About

Olga Teksheva

Olga Teksheva photo

Photo: Daria Paladino

The earliest memories of Olga Teksheva (b. 1973 in Moscow, Russia) are about drawing and about books on art history of her mother’s library. The paintings of Giorgione, of Titian, of Botticelli took her to a fairy-tale world which, as her mother explained, was called “Italy”. So, from the age of 4, a journey to Italy and a life of art become her biggest dreams.
In 1996 Olga graduates with MA in Art History at Lomonosov University of Moscow. For many years she would work as fashion journalist and tutor of Fashion History, Costume History and Art History. At the same time she is writing her PhD in art history and taking a course of Drawing and Painting at the private studio of Liudmila Ermolaeva, an important artist in Moscow artistic circles.
In 2007 she travels to Rome for the first time, and the beauty of the Eternal City makes true her childhood dreams about Italy. The happiness and the inspiration of that journey have changed her life. In 2008 she moves to Rome to study Fashion and Costume Design and takes a course in Haute Couture Embroidery.
While she studies, she realizes that being anchored to the wearability necessities, even in Haute Couture gowns, is far too limiting to all those surface design experiments she would like to try out. After 20 years of working in fashion she distances herself from that field and begins to create samples for artistic, experimental fabrics. At the beginning of 2015 those samples grow so large that become true mixed-media pieces, first on canvas and then also on paper.
A work of art, an art object, an art gesture, be it an installation or performance… This artist sees any art form as a strong presence in space and a strong presence in mind of who is interacting with it. Something that parts from a very attentive observation and study of the real world but takes us on a imaginary journey that changes the way we perceive the world and ourselves, that makes us feel the beauty of life and that makes us see ourselves as better human beings.
Olga creates art objects with precious, complicated, multi-layered surfaces. In one piece she mixes up acrylic painting, embroidery, draped distressed fabrics, 3D lace produced on water soluble base, and different found objects. The quality of lines and work with colours is very important, as that of the quality of production. Her attention to the artisanal aspects of every piece is something that comes to her art from the world of Haute Couture. The “Fast Art” is definitely not the sphere of her interest.
The research for every piece begins with sketches of natural objects and surfaces: the underwater world, the distressed leaves with their “skeletons” that resemble precious lace, the plants, the marks on the pebbles found at the beach by the artist’s daughter. Even though Olga works in series, every piece becomes a non-repeatable experience, full of unique details and connected to personal stories and memories of the artist.

