Bridget Anthony-Hlioui’s art is a journey to find peace and connection featuring simplicity through complexity. In her work, she creates a balance between perceived depth and flatness, oftentimes turning the subjects into abstractions by riddling her pieces with patterns of colors, motifs, and symbols.
Bridget graduated from The Corcoran School of Art with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography. She is an advocate for art as therapy, having witnessed its benefits while teaching in the DMV area. Her work is shown locally and nationally. She resides in the Washington, DC region.
You can find her online at www.bahlioui.com and on Instagram @bridget_a_hlioui.
Artist Statement
I explore “what makes a home?” through patterns, layers, and symbols. My mixed media process is a search forconnection to our physical and spiritual worlds expressed through patterns of natural and man-made symbols. The layers in my pieces emulate how I experience reflection. The physical process involves sketching, measuring, tracing, and making templates for my patterns. From there I work back and forth between the overlaid patterns and the scenic backgrounds using ink pens, colored pencils, watercolor, and gouache paints.
A portion of my inspiration stems from sharing my home with a refugee family as a child. This opened my mind to diversity and the needs of displaced people. I also draw inspiration from our world’s cultures, tessellations, the geometric patterns of Islamic art and American quilts. To bridge having family and homes in two countries, I use many symbols from Tunisian culture. My work is a mental reflective journey that leads to finding how simplicity can lead to complexity and back again, much like how we are created in nations and tribes but are all of the human race. What really fascinates me is that the process of juxtaposing patterns against the scenic memories of my travels never fails to remind me of the Creator, signs in nature, and our final spiritual home.
Curriculum Vitae
The Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C., B.F.A., Honors Distinction, Photography, 1993
Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale, VA, Ceramics, 2013-2014
Frederick Community College, Frederick, MD, Fine Art, 1988-1990
2025 Synchronous, Del Ray Artisans, VA (juried)
2024 Same But Different, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA
2023 Members Exhibit, Alexandria Clay Co-op, Alexandria, VA
2023 Farther Afield, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA (juried)
2023 Fun With One, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA (juried)
2023 The Unseen, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA (juried)
2022 Fall Salon, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA (juried)
2025 Judge, Alexandria City High School Student Exhibition, Del Ray, VA
2021- 2023 Art Teacher, US Arts, Fairfax, VA
2021 “Reflections,” Judge, Fairfax County Council PTA art competition, VA
2021 Ramadan Promotion, Partnership with MOZAIC DMV.org
2020, 2019 “Reflections,” Judge, Fairfax County Council PTA art competition, VA
2013-2018 Developed and taught K-8 Art curriculum, Washington International Academy, Alexandria, VA
2018, 2017 “Welcome Ramadan,” Student Exhibition & Fundraiser, Washington International Academy, Alexandria, VA
2021 Jennifer Gillia Cutshall, “Artist -A-Day-Blog: Inside A Generous Kingdom V” Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Jan 8
Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, OR
June 2017- June 2018.
WORKSHOPS & ARTIST TALKS
2024 Paint Your Own Islimi Plate, Make Space, Alexandria, VA
2024 Arabesque Plate Painting, MadeInALX, Alexandria, VA
2023 Snapshot Mandala Workshop, Make Space, Alexandria, VA
2022 Tessellation Workshop, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA
2021 “No Gaps, No Overlaps”, Del Ray Artisans, Alexandria, VA
2021 Artist Talk, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
2018 “My Heart Has Wings” clay workshop, WIA, Alexandria, VA
HONORS AND AWARDS
2021 The Digital Media Academy Scholarship, Beyond Borders Studios, The Center For Global Muslim Life.