NANA BAGDAVADZE
www.nanabagdavadze.com
Biography
As an artist I trust the viewers and create
my paintings so that they are available to them.
-Nana Bagdavadze
Nana Bagdavadze is acknowledged as one of the remarkable
artists of her generation. Her works
are on display in numerous private collections and public domains in Europe
and the United States.
Her artistic
talent was uncovered in early childhood. Ms. Bagdavadze was strongly
encouraged by her parents to study art, music, languages, world literature
and history, and to travel to major exhibits and museums.
A native of Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, Ms. Bagdavadze
earned her Master’s Degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Tbilisi, one of
the three major art schools in the former Soviet Union, where she took the
Summer Studies in Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
Upon her graduation
with high honors in 1984, she accepted the offer to join the faculty as
Professor of Painting.
Extraordinary
circumstances brought Ms. Bagdavadze to the United States. In 1988, she became the donor to her
sister, who was diagnosed with leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant at
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington. Not only the treatment saved her sister's
life but also started a new and unexpected life for her.
Deeply
affected by this experience, Ms. Bagdavadze dedicated to her sister series of
paintings, which were featured in one-person show
at the University of Washington and a show at the
Mia Gallery. These exhibitions
launched her professional and personal evolution in this country.
Nana
is well known portrait artist and teacher and has been commissioned all
over US and Europe by many prominent people. Her artistic career
includes a wide variety of solo and group shows and mural paintings. In
2003 Nana was invited to show her work at the Biennale in Florence,
Italy, where she represented the United States. Her works are a part of
permanent collections in the University of Kansas, the Swedish Hospital
Cancer Institute in Seattle, the Government Center Building in Salem,
Oregon,
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the National
Institute of Municipal Law Officers in Washington DC and private
collections.
Nana
has been teaching at the Frye Art Museum, Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle
Art Museum, Pratt Fine Arts Center, and the Seattle’s Women’s
University Club, Kirkland Art Center, University of Washington
Experimental College and privately in Washington DC.
Ms. Bagdavadze was
granted permanent residency in the category of “Outstanding Artist of
Extraordinary Abilities”, and became a US citizen in 1999.
Nana works and resides in Washington DC with her husband Sandro, a space physicist.
They have three sons: Levan, Nicholas and David.
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