A native of Paris, Marie-Laure Ilie is a Sorbonne graduate. She also earned a BFA at the University of Michigan, and acquired further training in several art studios and workshops.

Her first body of works consisted of batik-looking wall-hangings representing Medieval Tapestries which were sold to decorators and collectors. In the 80's and 90's, while her large abstract fabric paintings were exhibited extensively in the U.S. and in Europe, Ilie also experimented with transparent nylon mesh and sheer fabrics, in search of reinterpretations of light and space. But it is the subliminal influence of her classical school education, including a childhood predilection for ancient Greek statues, which now is guiding her latest body of works. A visit to Rome’s Archeological Museum gave her the insight that ancient robed statues can be alive again on fabric thanks to the latest mixed-media techniques. They become the subjects of endless re-interpretations in 3-D compositions that the artist calls “mixed-media embodiments.”

Her works were presented in eighteen solo-exhibitions throughout the U.S. In 2007, she participated in the 12th International Triennial of Tapestry in the Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland, with a large installation consisting of 29 columns. She exhibited in many juried and invitational group shows organized in museums, art centers, university galleries and collectors' galleries in the U.S. and in Europe. Her works are part of the permanent collections of the Oakland Museum of California, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the Nycolaysen Art Museum (Wyoming), the Szombathely Keptar-Museum (Hungary), and in many private collections.

Click here to visit Marie-Laure's website.