Konstantsa Nikolaeva Koleva (born 19 January 1994) is a Bulgarian-born artist, designer and photographer. Her subjects include cityscapes, and the expressive and unusual use of colour from the position of a young author. She is greatly inspired by visual artists of the early twentieth century. 1. Biography: 1.1 Family and Origin Konstantsa was born in Haskovo, Bulgaria, to Antoaneta Stancheva (an actress and gallery manager) and Nikolai Kolev (a scenographer). Her father specialises in exteriors as well as the arrangement of conceptual events in museums and theatres, and her grandfather was the conductor of the Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra in Ruse. 1.2 Childhood and early creativity Konstantsa’s interest in drawing started from an early age. As early as 3 years old she developed attention to detail and composition in her drawings, as well as a strong aesthetic sensibility. She attended the only art nursery at this time in Bulgaria, which helped develop innovative approaches in her early education, establishing qualities such as: teamwork, responsibility, honesty, care, perseverance, and respect. She won awards in several regional and national drawing and photography competitions. From the age of 5, she began studying Italian, and developed an enduring fascination with Italian art and culture. 1.3 Education Encouraged by her parents she made the decision to study art at 13, and took her first drawing lessons with her father, studying rules of classic drawing, sketching, thematic composition, perspective, and colour theory. In 2008, she was offered places at the three top art schools in Bulgaria. She chose National School of Fine Arts Iliya Petrov in Sofia, graduating from Painting in 2013. From 2013 to 2016 she completed her undergraduate degree at London Metropolitan University in Furniture and Product Design. She was then accepted to do a master’s degree at La Sapienza Universita di Roma in 2016, but decided to study at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she graduated with an innovative master's in Design: Expanded Practice in 2019. 1.4 Work and professional experience Since moving to London in 2013, she has worked as a teacher at crafts and arts centres for children and as product designer for Ilio design studio. In the summer of 2018, she worked as a gallerist in three galleries in Barcelona with the Erasmus program. Although not a professional photographer, Konstantsa likes photographing nature, and she uses photography to look at the details of objects. Konstantsa Currently works at the British Museum. 1.5 Private life Konstantsa is a liberal young artist with a spiritual passion to travel to different continents and discover cultures, meet interesting people and artists, to provoke and develop her practice. She is inspired by the architecture of European and Asian cities, passionately painting urban landscapes with a variety of techniques and materials. She enjoys visiting places that make her feel artistically charged by life, energy and diversity in nature and culture, and this way creates her own “global home”. 1.6 Social activity When Konstantsa was 4, her mother founded a non-profit organisation; she grew up in an atmosphere of social projects in her hometown. Along with her art education she started building social reflexes to protect vulnerable groups in society: orphans, disadvantaged people, victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. She has been a volunteer for more than 10 years with the IKAR Association - Haskovo, and actively participates in social and civic campaigns, youth regional and international exchanges and initiatives. She is a designer of various brochures and posters in the social context about equality, human trafficking and more. Konstantsa’s sensitivity to social problems continues in London and she has followed up on various projects such as: “Exchange of Art Material for Artists” from Wales, the Caribbean and China as being a multicultural social project for the design of products symbolizing the equality of nations; a project in which she teaches drawing to single men, funded by the NHS. 1.7 Awards, nominations, participation - Second Prize from the National Contest for Painting for National Bulgarian Schools of Art by Ministry of Culture, 2012 - Participation with her own product in Salone Del Mobile, Milan in 2015 - Participation in the exhibition "Fit in a flat" - Goldsmiths, University of London in 2017. - Participation in the exhibition "Sometimes here, sometimes there" - Churchuliyev Gallery Dimitrovgrad in 2018 - Kite Studios Winter Show in 2018 1.8 Websites and social media konstanzza.com konstanzza.weebly.com Instagram: konstancakoleva; dblesided
ARTIST COLLECTIVE BM
‘It is true that two men can lift a bigger stone than one man. A group can build automobiles quicker and better than one man, and bread from a huge factory is cheaper and more uniform.’
_____John Steinbeck
The British Museum is a space that surrounds you
with narratives of history, culture and humanity from all over the world. You
are surrounded by us too, members of staff who are exceptional artists and
great minds. When we are not working our full-time jobs in the Museum, we
deserve to be seen (as such).
We wear a black, unobtrusive uniform, that makes differentiating ourselves as individuals and creatives difficult. Once we step out of our stifling shirts, loosen our neckties, we actively become artists, curators, designers, writers and photographers. This change isn’t just physical, we transcend from being indiscernible shadows, to beings brimming with the energy to create.
The aim of this collective, is to promote the artists that cannot afford to practice full-time, whose talents are fascinating, the very reason we admire each other and have united as a group. This is a significant way that we can create our story. We are artists from around the world, who come from different cultures with different ways of life, we find different ways expressing ourselves through art. But we have the same feelings and concerns, under the same roof, that of the British Museum.
Has working in the British Museum inspired or affected the way that you look at, or make art now? Let’s build a monument to our own talents, to stand amongst those that continue to inspire us all.
We wear a black, unobtrusive uniform, that makes differentiating ourselves as individuals and creatives difficult. Once we step out of our stifling shirts, loosen our neckties, we actively become artists, curators, designers, writers and photographers. This change isn’t just physical, we transcend from being indiscernible shadows, to beings brimming with the energy to create.
The aim of this collective, is to promote the artists that cannot afford to practice full-time, whose talents are fascinating, the very reason we admire each other and have united as a group. This is a significant way that we can create our story. We are artists from around the world, who come from different cultures with different ways of life, we find different ways expressing ourselves through art. But we have the same feelings and concerns, under the same roof, that of the British Museum.
Has working in the British Museum inspired or affected the way that you look at, or make art now? Let’s build a monument to our own talents, to stand amongst those that continue to inspire us all.