Mariya Apostolova
Looking through the processes of transformation and transmutation, my work is ultimately seeking the emergence of a new meaning. The experience of creative mediation increases my awareness of self and world, resulting into a deeper appreciation of the dynamic equilibrium between the environment and the self. An inquiry I aspire to develop in the creation of healing spaces.
Mariya is an artist with skills in visual, traditional, and performance arts who has been specializing in film production design. Over the last five years, she has been developing a studio practice in sculptural work, with clay as her primary material. In addition to clay, she integrates steel, paper, written word, found materials, projection, and her own body. In her practice, Mariya questions and explores the boundaries between form, experience, and environment.
Her work is a visceral dance between nature and the built environment, living in the rupture of form and the spiral that binds together the past and present, the individual and the collective, the part and the whole. Mariya’s research extracts meaning from the science of the body, nature, motherhood, as well as her experience of displacement as an immigrant. Rather than seeking definitive resolutions, her process is focused on observing the dynamic relationships that emerge in moments of contact, break, and imprint. Formal studies seek the tension and vulnerability within impacts that unfold in a circular time, where the conception of boundaries is constantly negotiated.
Growing up in Bulgaria, Mariya spends her summers finding solace in the warm meadows of wildflowers, which established her deep relationship with nature. This connection blossoms into a passion for ceramics, discovered an ocean away from home. The concept of "embodied earth" lies at the core of Mariya’s work. She merges the visceral sensitivity of clay with the human body, creating a profound tangible and intangible connection between the material world and personal experience. Displacement and uprooting have forced Mariya’s creative process into an intense self-inquiry, investigating her positionality within the physical and psychological environments.
For Mariya, the tactile experience of working with clay evokes a deep connection to the earth. Perhaps, this process is an extension of the ancient rituals of her culture, where the earth is revered not only as a resource but as a source of life, memory, and transformation. The contrast of materials—clay, steel, paper, and found objects—reflects the complexities of human experience: permanence and impermanence, strength and fragility. The projection and inclusion of her body in the work extend her inquiry into presence, transformation, and vulnerability.
Mariya’s engagement with her communities plays an integral role in her artistic journey. In addition to her studio practice and work in film, she hosts literature readings, leads art workshops, as well as a monthly program Tvorilnitsa, that introduces children and their parents to traditional arts and crafts. This role strengthens her connection to both the broader community and her cultural heritage. Through teaching and her artistic engagement at Ballardworks Artist Studios, Mariya continues to explore how art cultivates a space for dialogue, personal transformation and interconnection.
Before Mariya returns to school to pursue her degree in studio arts, she works as a film production designer and is actively involved in the art direction for cultural events with the Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center in Seattle. She graduates from the University of Washington School of Art and Design with a concentration in Ceramics and Sculpture and a Minor in Urban Ecological Design.
Exhibitions
2023 You Are Not Alone, Living Artists Collective,
2021 ALL Planet Earth, Contemporary Art Gallery Online Art Competition and Exhibition
2020 Landscapes, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, Online Art Competition, Special Recognition for “Perpetually elemental”
2020 Earth, Zest Hall, Online Exhibition
2020 Checklist, Online Solo Senior Thesis Exhibition
https://www.filmabee.com/checklist
2020 A World Becoming With, BA Graduation Exhibition
https://uwbaartexhibition.com/mariya-apostolova/
2019 CoCa – Seattle, Motherland: March 7 - April 20 – group exhibition
2018 North Seattle College Group Show – Group Exhibition
2018 What's your story? - Emergence – ceramic, North Seattle College, Annex space, Solo Exhibit
2018 Singing Chestnut – ceramic, North Seattle College, Annex Space, Solo Exhibit
Bibliography
2019 Inhuman – Five portraits of Rome, poetry. Skin and Plastic, installation art
2019 Licton Springs Review, Seattle. Self-undoing, ceramic figure
2018 Licton Springs Review, Seattle. Rainaways, ceramic
Awards
2019 – 2020 Doris Totten Chase Endowed Scholarship
2019 - Writing in Rome Residency Scholarship
Education
2020 BA with 3-Dimensional Forum Concentration, University of Washington Seattle
2018 North Seattle Community College, Seattle WA
2016 - 2018 Antioch University, Seattle WA
2006 Red Rocks Community College, Golden CO