Lilikette Eckenrode was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1957. At Millersville State College, where she studied art education, she won the “best painting of the year” award in 1979. In 1980, she moved to New York to pursue a master’s degree in Interior/Environmental Design at Pratt Institute. Upon graduation, she first worked as an architectural model maker for Skidmore Owings and Merrill and then as model coordinator for the Art Students League of New York (of which she is a life member). In 1996, after many more years of model making, she started working as a technical illustrator for Simplicity. From 2000 to 2004 she lived in Chicago and focused all of her attention on the development of her art. Inspired by the simplicity, power, and humor of the work of Keith Haring and Dr. Seuss, she began to simplify her own painting. She moved back to New York in 2004 and continues to paint.
Artist Statement
My paintings are expressions from my heart. They represent thoughts or feelings that I am experiencing at a particular time. Sometime they are signposts to remind me of things that I’d like to be doing or things I’d like to avoid doing. I paint them in the simplest way possible – not to get bogged down with technique – but just to get the point across. My current pieces are 12”x12” in acrylics and some of my older pieces are in oil.
The majority of my pieces are inspired by A Course in Miracles (ACIM), which has had the largest, most positive influence on the way that I view everything. The message I would most like to convey is that of Love. In my experience spiritual and physical wellbeing go hand in hand. In ACIM it says: “Good health is the result of relinquishing the desire to use the body lovelessly.” As described by Organic Avenue, L.O.V.E. also stands for the Live Organic Vegan Experience. The title of this show, “Go Green,” refers to the pH Miracle alkaline diet that I have been following for the past 3 years or so and which has increased my wellbeing greatly.