Olena Nebuchadnezzar

"It is my goal to show human feelings and different stages of life through different seasons in nature, drawing the viewer's attention to the fragile, ever-changing beauty of nature around us and commemorating it. "

The excitement of birth, joy of living, sadness of decline and loss, and hope for rebirth are all reflected in nature's cycles. Olena Nebuchadnezzar wants the viewers of her artwork to feel a connection to the natural world and its fundamental forces such as birth, spirit, and love. She hopes her work helps viewers perceive that they are a part of nature's continuously resurrecting beauty.

Using hand-dyed and printed cottons and silks, Nebuchadnezzar starts each fiber landscape by layering a background that has a rather abstract or impressionistic feeling. She adds more details for the middle ground; then, she creates the foreground using stitching, usually in a realistic style, focusing on details such as the intricate lace of a skeletonized leaf, or a fascinating pattern of snakeskin.

Olena Nebuchadnezzar earned her BFA degree at Boychuk Art and Design Institute in Kiev, Ukraine, with an emphasis in book illustration and advertising design. She always loved textiles, and eventually became a self-taught fiber artist. She was born and raised in Europe and is also an extensive traveler; she is therefore deeply influenced by different cultures. She spends many hours outdoors studying light, colors, patterns, and structures in nature.