About ME

eva graf. artist

eva graf-artist

Biography

The internationally acclaimed artist Eva Graf was born and grew up in Southern Germany. From an early age she felt her artistic calling and in her mid-twenties she started creating unique designs of furniture, jewelry, sculptures and paintings.

Nature was always an important and integral part of her upbringing. Following     in the footsteps of her hunting father she trailed through the forests of her native Germany noticing and admiring the inexhaustible beauty of nature. Later in life she embarked on a brave and adventurous journey into the South American wilderness in Venezuela and Brazil (alone just with a guide). That helped to form and shape her artistic expression, as to this date Eva draws not only inspiration,  but also outsources her materials from nature and her surroundings.

In 2004 she graduated from SAE Institute in Munich, Germany, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Multi Media Design. She continued with her education at   the School of Fine Arts “Städelschule” in Frankfurt, Germany, and completed it in 2010 with a diploma and afterwards studied at “Glassell School of Art”, in Houston, Texas, USA.

Having started as a freelance artist, Eva soon established herself as a true professional with the opening of her first art studio in Wiesbaden, Germany.

From 2014 onwards she was working and exhibiting in her own art centre in     Silver Street Studios, in Houston, Texas. The studios (located in Cultural District in downtown Houston) are the largest concentration of visual fine artists in Texas.

Eva’s move to Bahrain in 2016 marked a new chapter in her creative career with the opening of her Art & Design Gallery + Studio in Al Hilal Gardens, where she held several Open Studio exhibitions presenting her new series of “mini-sculptures”, which she created from natural materials unique to this island.

In 2017 she moved to Astana, Kazakhstan, where she continued to create art works which were displayed in various exhibitions. Her art pieces were also selected as, eye-catchers’ for the lobby of the newly opened Sheraton hotel Astana.

In 2020 Eva moved back to Germany. She is now located in Munich.

Eva’s exhibition list and geographical footprint is really impressive. Apart from different cities in her native Germany, she participated in various juried group and solo exhibitions in USA (NYC, New York; Houston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana) and held numerous solo exhibitions in Manama, Bahrain and Astana, Kazakhstan.

"I particularly like creating sculptures and assemblages, as it is my own unique way of breathing new life into a piece of everyday-life, thus transforming it into an unique article and an object of art. "

Eva Graf

My profound love of nature is my main source of inspiration and my main driving force. Any object, discarded by Mother Nature, no matter how ordinary, imperfect or mundane, can be transformed into a piece of art.

I particularly like creating sculptures and assemblages, as it is my own unique way of breathing new life into a piece of everyday-life, thus transforming it into an unique article and an object of art.

It gives me an opportunity to show my viewer that beauty can be found everywhere.
A piece of ancient pealing tree-bark charged with centuries of history…
A floating feather that has escaped a bird’s wing…
A handful of seeds sown on a wimp of a gust of wind…
A cluster of pebbles smothered by multitude of years that trotted upon them…

Generosity and beauty of nature are inexhaustible. Hence the variety of my materials.

I also love transforming walls and spaces (no matter how big or small) into something novel and original.
Any challenge is an opportunity to expand my horizons and grow as an artist.

And I always seize it with both hands. Perhaps that is why my creative path is so fluid as my art is always changing, submerging into my current surroundings and assuming new forms.

To live is to see, to notice, to capture and to share. I speak through my art or rather my art speaks for me.

Eva.

Vita

CURICULUM VITAE

EDUCATION

2014 Glassell School of Art / MFAH, Houston, Texas, USA
2010 School of Fine Arts, Städelschule, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
2004 SAE Institute, Degree in Design, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

SELECTED JURIED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2016
Conception Contemporary Art Show, New York City, New York, USA
Juror: Rachel Vossen, Art Director, Conception Events, New York City

20th Annual Art on the Avenue CDC, Winter Street Studios, Houston, Texas, USA, Juror: Jennie Ash

2015
32th Exhibition of the Visual Arts Alliance, Williams Tower Gallery Houston, Juror: Sally Sprout

Texas Art 2015 of the Assistance League, Williams Tower Gallery Houston
Juror: Dean Sobel

7th Invitational Exhibition of the Visual Arts Alliance, Avis Frank Gallery, Houston, Juror: David Hardegger

2014
The Big Show 2014 of Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Juror: Erin Elder, Santa Fe, Minnesota

2014 20” x 20” x 20” A national Compact Competition & Exhibit of LSU Gallery
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Juror: Shana Barefoot, Atlanta, Georgia,

GULF COAST 2014 of the Center for the Arts, Rockport, Tx
Juror: Lee Deigaard, New Orleans, LA

Texas Art 2014 of Assistance League, Williams Tower Gallery, Houston
Juror: Rock Hushka, Tacoma, Washington, USA

18th Annual Art on the Avenue CDC, Winter Street Studios, Houston
Juror: Christine West, Lawndale Art Center, Houston

Summer Series, Silver Street Studios, Houston
Juror: Gordon Phillipson

The Women’s Fund for Health Education and Resiliency Exhibition,
Silver Street Studios, Houston, Juror: Steven Evans

2011
Ans Licht gebracht at Goldschmiede Esser Föhre Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

Days of respect at the 6. Kulturfestival of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
Jury: Interkulturelle Bühne e.V.

2010
Lokale Helden 4, “DIE” Designer Show, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

Days of respect at the 5. Kulturfestival of Frankfurt, Frankfurt/Main
Jury: Interkulturelle Bühne e.V.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019
THE POWER OF LOVE, TŚE Gallery, Astana, Kazakhstan

2017
NATURAL ART of BAHRAIN, words Gallery, Jannusan, Bahrain
OPEN ART STUDIO & GALLERY, Art & Design Eva Graf, AL Hilal Gardens, Jannusan, Bahrain

2011
Natur an sich, Gallery at the Clinic an der Ringkirche Drs. Mielke & Benz & Sitta, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

Wisperfest at Weingut Laquai, Lorch am Rhein, Hessen, Germany

Natur mal Anders, Gallery Weinländer, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

2010
Farbenspiele des Lebens, Gallery Anderswo, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

That’s me, at Studio im Rheingauviertel, Kunstobjekte Eva Graf, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

Kuenstlich und natuerlich, at Gallery of Clinic Drs. Lucas & Mietze, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

Natur pur, Robert-Struppmann-Museum, Lorch am Rhein, Hessen, Germany

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ARTS ORGANISATIONS

Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, Texas, USA
ART CREW Houston, Houston, Texas, USA

DISTINCTIONS

2014 Invited as Juror and Advisor of German Art Studentsvof the Clemens Highschool Sugar Land, Texas, USA
2013 Co-founded ART CREW Houston, Houston, Texas, USA
2013 Founded ART & DESIGN Eva Graf, Missouri City, Texas, USA
2010 Founded KUNSTOBJEKTE Eva Graf, Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany

COOPERATING GALLERIES

Akkas gallery, Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain
Avis Frank, Houston, Texas, USA
Callan Contemporary, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
TŚE gallery, Astana, Republik of Kazakhstan

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Born 1972 in Bopfingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
Lives and works in München, Germany

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" Generosity and beauty of nature are inexhaustible."

eva graf. artist