Neil Rizos

"I have several pieces of Neil's work in my personal collection. They bring me a step closer to appreciating nature in a way I never would have conceived through my own experiences. His work gives the viewer more than just surface appearance." Clyde Aspevig

Neil Rizos was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His first five years were lived in Manomet, a small community on Cape Cod. From a home perched on the bluff overlooking the sea, his consciousness of the natural world began. "I vividly recall the bright, windy days of my early childhood on the seashore... digging clay out of the bluff, shaping it into gulls and fish and leaving them to dry on overturned dinghies pulled up on the beach." The happy synergy of a receptive spirit and a place of light, water, birds and forests set the course for his life.
As a student of art, foreign languages and literature he traveled throughout Europe and into Africa, living for extended periods in San Jose, Costa Rica; Seville, Spain; Paris, France and Quebec, Canada. Upon graduation from the State University of New York, he pursued his love of the natural world and art, working as a natural history illustrator and ornithological researcher from the arctic to the rain forests. He has studied...

I graduated from the State University of New York with a degree in Foreign Languages & Literature. Part of that process involved living in San Jose, Costa Rica; Seville, Spain; Paris, France and Quebec, Canada. As for art materials and methods - I've studied the craft component of visual art with some well known and some not well known artists and I continue to study extensively on my own. Art is something altogether different - we discover Art on our own, as an act of courage.

A professional Art career spanning twenty-five years includes many exhibitions – here are some highlights:
Roger Tory Peterson Institute, Jamestown, NY; Great Plains Art Museum, Lincoln NB; Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix AZ; Verde Valley Land Preservation Traveling Exhibition, AZ; The Salmagundi Club, New York, NY; The National Arts Club, New York, NY; Allied Artists of America, New York, NY; The Bennington Museum, Bennington, VT; Adirondack Park Visitor Interpretive Center, Paul Smiths, NY; Virginia Land Trust Exhibit, Upperville, VA; Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, West Palm Beach, FL; Airlie Center for Environmental Studies, Warrenton, VA; The Arts Club of Washington, Washington, D.C.; La Galerie Sherbrooke, Montreal, Québec, Canada; Musée Le Chafaud, Percé, Québec, Canada; Le Musée acadien du Québec, Bonaventure, Québec, Canada