Irina Maritskaya – Featured Artist
Irina Maritskaya has the type of talent that takes your breath away. Her work is like watching a fairytale come to life and is ready to be worn. Much of her jewelry is based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. She was inspired in particular by the characters: Ligeia, Annabelle Lee, Linor (Nevermore), Bernice and Morella.
We invite you to enjoy her work and visit her LiveMaster website and store if you are interested in her work – https://www.livemaster.ru/stasirra .
Here is a bit of background on her pieces:
I am constantly in a creative search and master a variety of techniques and techniques, looking for rare and beautiful materials. I accept orders selectively.The first necklace was Nevermore. I made it by accident: I caught sight of a bird’s skull, which my friend gave me, she found it in the forest while walking with the dogs and said: “This thing will definitely come in handy for Irina!” )))) And my husband glued the skull to the stone and got an interesting cabochon. I wanted to try what it would be like to combine this skull and porcelain face. And Nevermore came to mind. I really love the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and it turned out that he has many inspiring characters that can be done with necklaces with faces. Then it was already easy for me to work, the images themselves appeared in my head. For example, the Virginia necklace was made by analogy with the only portrait of Poe’s wife, and I picked a similar face. I also used additional materials that help to reveal the idea: there is a fly in the epoxy; an antique figurine without a head and a figurine of a cupid also without a head)))); many skulls – you yourself saw; in one necklace, I embroidered a girl’s mask on a real mirror, in two necklaces I added artificial flowers – like a funeral wreath. Edgar Allan Poe wrote short stories about a deceased girlfriend, and my work also followed this path: I concluded a lot of symbolism in each necklace, although it cannot be seen without explanation, but in any case, the style of decadence and post-mortem is visible. Why?))) By the way, the face of each girl is covered with a veil – this is because they are already in another world.I called the collection “Edgar’s girls”, now it consists of 11 necklaces, and I want to make 3 more panels, and after that I can call it completely finished. Although I am very sad to part with the work of Edgar Poe, I have already squeezed out almost everything I could … And now I need another writer! )))
She has participated in the following exhibitions: Farbs of the Soul (Minsk), Hat Vernissage (Minsk), Golden Hands of Masters (Kiev), Magic Box (Moscow), Mirror of the Soul (Moscow).