Elena Nikolaeva

Elena was born and grew up in a big city in the middle of Russia.
She studied visual arts for five years at the Urals State University. Upon completion of her course, Elena received an appointment to teach painting at the same university - a position which she held for many years.

In her artistic career, Elena has participated in a number of exhibitions, both in Russia and abroad. She obtained an official membership of the State Artists Unity of Russia.

She became a full-time artist when she moved to New Zealand in 2000.
Now Elena lives near Mangawhai, where she is actively involved in the Northland arts community.

She runs regular workshops and classes of visual arts for adults in Auckland area and Northland.

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“As far back as I can remember, I was always playing with different materials and objects which my environment provided. Either an odd piece of firewood, or a rusty metal part from the machinery in my father's workshop, I loved to touch them, feel their texture, weight, smell.

I always like to share the knowledge I obtain, the passion I have.
Through all my adult life I have been teaching painting. In Russia at the university... here in NZ... running classes of acrylic, oils and watercolour painting for adults, for those who want to learn this very special language of colour, the language of magic illusion of the visual arts.

You can see here a result of my experiments - experiments with materials, colours and textures.

I try to reveal beauty of our wonderful world. Beauty is everywhere, but sometimes we are too busy to notice it. Or at other times we are locked within the limits of a conventional point of view. Let's break the borders, the routine and ordinary. Let's have a fresh look around, and we will be amazed by how different and be