Lou Kotlarz began painting at 13 when his father enrolled him in his first art class at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. In 1947, after serving in the Navy during World War ll, he attended art school in Los Angeles under the GI Bill.  

As a young man, Lou worked in advertising departments doing watercolor illustrations for department stores and draftsman work for North American Aviation. 

Later in life, he resumed his classical painting education at the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts in Minneapolis. He has been teaching a painting and drawing class at the Minneapolis JCC for the past 15 years. He enjoys the exploration involved in painting and choosing subject matter and helping his students evolve as artists. 

Lou was born in Havana, Cuba in 1927.  He and his parents immigrated to the United States (Chicago) in 1928.