Kyra Coates

Kyra Coates has painted since her fingers were big enough to grip a paintbrush. She was trained artistically throughout her youth and went on to study at the Corcoran School of Art and the Maryland Institute, College of Art. She began showing her art professionally in 2001 with great success. However, after several years she could no longer ignore a calling to humanitarian service and spiritual exploration. So in 2005 she took a hiatus from the art world and went to live as a Hindu nun. After three years of monastic life, she continued her studies at Naropa University in Boulder, CO, where she combined Religious Studies and Psychology to understand the psychology of enlightenment in various religious traditions around the world.

She returned to the art world professionally in 2014 and expresses her years of spiritual and psychological study through her art. Her work is deeply emotional, vibrant, and spiritually inspired. She addresses topics such as personal empowerment, sexual freedom, the natural world and humanity's symbiosis with it, death and identity, and joy. Kyra has exhibited in multiple museum and gallery shows around the country, has been featured in multiple publications, juried exhibitions, and has participated as a juror in art shows. In 2021 she launched her wearable art fashion line of clothing for men and women that is created directly from her paintings. Her designs have since hit the runway in shows for Denver Fashion Week and been worn by influencers in New York Fashion Week. She published her first novel "The Journey of the In-Between" with an adjoining art series in 2022.

Artist’s Statement

I paint from my own experience of moving from early trauma in life into empowered womanhood. My story has been an all too common one of sexual abuse and rape in childhood, into awkward early adulthood filled with shame and denial, then finally, realization, empowerment, and freedom to embrace my feminine power and sexuality. After a profound spiritual awakening in my early twenties, I became a Hindu nun and lived a disciplined monastic life for three years. When I left my robes behind, I dove into sexual awakening, motherhood, and embracing my feminine strength. My Eastern spiritual perspective and years of psychological study are reflected in my artwork. I depict psychologically emotional experiences of personal empowerment and explorations of states of consciousness. I paint states of mind as abstract imagery and use figurative work to tell a story and connect to inspirational moments as universal experiences. I’m deeply inspired by our interdependence with nature and mirrored experiences across species that always inspire a sense of awe and compassion. Through energetic and vividly colorful works, I hope to inspire that sense of empowerment, joy, and awe in the viewer as an experience of emotional resonance.

Current Exhibition CV

Public Art Commissions

Harmony Vet Center, Arvada, Co - Large Mural 2010

Bigger Hearts, Stronger Streets project, Longmont, CO - Mural 2020

Shock Art Longmont - Electrical Box Mural 2020

Harmony Vet Center, Arvada, Co - 5 murals and community project 2020

Gallery and Juried Exhibitions 

Gallery 102, Washington D.C., Group Exhibition, 1998

Sarasota Art on the Square, Sarasota, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Las Olas Art, Ft Lauderdale, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Stuart Art Festival, Stuart, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Naples Art, Naples, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Hyde Park Village Art, Tampa, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Juno Beach Art Festival, Juno Beach, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

Downtown West Palm Beach Art Festival, Juried Exhibition, 2002                                                    

 St. Pete Beach Corey Art Festival, St Petersburg, FL, Juried Exhibition, 2002

 Ann Arbor Art Festival, Ann Arbor, MI, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Art on Gold Coast, Chicago, IL, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Old Town Art Fair, Chicago, IL, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Evanston Art Festival, Evanston, IL, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Aspen Art, Aspen, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Art of Vail Valley, Vail, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Boulder Creek Festival, Boulder, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Boulder Fall Festival, Boulder, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2003

 Namaste Hospice Art and Events Center, Denver, CO, Group Exhibition, 2008

 Infuse Gallery, Denver, CO, Solo Exhibition, 2016

 M. Romero Gallery, Denver, CO, Women’s Empowerment Group Exhibition, 2017

 Infuse Gallery, Denver, CO, Group Exhibition, 2017

 KC Art Bar, Longmont, CO, Group Exhibition, 2018

Liminal Gallery, Asheville, NC, Solo Exhibition, 2018

Center for the Arts Evergreen, Evergreen, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2019

Beaver Creek Art Festival, Avon, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2019

Art of the Rockies, Frisco, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2019

Artists in Isolation, North Dakota Museum of Art, Group Exhibition, 2020

The Corona Portrait Project, Group Exhibition, 2020

The Art of Feminine Power, The Firehouse Art Center, Longmont, CO, Solo Exhibition, 2020

Boulder Open Studios Members Group Show, Museum of Boulder, Boulder, CO, Group Exhibition, 2020

Beneath the Surface, Core Art Space, Denver, CO, Group Exhibition, 2021

The Art of Kyra Coates, Tamsyn’s Gallery, Wichita, Kansas, Solo Exhibition, 2021

Denver Arts Festival, Denver, CO Juried Exhibition, 2021

Boulder Fine Arts Festival at 29th Street, Boulder, CO Juried Exhibition, 2021

Art In the Park, Loveland, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2021

East Boulder County Open Studios, Longmont, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Denver Arts Festival, Denver, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Denver Pride Fest, Denver, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Keystone Fine Art Festival at River Run, Keystone, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

19th Annual Downtown Aspen Art Festival, Aspen, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Boulder Fine Arts Festival at 29th Street, Boulder, CO Juried Exhibition, 2022

Telluride Fine Art Festival, Telluride, CO, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Palm Springs Pride Fest, Palm Springs, CA, Juried Exhibition, 2022

Gallery Representation

Infuse Gallery, Denver, CO 2016- Current

Liminal Gallery, Asheville, NC 2017 - 2019

Haven Gallery, Manassas, VA 2021 - Current

Awards 

AsiaNetwork Fellowship 2007

Martha Kate Thompson Award (Boulder County Arts Alliance) 2019

Bead On One String Connection Grant 2019

Publications

Not Random Art Contemporary Art Review 2017

Western Art and Architecture Magazine 2017

The Most Influential Art Magazine 2020

Boulder Magazine 2022

The Daily Camera 2022

The Daily Camera 2023