Mireya Samper
Artist, Curator & Director of Art Festival
- Mireya Samper and Fresh Winds in Iceland
Professional Information
Mireya
Samper
Artist, Curator & Director of Art Festival
Mireya Samper and Fresh Winds in Iceland
Education, Honors & Awards
Ecole d'Art de Luminy, Marseile, France
Masters Degree, Sculpture
(1993)
2018 Eyrarrósin 2018, cultural price for Fresh Winds International Art Biennale, Iceland.
2018 Muggur, Iceland.
2017 Icelandic Visual Arts Found.
2017 Myndstef, Iceland.
2017 Sasakawa,Iceland/Sweden.
2017 Muggur, Iceland.
2016 Grant, 6 months’ salaries, from the Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2016 Muggur, Iceland.
2015 The Icelandic Art Center, Iceland.
2015 Muggur, Iceland.
Sasakawa,Iceland/Sweden.
2014 Icelandic Visual Arts Found.
2014 Muggur, Iceland.
2013 Muggur, Iceland.
2009 Fusa technico, Abiko, Japan.
2002 Grant, 6 months salaries, from the Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2002 Cultural department of the town of Kópavogur, Iceland.
2001 Cultural department of Búnaðarbanki Íslands hf., Iceland.
2001 Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
2000 Fusa technico, Abiko, Japan.
2000 Ministry of Culture, Iceland.
1993 Scholarship from the city of Marseille, France.
Personal Information
Iceland
Kopavogur
Iceland Artists Association, Sculpture Association of Iceland, Contemporary Artists Association of Iceland, International Sculpture Network, Icelandic peace organisation of women MFÍK
Art, Films, Music, Knitting, Cooking, Travel
Mireya Samper (b. 1964) graduated with DNSEP (Diplome National Supérieur d’Expression Plastique) from Ecole d’Art de Luminy, Marseille 1993 after she studied at the Icelandic College of Art and Crafts. As a creator of installations her work supersedes the identity as sculptor or painter, working parallel in two and three dimensions for museums or in-situ. With ease she creates poetical, minimal works that are either ephemeral or carved in stone. Pulling together prima matera into concepts of time and space her oeuvres create connections between the natural elements of water, light, wind, stone and consciousness.
More than 25 years
Mireya Samper is an Artist and Curator and Director of Art Festival for Fresh Winds in Iceland. Mireya is a wonderful artist and has been running the International Arts Festival and Biennale Fresh Winds in Iceland since 2010. She curates the event, runs the day to day activities, provides showing artist with the services they require and handles all the finances, among numerous other tasks.
She holds the festival during the month of December and January, two of the most challenging months due to weather, and because they are also the most beautiful in her country (Christmas, Winter Wonderland). She also owns and runs a film production company, Vera-Liv films, which she has run since 2003.
Mireya says she was prompted to go into this profession because she wanted to bring more international art and artists to Iceland that was not driven by capital and fashion. She wanted to, and now does bring to each edition, about 50 artists from 20-25 different nationalities who come and show what they are doing with their art versus simply what's selling. She also wanted to give artists freedom and a chance to discover and explore new things and build a network. Additionally, she wanted to show-off Iceland during its most severe yet beautiful conditions.
Mireya does a lot of public speaking. She has been on TEDx Talk, Youtube in Tokyo Japan and lectures in Taiwan and China in art schools and museums and does numerous lectures mostly in Asia. She also hosts showings most recently in November and December in the United States ( Gulla Jonsdottir Atelier in La Pierre Hotel in West Hollywood, Los Angeles, California), Bali and China.
In the next few years her goals are to grow as an artist and be more visible and known as an artist around the world. She says the keys to her success have been her determination, hard work and self-belief. She is looking forward to networking and connecting with other like-minded professionals, and to gaining the recognition and credibility of being a member.
Paintings, Sculpture, Installations, Land Art , Contemporary Art, Film Making