EXHIBITIONS

  • 15 March – 15 June 2025 “Naturales Quaestiones”, group show curated by Barbara Pavan at CasermArcheologica (Sansepolcro, Tuscany, Italy)
  • 8 March – 12 April 2025 “Glass Ceiling”, group show curated by Laura Facchini for Windmill Art Power Plant women artists database
  • 2 November 2024 – 7 January 2025, Art Festival “Prima Materia”, curated by Vanessa Mingozzi and Andrea Di Nezio at Palazzo Sforza Cesarini (Genzano di Roma, Italy).
  • 6 September – 8 December 2024 “Roots, Metamorphosis, Mixing Up”, the Second International Biennial of Contemporary Fiber Art, curated by Barbara Pavan at the Embroidery and Textile Museum of Valtopina (Umbria, Italy).
  • 17 February – 17 March 2024, group show “Animals”, curated by Monnalisa Salvati at the gallery “La Dama di Capestrano” (Capestrano, Italy).
  • 9 December 2023 – 3 February 2024, group show “Squares”, curated by Simonetta Caruso and Letizia Perticarini at the gallery “La Dama di Capestrano” (Capestrano, Italy).
  • 28 October – 3 December 2023, group show “FORGETME(K)NOT”, curated by Barbara Pavan in collaboration with SCD Textile & Art Studio, at the Embroidery and Textile Museum of Valtopina (Umbria, Italy).
  • 20 August – 30 November 2023, group show “Natural Impressions”, curated by Rodrigo Ronzao for Museu Textile.
  • 5 August – 3 September 2023, “Denudare Feminas Vestis”, the finals of the 32nd International Textile Art competition “Miniartextil” (Como, Italy).
  • 12 March – 6 May 2023, group show “From Cajeta to Circe”, curated by Laura VdB Facchini for the WindMill Art Power Plant, at the Pinacoteca Comunale di Gaeta (Italy).
  • 13 – 15 January 2023, XS Project, curated by Barbara Pavan and Emanuela D’Amico for the “Arte Morbida” magazine at Bergamo Arte Fiera (Contemporary Art Fair, Bergamo, Italy).
  • 15 – 30 October 2022, group show “SANKTA”, curated by Velia Littera for the Biennale di Viterbo “Arte at the Borders of Bioethics” (creative director Laura Lucibello).
  • 9 – 22 October 2022, group show “Remanso: 10 Reflections on Fiber Art”, curated by Maria Constanza Villarreal and Vittorio Beltrami at the Ex Cartiera Latina (Rome, Italy).
  • 25 – 31 October 2021, group show “Surface and Depth”, curated by Olga Teksheva, Catherine Frampton and Felicity Griffin Clark for the Society for the Embroidered Work, in occasion of the Rome Art Week.
  • 3 September 2021 – 4 November 2022 International Triennial TEXTILE ART OF TODAY (Slovak Republic, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland). Nomination to Enviro Prize
  • 11 – 19 September 2021 Finalist of the 18th International Textile Art Competition “Trame a Corte: Ecohope” (Parma, Italy). The artwork “Dragonfly: Birth of Shape” wins the competition as the First Prize
  • 16 July – 5 September 2021 Contemporary art festival SyArt, curated by Rossella Savarese at Fondazione Sorrento (Sorrento, Italy)
  • 2 April – 2 May 2021, De Rerum Natura, group show curated by Barbara Pavan e Manuela Caucino at 36Mazal (Ticino, Switzerland) 
  • 7 – 21 November 2020 “REBELS”, group show curated by Barbara Pavan at SCD Art and Textile gallery (Perugia, Italy)
  • 24 September – 9 October 2020 “In Volo”, solo show curated by Velia Littera at Pavart Roma gallery (Rome, Italy)
  • Novembre 2019 “First International Contemporary Stitched Art Show”, by Society for Embroidered Work, Clerkenwell gallery (London, UK)
  • October 2020, “Homing” group show curated by Velia Littera at Pavart Roma gallery (Rome, Italy) as part of Rome Art Week 2019
  • Novembre 2019 “First International Contemporary Stitched Art Show” organized by Society for Embroidered Work, Clerkenwell gallery, London.
  • October 2019 “Homing”, group show curated by Velia Littera and Carlo Gori at Pavart Roma gallery.
  • April 2019, “Appearing / Disappearing” installation enters the collection of MAAM Museum (Rome)
  • March 2019 participates with two installations in Art Rooms Rome (Special Mention category), with “Enchanted Forest” installation as special project for Ford Italia
  • October 2018 Bi-personal show “Echoes of Land and Sea” with Felicity Griffin Clark at Counterweave Arts gallery (Rome), in official programme of the 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 Pamphili (Rome)

FASHION AND TEACHING

  • 2015 Contemporary Embroidery teacher, Haute Fashion Future Academy (Milan)
  • 2000 – 2008 Teacher of Fashion History, Costume History and Art History, National Institute of Design (Moscow)
  • 2005 – 2014 Journalist for Fashion and Contemporary Art department of “Collezioni” (Russian language edition), from 2008 their correspondent in Italy
  • 2000 – 2010 Journalist for Fashion and Contemporary Art department of “L’Officiel” (Russian language edition)

STUDIES

  • 2008 – 2011 Fashion and Theatre Design, Accademia di costume e di moda (Rome)
  • 2000 – 2006 Painting and Drawing Course, Liudmila Ermolaeva Studio (Moscow)
  • 1990 – 1996 Art History, Lomonosov State University (Moscow)

Contact

olga_teksheva@yahoo.com


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