"Capturing the essence of a moment, and the ability to reveal a personality, an individual, a portrait, these are my goals."

Maureen Siobhán Riley lives in Michigan and was raised in a family that was actively devoted to the arts. As a child Maureen had exposure to the leading artists of the region, including Walter Midener, a well-known sculptor with whom she later studied as an adult. She received her MFA from Eastern Michigan University. Riley`s passion for the sea – literature, pirates, myths, sailing, oceanic and coastal life – have inspired her celebrated series of Marine sculptures in bronze. Her admiration for Herman Melville in addition to being an experienced scuba diver in the Great Lakes and the Caribbean culminate in arresting works of art that range from fish and mammals to sailing ships and the lore and literature of the sea. Her equally developed series include wild and domestic animals in addition to human forms.

"Maureen Siobhán Riley's engaging sculptures are realistically rendered and packed with literary expression. They are a superb balance of technical prowess and creative innovation," says Renée Phillips, director of Manhattan Arts International and New York art critic. In particular, "Selkie – Skye to Sea" captured the attention of jurors of the "HerStory" competition in NYC, NY and received a Manhattan Arts International award.

The artist has had exhibitions throughout the US including a one-person exhibition at the Elizabeth Stone Gallery in Birmingham MI and group exhibitions at the Leepa Rattner Museum, in Tarpon Springs, FL and the Smithsonian Arts and Industry Building in Washington, DC.

Her work is included in many private collections nationwide.

Maureen is particularly taken by the words of two of her most admired artists.

"O, young artist you search for a subject. Your subject is yourself, your emotions in the presence of nature"
-Eugene Delacroix

"...The artist, on the contrary, sees; that is to say, his eye, grafted on his heart, reads deeply into the bosom of nature"
-Auguste Rodin

Education:
BFA -Eastern Michigan
University of Michigan - Lou Marinaro: Artistic Anatomy

Continuing Studies:
John Pappas
Walter Midener
Ed Chesney
Alex Buchan
Sharon Sommers

Exhibited:
Ambleside Gallery, Grosse Pointe Michigan
Elizabeth Stone Gallery, Birmingham Michigan
Fernwood Botanical Gardens, Niles Michigan
Koucky Galleries in Pine Island Florida and Charlevoix, Michigan
Leepa Rattner Museum, in Tarpon Springs, FL
Smithsonian Arts and Industry Building, Washington, DC.