 | When Lila Hahn received an "F" on her first Batik, she knew she'd found her calling. Thanks to a globetrotting childhood that found her living in Asia, the Middle East, Argentina and Pakistan, Lila was no stranger to the muted colors and abstract shapes of traditional Indonesian Batik. It was precisely because she saw a way to bring something new to the art that Lila's first Batik was a brightly colored tree. While her art instructor at the University of Northern Colorado expected Lila to follow the rules, Lila jumped at the opportunity to create her own style. When she witnessed the vibrant finery of the traditional dancers of the Taos Pueblos, she had the perfect subject matter for her brightly colored Batik celebrations.
To the casual observer, Lila's life seems almost conventional. Along with her husband, Rod, she raises three children on a farm outside Yuma, Colorado. "The family is an important part of my world," says Lila, "but it wouldn't be enough without my art." When Lila retreats from her modern home to the original farmhouse that she uses as her studio, her mind taps into the unconscious well of creativity that allows her to create award winning work. She has twice (1994, 1991) been a finalist in The Artist Magazine's Art Competition, been accepted into the prestigious Arts for the Parks, been awarded a Top 10 Award for Artistic Excellence in the 1994 Colorado Indian Market and was chosen as the 1995 Poster Artist for the Denver PBS fund-raising auction.
Lila has also received glowing profiles in Southwest Art and Yippi Yi Yea magazines. Lila was on the cover of Mayor's Office of Art, Culture and Film, Yippi Yi Yea, and The Record Stockman (where to go and what to do, Metro Denver).
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