From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ave Hurley of Ave Hurley Illustrations, also known online as AveHurley [each online screen names] for Ave Maria Cosgriff Hurley, who was born in Brooklyn NY, on March 25,1954 as the 3rd child of Gene { Singergene} and Edwina Reardon Cosgriff and is 1 of 14 brothers and sisters.

Articles relating to her can be found in search engines under ’avehurleyillustrations’,’avehurley’ and Ave Hurley.

Ave had a promising start in art demonstrating her skills at an early age before starting school at St.Patrick’s Roman Catholic School in Brooklyn.

While in first grade the school’s art teacher, Thaya Von Eros, took Ave under wing and began giving private art lessons, after school to test and advance Ave’s natural skills in art.Lessons continued till Ave’s family moved to Staten Island in 1964.

Attending PS3 in Pleasant Plains, Ave received art awards and excelled on any art related project given to do at the school.

From 1966-68, Elias Bernstein Jr High School, http://schools.nyc.gov/SchoolPortals/31/R007/default.htm Ave was in the top of her class and artistic participant on the school yearbook and began entering Art Shows.

While attending Tottenville High School on Staten Island, Ave received the prestigious "Freshman Art Award" given to her in a formal ceremony at the Grace Rainey Rodgers auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ave began selling her artworks to teachers and local members of the community.

She was further aided in developing her art studies by Mrs.Theresa DiGuiseppe ,of New Dorp, her high school art teacher , who sponsored Ave to go to an after school att class on weekends, located at Susan Wagner High School.

In 1969 Ave was one of the youngest entrant/participants at the Sailor’s Snug Harbor Arts Festival

[ http://www.statenislandarts.org/cultural/cultural.html ] where she sold out all her paintings, in a record few hours of the first day of the show .From this point on she began taking ’commissioned’ jobs from teachers and friends.Even graded classroom art was sold.

In 1970 Ave began signpainting and repainted the signs for the South Shore Little League [ http://www.tottenvillehistory.com/photo-album/photo34.html ] followed by commissions to paint signs for several stores in her hometown of Pleasant Plains and in Tottenville.

While working for Bregman and Co., a Wall St broker, in 1971 Ave did some paintings for the partners and began taking commissions from lawyers, doctors and politicians. Still she considered it all a side line and was not her main focus becoming more of a hobby.

In 1982 Ave attended the Staten Island Community College and began taking more art classes til a difficult pregnancy forced her to resign from school.She continued with her commissioned works.