Anya Andreeva

My great-grandmother and grandmother were sewing at home. Fabric was a precious commodity, so every bit was saved. I loved the unrelatedness of these bits, putting them side by side in various combinations, happily undisturbed for hours. Combining pieces and styles is a theme throughout most of my art. Training in classical painting has given me a sense of composition, the habit of observation and a love of color. My dressmaking experience allows me to explore wearable art while experimenting with both construction and design. Looking closely at historical textiles as a conservator provides me with an apprenticeship in the techniques of the artists that came before me. Above all, medieval tapestry with its powerful storytelling has become the highest artform that I aspire to. My greatest inspiration is a Bible verse where God appoints Bezalel to be the chief artisan of the Tabernacle and in charge of building the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 31:1-6). From it I have drawn the faith and the patience to discover how I function as an artist and to cherish the artistic visions that I am blessed to have.

Address. 383 Breezy Hill Road Fleischmanns, New York 
Phone: 917-723-8449
Email: anouche.anouche@gmail.com

Growing up I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who created dresses, shirts and sweaters for the whole family, and did so with an exceptional sense of beauty. I began learning sewing, crochet, knitting and embroidery with her and my great-grandmother at the age of 5, and this defined the rest of my life: after a short period of denial (and one finance degree later) I turned to making costumes for theater, then freelanced as a dressmaker and costume builder, finally embracing a Master’s degree to become a textile conservator. In my thirties I took up classical oil painting at the Art Students’ League. This, however, has been put on pause by both my studies and Covid. Currently I work at a conservation lab at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and am one of the Rockefeller fellows at the Hispanic Society Museum in New York City. I am happily married to another artist in his own right, and together we are exploring different materials and ideas, from design of our home to individual projects, both in New York and in Fleischmanns.

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