“The purpose of art is to show Love in another form – the form of the illusory world“. – Dara

My name is Bozhidara Stoeva – Georgieva or just “Dara”

I was born in one of the most beautiful European countries, with more than 8000 years of history, which gave the world the Bulgarian alphabet (Cyrillic). Our alphabet is used in 23 countries, some belonging to Europe and others belonging to the territory of Asia. My 41 years, living in Bulgaria, have shaped my spirit, strength and resilience. Being a Bulgarian is pride and responsibility. I am proud of what I am! The next logical stage of my life continues in Austria, my favourite alpine country, so I make my dream of living in Tyrol come true. The music, the food, the melody of the language, all this fascinates me and makes me feel part of HER. With gratitude and love for Bulgaria here – in Austria I continue to study and create, here in the beautiful Alps, my second home in the last 6 years.

Guided by “accidentality”, I met my teacher Stefka Baldjieva, the woman who founded the first school of art therapy and subconscious painting in the world – finger painting. More than 1,500 students from all over the world graduated from her school and continued the tradition. I was the last student at this school. My dream is for her to open doors again.

In 2001, a collection of 50 paintings was evaluated by the largest auction in London – Sotheby’s. To this day, these paintings – bright representatives of our school – are presented and offered by a large London business organization. Over 5000 paintings were created by our teacher before she left our physical world in 2013.

With deep gratitude to the Woman, the artist, the teacher – “my second mother”, who gave birth to me for art – Stefka Baldjieva.

My life in art has two stages.

FIRST STAGE – the school for art therapy

I make oil paintings, painted with fingers and a spatula, and my style is non-traditional and PUNCTUAL painting, monochrome painting, impressionism. Guided by the power of emotions and the subconsciousness, my fingers begin to create the first smears, applying oil on the canvas. The stories come one after the other, without a prior attitude or expectation of what will be painted. The non-standard way of working with fingers remains a “trademark” for my work. The pictures are born without an attitude for a story line. The characteristic is that nothing and no one can recreate a similar picture again, these are not pictures, these are portraits of human souls … human feelings and experiences. Because words are too weak to describe the experience with them, the magic of colour and the play of forms can simply touch the individual and evoke forms of empathy.

SECOND STAGE – my creative integrity

Driven by the desire to try something new, my second stage met me with three men who left a permanent trace in my technique. these are: the Russian Igor Sakharov, the Nepalese John Magne Lisondra and the American Bob Ross. They “put” the brush in my hand, and it was really inspiring. I found the energy flowing concentrated through this little stick. Isn’t it great? Energy does not like to be limited by anything; it just flows.

Searching for freedom in my work, I discovered Fluid Art and went through the Kazan school, where I learned the first steps in free expression with liquid acrylic, the combination of three-dimensional painting with gilding and the art with epoxy resin.

Thus, freeing my mind, I allowed these incredible, bizarre pictures to happen.

About my painting „Silver River“

QUESTION AND ANSWER IN THE MOUNTAIN

When they ask why I live high in the mountains,
I don’t answer but laugh: so free is the soul.
The water carries the colour of the peach into the distance.
The earth is different here, the sky is different.

Poem by Li Bai

 

Education

• Timber shingle class at Forstliche Ausbildungsstätte Pichl | St. Barbara im Mürztal, Austria

• Molokova School of Design Big Flowers – Krasnodar, Russia

• Akbirova Art School for Contemporary Painting – Kazan, Russia

• School of ART Therapy – Stefka Baldzhieva – Sofia, Bulgaria

• Art and Web Design and prepress – Sofia, Bulgaria

• College of Apparel Design -Sofia, Bulgaria

• School for clothing construction – Etropole, Bulgaria

Exibitions

1st group exhibition – December 2013
“World Art Show 2013” which took place in Dharan, Nepal, with participants from all over the world.

1st solo exhibition – April 2017
“In the heart“, Etropole, Bulgaria

2nd group exhibition – June 1st – June 3rd, 2018
“With the scent of a rose“, organized by the UNESCO Club for Piraeus and the Islands with the assistance of the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria, under the auspices of the Presidency of Bulgaria in the EU and the Ministry of Agriculture, held in Athens from 1 to 3 June 2018 at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in Greece.

2nd solo exhibition – February – March 2018
“The Angel city“, Sofia, Bulgaria

3rd group exhibition – July 25th – August 25th, 2018
“European Art Awards – summer 2018” in Slovakia with participants from 12 European countries

The “Winter story” was awarded the 40th place out of over 1500 art paintings

3rd solo exhibition– September 19th – October 31st, 2018
“End of Summer“, curated by the owner of the Premier Hotel – 5* – Bansko, Bulgaria

4th group exhibition – July 17th – August 31st, 2019
“Before we get lost in the summer“, organized by the gallery – museum “Classics” in Sofia, Bulgaria with works by both old masters and contemporary artists from Bulgaria

Permanent exhibition – November 2018 – August 2020

Participant in Luxemburg Art – 2021

Participant in project ‘See the Big Picture’ – 2021

5th solo exhibition (online) “Оn Now” May 24th – July 7th, 2021
“On Now”

Online presence

email: daraart.eu@gmail.com
official sites:
www.bozhidarka-stoeva-georgieva.pixels.com
www.daraarteu.wixsite.com/mysite
online galleries:
https://draint.art/artist/daraart/gallery
www.saatchiart.com/daraarttreasures
www.etsy.com/shop/DaraArtTreasures
Social media:
Instagram: @darastoeva
Twitter: @BozhidaraStoeva
Facebook: @ArtGalleryDara