Luis Del Valle

President | Visual Artist

“It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.”

Award winning artist, Luis Del Valle was born in Nicaragua in  1980 and migrated to the U.S. in 1986. At the age of 13 he  started painting graffiti murals in the District, Maryland and  Virginia. A few years later at Bell Multicultural High School  he began his formal artistic education, continuing his studies  at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. 

Luis Del Valle is a recipient of the 2024 DC Commission on  the Arts and Humanities Fellowship Award, recognizing his  outstanding contributions to the arts community. In 2023 Luis  was honored with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s SOMOS DC  Award for his notable influence, the promotion and creation of  artworks that inspire and enrich our culture. In 2023 he also  received the LIT in DC Award for the Arts. In 2019 he was  awarded 2nd place in the Chroma International Juried art  exhibition by Art Impact international. In 2017 Luis was  honored with the NCIS Director’s Coin by NCIS director,  Andrew L. Traver. In 2013 Luis was selected as the winner of  the East of the River Distinguished Artist Award. That year he  was also a finalist for the District of Columbia 28th Annual  Mayor’s Arts Awards. These accomplishments preceded the  presentation of the National Museum of Catholic Art and  Library National Artist Award by Prince Lorenzo Maria De  Medici in 2014, and his selection as the artist commissioned  for the 2015 Beijing / District of Columbia Sister Cities 

Project. The latter project resulted in a panda statue painted by  Del Valle that was given to the Mayor of Beijing as a state gift  from Mayor Muriel Bowser. Del Valle is also the recipient of  the 2015 National Museum of Catholic Art and Library  Portrait Award.  

Luis received his first commission from the fitness franchise  Body by Jake after his 16th birthday. Since then he has been  commissioned by other businesses, foundations, public  institutions, museums and private collectors to create murals,  portraits, sculptures, and paintings of various themes. Luis has  exhibited his works at various museums and institutions  including; NCIS headquarters, V.A., Vatican City, The  Embassy of Italy, The Frederick Douglass National Historic  Site, The Historical Society of Washington DC, The Vatican  Embassy in DC, Neiman Marcus in Tysons Galleria and the  Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Museum in Baltimore, MD.  

Luis continues to grow his unique personal artistic sensibility  remaining an active leader in the metropolitan arts world. His  commitment to the arts community is well known in the  District of Columbia and abroad.  

Luis believes that artistic development is a critical element in  community development; the arts facilitate improvement in  quality of life by providing tools to modify behaviors through  the channeling of self- expression into productive work. 

To learn more about Luis and his artistic career please visit his  site at www.LoveHopeArt.com