Biography
I was born in Moscow (Russian Federation) in 1973, and was sure to become an artist since the age of three! After graduating in Art History at Moscow State University, I have started collaboration as a fashion journalist for “L’Officiel” and “Collezioni” and teaching at the National Institute of Design (Moscow). In 2000 I have enrolled at the 6-year course of drawing and painting at Studio Ludmila Ermolaeva. In 2008 there came a moment to move to Rome, to study at Accademia di costume e di moda, showing my graduate collection at Alta Roma Fashion Week (2011). After a few fashion collaborations for art textiles, I have begun full immersion in contemporary art, arriving at my first solo show at Villa Pamphili in Rome in 2017 and participating for the first time in Rome Art Week in 2018.
In 2019 my project was selected in category “Special Mention” for the contemporary art fair
Art Rooms Rome (special project for Ford Italia). Fiber installation “Appearing / Disappearing” presented that year at Art Rooms Rome is now in the collection of the
MAAM museum in Rome. My works are in private collections in the United States, Russia, Italy and Switzerland.
In 2020 comes my second solo show at the Pavart Roma art gallery of Velia Littera.
In 2021 two of my artworks are exhibited at the SyArt Festival at Fondazione Sorrento, while “Dreamcatcher: Wabi V” wall sculpture is selected for the Textile Art of Today
Triennial (Slovak Republic, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland). The same year “Dragonfly: Birth of Shape” mural sculpture wins the First Prize of the international textile art competition “Trame a Corte” (Italy).
In October 2021 in occasion of the Rome Art Week I have debuted with my first curatorial project for the Society for Embroidered Work: the show “Surface and Depth” of 69
international contemporary embroidery artists at Palazzo Velli (co-curators Catherine
Frampton and Felicity Griffin Clark).
My studio is in Rome, here all of the wall sculptures, textile and fiber installations, and works on paper are produced. An “artefact ” is what interests me most. An art object made of layers, mixing up textile collage, hand embroidery, crocheted and hand-weaved
elements. An object that is interactive, inviting to touch, able to make a spectator feel a curious child again and to change the space around it like a fairy-tale for grown-ups. I always work in series: every new one starts with graphic research of natural objects, fixing natural “marks” that later become patterns in hand embroidery
Curriculum
Olga Teksheva is textile artist with studio in Rome, specializing in wall sculptures, textile and fiber installations, and works on paper in mixed media.
Born in energic, live-this-moment Moscow and based in Rome, “the Eternal City”, being of mixed origins (6 ethnics and 4 religions are present in her family) and professional background (graduating in Art History, then Painting and Drawing, then Fashion and Costume Design), the artist is used to “navigate” through various realities and cultures.
An “artifact” is what interests her most. A precious art object made of layers, mixing up textile collage, hand embroidery, crocheted and hand-weaved elements. An object that is often interactive, inviting to touch, provoking emotions, able to make a spectator feel a curious child again. An object created to change the space around it, a fairy-tale for grown-ups.
The artist always works in series. Every new series starts with graphic research of natural objects, carefully fixing natural “marks” that later become patterns in hand embroidery (Olga never uses sewing machine; coming from haute couture experience, she always works by hand).
Olga Teksheva è artista che lavora con i tessili e con le fibre, con due indirizzi principali: le sculture da parete e le installazioni (di solito un misto fra tessili e fibre). Lavora anche su carta in tecniche miste.
Nata a energica Mosca in cui si vive di presente e con lo studio a Roma, “La Città Eterna”, essendo di origini miste (nella sua famiglia sono presenti 6 etnie e 4 religioni diverse) e anche di formazione mista (si è laureata in Storia dell’Arte, poi in Disegno e Pittura, poi come stilista e theatre designer), Olga è abituata a navigare attraverso varie realtà culturali.
L’artista è interessata, soprattutto, a creare un “artefatto”. Un’opera d’arte preziosa, composta dagli strati di tessili, ricamo a mano, i dettagli fatti all’uncinetto oppure di tessitura a mano. Un’opera d’arte che provoca emozioni, invita a interagire, al contatto tattile, capace di risvegliare in una persona matura un bambino curioso. Un oggetto creato per cambiare lo spazio intorno a esso in una dimensione magica, una favola per i grandi.
L’artista lavora sempre in serie. Ognuna inizia con la ricerca grafica, gli studi degli oggetti della natura per trovare i “marks”, i segni che poi diventano punti di ricamo a mano (Olga non usa mai la macchina da cucire, fedele alla sua provenienza dal mondo di alta moda).
