LILY KALOUSTIAN
New York, NY | New Orleans, LA
2025-2026 Scholarship New York Academy of Art
Scholarship 2024-2025
Lily Kaloustian is completing the final semester to earn her Certificate of Fine Arts from New York Academy of Art. After graduating in August 2025, she is returning to New Orleans to pursue her practice. She is drawn to many mediums, particularly oil painting, film photography, and glass-blowing. She utilizes experimental film photography as inspiration for surrealist paintings, explaining, “Using techniques such as double exposing film to get layered photos has helped me push the dreamscapes I create in my paintings.” Her work is also informed by her personal history and surroundings, both past and present.
“I get much of my inspiration from the tales and culture of my Armenian ancestry and from the environments I grew up in: New Orleans, Louisiana and Santa Fe, New Mexico,” she explains. “I think of the soft lavender and copper dirt of the desert, patterns and symbols of Armenia, and the colorful but overgrown houses of New Orleans.”
Kaloustian aims to communicate her love for the world through her artwork, emphasizing the importance of slowing down and appreciating things for what they are. “It can be hard to be connected and remember where we are and where we’re from,” she reflects. She appreciates the value of growing up in multiple places with uniquely different cultures, explaining “It has led me to connect with my personal history, which I’ve felt very detached from. As a Katrina kid, I was ripped away from my home before those roots had fully taken hold. It's made my relationship with New Orleans a complicated love.
“On top of that, I am a second generation Armenian-American and part of the fourth generation of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. My family has lost most of our roots in Armenia—the genocide erased not only people but the roots of a culture,” explains Kaloustian. “I’m learning about myself through my artwork and creative process. Quite literally, it’s what motivates me to research, read about, and seek to deeply experience these places and cultures.”
School has taught her how to maintain self-discipline in the studio and helped hone her vision and technical skills. After graduation, she plans to develop her own studio practice, take community college courses, explore artist residencies, and grow communities in New York and New Orleans.
Lily Kaloustian graduated from Willow High School with a Certificate of Visual Arts in 2022. Previously, she studied at the Art Students League in New York. She first joined the YAYA Guild in 2018.
All works are copyright of the artist.