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"Human Light" Prints and Drawings - an Exhibition at the ADMIN Gallery
of the St Louis Community College at Florissant Valley
- Dec 2010/ Febr 2011
Thanks to Jim Gormley and Janice Nesser-Chu for the invitation! And I will
always remember the big help of my good friend - Mr Bill Plumpe!
In 2004, when I had to decide to travel to the USA as a legal immigrant or
to stay in my native Bulgaria, I went through all my artworks made till that
moment.
I had worked as an Artist and Art Teacher ever since I graduated with MFA
from the National Art Academy in Sofia and I wanted to continue. I had
created artworks ever since I remember. The opportunity to see the way
life is in the enormously more powerful economy of the USA, was something
hard to miss. I knew the opportunities for artists there are much more then
in Bulgaria. And my decision was taken with the intend to come back to
Bulgaria one day, more experienced and with connections with the big world
across the ocean. In that year I had to say "No!" to the fear of the unknown
and to trust the Creator, contributing to his plan. I didn't know that I will
become part of the American People and will meet some of the best friends
in my life -within just 6 years.
Art has no nationality and it belongs to all nations. It is welcome everywhere.
For me, as with most kids, it started with Drawing - simple pen or pencil
drawing. I could spend hours drawing. Later at the Art schools one of our
model studies was taking up to 30 hours or more. People's faces always
have been fascinating for me.
When I was 12 years old my parents took me to an art teacher. We are
good friends now after 28 years of knowing each other and working
together. His name is Mincho Panayotov - in his studio I learned the
printmaking process in addition to my classes at the High School of Fine
Arts and the studies at the Academy in Sofia. One of his gifts for me was
an album with Japanese prints reproductions. From his library I borrowed a
book with Kete Kolwitz artworks, one of the first women artists I knew. His
slides and books were showing us, his students, artists like Albrecht Durer,
Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Van Gogh, Degas, Jules Pascin,
George Papazov and so many more. The way he was teaching was
emotional and human.
In America I saw this emotional humanness everywhere - at work, on the
streets, in the galleries. I was blessed with a job at the St Louis Art
Museum. And the learning continued. Meeting people and seeing high class
Art in the galleries all day and working as an artist in my time off, was a
true blessing.
This exhibition shows new and old drawings and prints with an emphasis on
human faces and their expressions. I will never forget the words -
"You understand how much you love somebody when you start seeing his
face and talking to it, even when the person is missing..."
I believe the roots of my fascination with faces are in the long Christian
Tradition of depicting the sacred in icons. This tradition is still alive and now
I am dreaming of becoming an Artist contributing to this. It is possible
everywhere, but most of all, here, in Eastern Europe, where I returned.
of the St Louis Community College at Florissant Valley
- Dec 2010/ Febr 2011
Thanks to Jim Gormley and Janice Nesser-Chu for the invitation! And I will
always remember the big help of my good friend - Mr Bill Plumpe!
In 2004, when I had to decide to travel to the USA as a legal immigrant or
to stay in my native Bulgaria, I went through all my artworks made till that
moment.
I had worked as an Artist and Art Teacher ever since I graduated with MFA
from the National Art Academy in Sofia and I wanted to continue. I had
created artworks ever since I remember. The opportunity to see the way
life is in the enormously more powerful economy of the USA, was something
hard to miss. I knew the opportunities for artists there are much more then
in Bulgaria. And my decision was taken with the intend to come back to
Bulgaria one day, more experienced and with connections with the big world
across the ocean. In that year I had to say "No!" to the fear of the unknown
and to trust the Creator, contributing to his plan. I didn't know that I will
become part of the American People and will meet some of the best friends
in my life -within just 6 years.
Art has no nationality and it belongs to all nations. It is welcome everywhere.
For me, as with most kids, it started with Drawing - simple pen or pencil
drawing. I could spend hours drawing. Later at the Art schools one of our
model studies was taking up to 30 hours or more. People's faces always
have been fascinating for me.
When I was 12 years old my parents took me to an art teacher. We are
good friends now after 28 years of knowing each other and working
together. His name is Mincho Panayotov - in his studio I learned the
printmaking process in addition to my classes at the High School of Fine
Arts and the studies at the Academy in Sofia. One of his gifts for me was
an album with Japanese prints reproductions. From his library I borrowed a
book with Kete Kolwitz artworks, one of the first women artists I knew. His
slides and books were showing us, his students, artists like Albrecht Durer,
Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Van Gogh, Degas, Jules Pascin,
George Papazov and so many more. The way he was teaching was
emotional and human.
In America I saw this emotional humanness everywhere - at work, on the
streets, in the galleries. I was blessed with a job at the St Louis Art
Museum. And the learning continued. Meeting people and seeing high class
Art in the galleries all day and working as an artist in my time off, was a
true blessing.
This exhibition shows new and old drawings and prints with an emphasis on
human faces and their expressions. I will never forget the words -
"You understand how much you love somebody when you start seeing his
face and talking to it, even when the person is missing..."
I believe the roots of my fascination with faces are in the long Christian
Tradition of depicting the sacred in icons. This tradition is still alive and now
I am dreaming of becoming an Artist contributing to this. It is possible
everywhere, but most of all, here, in Eastern Europe, where I returned.
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