ABOUT THE ARTIST
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Nava Grunfeld was born in Sweden and spent her childhood years in Israel. She came to New York City at the age of ten and later began her art training in Manhattan where she attended the High School of Art and Design. This was followed by a degree in graphic design from the Fashion Institute of Technology also in New York City. After a brief career as a graphic designer, she moved to Philadelphia to attend the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where she devoted herself to drawing and painting from the figure. There she received her BFA degree and won numerous awards. In 1981 after relocating to Western Massachusetts she received her master of arts degree from Smith College.
Nava Grunfeld is best known for her over-sized, color saturated, watercolor paintings. Her academic training combined with her experience as a graphic designer resulted in a unique approach to painting the still life. "I see the objects I paint as merely abstract shapes of pattern and color that just happen to be fruit, flowers and everyday still life objects". Her work is influenced by her travels and her love of color and pattern.
Her paintings have been exhibited in the United States and abroad including several galleries in Massachusetts; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Washington DC; Coconut Grove, Florida and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
She has been featured on the covers of several national art publications. Feature articles about her art have included in The Artist's Magazine, July, 2010; Link to Article PDF Watercolor Artist Magazine, summer, 2008; The Artist's Magazine, August 2005; The Artful Mind, Fall, 2008 and the book Splash 8: The Best in Watercolor published by North Light Books. Links to Publications
In 2008 Hasbro featured her paintings in their Nava Grunfeld, Signature Series of jigsaw puzzles. Her book LIT FROM WITHIN: Saturated Watercolors was recently published and is available online. Link to Nava's book page
She lives and works in New England and continues to exhibit her paintings and teach her saturated watercolor workshops in the United States and abroad. Link to Watercolor Workshops - To contact the artist click here.
"Working on a grand scale in watercolor has allowed me to take a medium that is sometimes considered fussy and weak and show it capable of making a bold statement. In recent years, I have concentrated on adding high intensity color strong light and an unusual perspective to my paintings of everyday objects, figures, and floral. Each painting is layered with many transparent veils of color giving it an intense color-saturated luminosity. What I paint is simple. How I put it together is not".
--Nava Grunfeld
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