Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery is tremendously pleased to announce that Marina Smelik has been named as the Gallery’s new featured artist and he will now be promoted by the gallery for the next 14 days in the gallery’s Artist Showcase.
Marina Smelik is a California based artist who creates unique and intricate stone sculptures. Marina was selected as 1 of the top twelve finalists of the gallery’s recent Solo Art Exhibition Series #11. The placement in this competition qualified her art to be showcased in this feature.
Marina’s Artist Showcase feature will be promoted to over 350+ major news outlets, with inclusion on Google News & Bing News. In addition, the gallery will also be featuring and promoting his abstract art in the gallery’s various social media networks for further exposure.
Below are Marina’s Artist Biography, Artist Statement and 5 images that were submitted to this competition.
Artist Biography:
Marina Smelik grew up in the suburbs on the coast of the Pacific Ocean surrounded by forest and beautiful beaches. Close contact with nature affected her whole life and especially made its mark on her artistic style.
Love for drawing and painting led Marina to enroll in the School-Studio of the Fine Arts. It provided her with a strong foundation of academic knowledge of many different techniques and styles and set her off on the path of exploration. Marina has done Plain-Air pastel painting, watercolor and oil painting, silk screening, and mixed media. Over time, 3D art became most appealing to her so she focused on direct stone carving and ceramics.
The inspiration for Marina’s works always comes from nature and her favorite materials are stone and clay. Her works are handbuilt sculptures and pottery.
Since 2013, Marina has worked at Art Academia - European School of Arts as a 3D arts teacher. Her goal of teaching is to develop a love for creativity and make sure that every student feels satisfaction from the process of creation and the result.
Artist Statement:
There is nothing better and more powerful than nature. For creativity, I always draw inspiration from nature. My favorite material is stone. It can not compare to any other materials. When I'm working with stone, I'm listening to what it "tells" me. Every stone has its character. Sometimes the stone is a collaborator, and sometimes it is an opponent. Great results can be achieved only by compromising.
Working on the project, I'm trying to express my thoughts and enrich them with the purity of the material. Typical expectation of stone sculpture is to be monolithic, strong, with very few openings. However, it doesn't have to be this way. My works are always a combination of the plasticity of forms, movement, organic biomorphic shapes, "S" curves, a combination of positive and negative spaces.
Marina’s website is: www.marinasmelik.com
