Olga
Belousova

My Seashell Art
I am making this type of art because it gives me energy and helps to express my creative self.
Since 2013, I have been collecting Anomia seshells on the beaches in southern France because, to me, they look like the petals of roses, orchids, violets and irises.
Now, I am joining them back together into mother of pearl flowers that will last for eternity.

What Does My Artwork Represent?

This work represents my message to the world about the value of beauty created by nature and value of inclusivity in the sense that even tiny objects of nature like broken anomia seashells can serve as an inspiration

My teacher, Mikhail Kukunov was handicaped, but he tought over 1000 students to love and appreciate nature, he inspired us to love and respect simple creations of nature in all forms

Now I hear in my heart the humble calling  of Nature to humans: Slow down to perceive the beauty and to feel the energy nature gives you! Stop consuming and start creating!

I believe that everyone who sincerely admires the nature can hear its humble music and perceive its quite beauty can be a creator and such material as anomia and oyster seashells are a great mean for everyone to express the creative part of their personality

Creativity heals and educates, and I want to reach as many people as I can with my art in order to make the world a better place for everyone.

What Inspires me?

Flowers and Sea, Plants, mountains, fresh breeze and instrumental music

How Do I Make It?

I collect my seashells on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea and make sure that seashells collected are not taking part in the bio diversity of the shore; I only use those shells that I collect myself, in order to ensure that no animals were killed to create my flowers and that the shells collected are not required for biodiversity of the shore. I believe this brings a good energy that I want to pass on.

This material has a perfect decorative value and it helps me to convey my artwork’s message about the value of natural beauty that includes even tiny abandoned shells

It is a slow, meditative process of matching shapes, sizes and colors of natural shells with each other and reinforcing them to become strong to sustain time

I talk to my seashells during this process to take into account their opinion about where they want to be – in which flower, how to get connected with others, i find the best spot for all - including boken and very small ones

To me they are like a natural Lego, with unlimited limited number of combinations that give best esthetical value and my role in this dialogue is to find the best position for each of my shells, to let them shgine and reveal their beauty

I unitize 2 methods for shells connection and 2 methods of reinforcement, depending of the size, structure and shape of the shells so that the finished art objetcs are highly durable

It may take up to 3 years to collect the shells suitable to create one flower, but this way I am sure that I found the best match for each and every seashell I collected

My rules of creation:

· Only natural colors (the shells are never painted)

· Only natural shapes, even if the shells are broken

· Only those shells that I have collected personally

What Does my Art Mean to me?

My art work is my message to the world and my way to connect with nature and people, it is my mean of self-healing and of passing on the energy of the God