 Plein Air Painters New Mexico, PAPNM
Plein Air Artists Colorado, PAAC
Spanish Peaks Arts Council, SPACe
Founding member of HIGH DESERT PAINTERS, international plein air
Founder, San Luis Valley Painters

2005 Painting Instructor, Adams State College, Alamosa, CO

Alamosa Boys and Birls Club Workshop presenter, Artes Por Todos

1999-02 Member of the StepOne Gallery, Carpinteria, CA

1996-2002 Adult Oil Painting Instructor, Monrovia, CA

1993 Instructor, Sr. Graphic Design and Nominated Outstanding Faculty Member,
Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, San Francisco

1991-92 Artist in Residence for Visual Arts in Worship,
First Presbyterian Church of San Mateo, CA

1987 Guest Lecturer, Senior Illustration, San Francisco Academy of Art

1987 Juror for San Francisco Society of Illustrators '87 Show