Colette Willard (b. 1992) is a Chicago-based painter working in oil. Her work is cinematic and vivid, often centered on women and domestic animals. Each painting begins with found or inherited photographs in which the arrangement of bodies and gazes suggests a latent tension. She uses these fragments as a point of departure to construct scenes that explore the performance of identity as it moves between intimacy and isolation.

Colette’s work is influenced by her study of film, ballet theater, and ecstatic religious experiences. She has taken classes in painting from local artists at Lillstreet Art Center and holds a Master of Divinity from the University of Chicago.