BRIEF CV / BREVE CV
EXHIBITIONS
15 – 30 October 2022 “SANKTA”, a group show curated by Velia Littera for Biennale di Viterbo “Arte ai confini di bioetica” (creative director Laura Lucibello)
9 – 22 October 2022 “Remanso: 10 Reflections on Fiber Art”, a group show curated by Maria Constanza Villarreal with collaboration of Vittorio Beltrami at Ex Cartiera Latina (Rome)
25 – 31 October 2021 (Rome Art Week), group show “Surface and Depth” of Society for Embroidered Work, curated by Olga Teksheva, Felicity Griffin Clark and Cat Frampton, at Palazzo Velli Expo (Rome), part of the official programme of the Rome Art Week
3 September 2021 – 4 November 2022 a series of exhibition events of the Triennial “Textile Art of Today” (Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland). Nomination to Enviro Award
11 – 19 September 2021, finalist of the 18th International Fiber Art Contest “Ecohope: Trame a Corte 2021”, Rocca di Sala Braganza, Italy. Wins the competition with the First Prize.
16 July – 5 September 2021, international group show “SyArt Festival: gli incontri dell’arte contemporanea”, curated by Rossella Savarese, Sorrento, Italy
2 April – 2 May 2021, group show “De Rerum Natura” curated by Barbara Pavan at 36 Mazal gallery (Ticino, Switzerland)
March – May 2021, virtual group show “L’Essenziale è Invisibile” (“The Essential is Invisible”) curated by Lekoru Project (Milan)
7 – 21 November 2020, group show “Rebels: Contemporary Tapestries for Rebellious Walls”, curated by Barbara Pavan at SCD Textile and Art Studio (Perugia)
24 Settember – 9 October 2020, solo show “In Volo”, curated by Velia Littera at Pavart Roma gallery (Rome)
November 2019, group show “International Contemporary Stitched Art Show” by Society for Embroidered Work at Clerkenwell gallery (London)
October 2019, group show “Homing”, curated by Velia Littera at Pavart Roma gallery
April 2019, “Appearing / Disappearing” installation enters in collection of MAAM Museum (Rome)
March 2019, participates with two installations in Art Rooms Rome (Special Mention category), one of them as a special project for Ford Italia
October 2018, two-artists show “Echoes of Land and Sea” with Felicity Griffin Clark at Counterweave Arts gallery (Rome), in official programme of Rome Art Week
November 2017, group show “Flusso di linfa”, curated by Velia Littera at Pavart Roma gallery
June 2017, solo show “Once Upon a Time There Was a Fish Sitting on a Tree”, Villa Pamphilj (Rome)
TEACHING ACTIVITIES / ATTIVITÀ DOCENTE
2015 Contemporary Embroidery teacher (docente di ricamo contemporaneo), Haute Fashion Future Academy (Milan)
2000 – 2008 Teacher of Fashion History, Costume History and Art History (docente di Storia della moda, Storia del costume e Storia dell’arte), National Institute of Design (Moscow)
STUDIES / FORMAZIONE
2008 – 2011 Fashion and Costume Design, Accademia di costume e di moda (Rome)
2000 – 2006 Painting and Drawing Course (Corso pratico di disegno e pittura), Liudmila Ermolaeva Studio (Moscow)
1990 – 1996 Art History (Storia dell’arte) at Lomonosov Moscow State University
Installation “Hidden Treasures”
2021/2022 – measurements – techniques, materials: crocheted fishing thread and metal wire
Installation “Appearing / Disappearing
2019 – collection MAAM (Museo dell’altro e dell’altrove), Rome – measurements: site-specific, height 400 cm – techniques, materials: crocheted fishing thread
Diptych “Realm on Rocks”
Fauno the Wolf, 63/78 x 122/140 x 10 cm – 2021 – techniques and materials: felt base, hand embroidery on textile collage, eco-leather, melted chiffon, silk, metallized lace, found objects, wooden reinforcement structure, hand weaving on metal-wire frame, acrylic
Realm on Rocks: Janus
2022 – Measurements: 75 x 78 x 10 cm – techniques and materials: felt base, wooden reinforcement structure, hand embroidery on textile collage (technical fabrics, silk, brocade, eco-leather, metallized lace), hand-made lace of recycled threads
Dragonfly: Birth of Shape
year: 2019/2020 – 120 x 170 x 5 cm – techniques and materials: hand weaving with natural and synthetic fibers and fabrics, beading, hand embroidery on textile collage
