smileyvera

Vera Smiley graduated from the Art University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Her international life experiences accompanied her classic art school teaching. As any artist she followed the path of trial, achievements and interesting experiences. She dabbled in batik, oil painting and graphic design, and she is very successful in those technics. Then she discovered that her interest was attracted to the 3 dimensional expressions and Vera believes that it gives her a feeling of the full manifestation of herself in the art.

Good fortune allowed Vera to travel extensively and live in different regions of the world: North and South America, Europe and Eurasia, where she experienced different cultures and people. At that time she received multiple master classes in drawing and in ceramic technics, which expanded her interest in art expression. This difference of artistic traditions and schools gave her a broader approach to her work.

 Vera Smiley’s art causes one to stop and take a closer look. Each image of Vera’s art is a different story; not invented, but lived, sensitive and very personal. The main theme of the sculpture has been and remains the human figure. All her stories – Hope, Despair, Motherhood, Messenger and others, are expressive and sensual in terms of the image of the women figure, faces and hands. This gives her an opportunity for experimentation and emotional expression in her sculptures.

Written By:
Ardak Yusupova,
Ph.D. in History of Arts,
Dean of Academy of Art, Astana, Kazakhstan.