My Life

by Mira Nitza Waksman

I grew up with creative parents whose lives portrayed artistic sensibilities. Our home was my mother’s domain full of colour and life, the yard my father’s workshop. My work is deeply influenced by Uzbek Ikat Design of my parents’ native land, Uzbekistan. Being artists was a way of life in my home. It was how we lived and expressed ourselves.

I paint mostly abstract; getting lost in the unknown. Finding my voice in painting is thrilling. An expressive brushstroke, gestural quality of lines, a dab of paint, how thick or thin the paint is lying against one another, excites me in ways I can only explain the experience my paintings evoke. I love variety of shapes, mark-making and colours. I paint with acrylics, mixed media, oils, oil sticks, pastels. Coming up with composition is a dance of push-and-pull; it is a long or short dialog between the painting and me; the way Jazz is fresh, innovative, new but collective. My voice is revealed on the canvas. Spontaneity guides me, bringing with it all of me, my inner world, my life experiences and the richness of a multicultural, multidimensional life.

I was born In Tel Aviv, Israel, where creativity was sacred. All seven kids played musical instruments. Art in its various forms was integrated naturally, the way we dressed, prepared food appreciated the beauty in nature, we learned to see beauty in everything that surrounded us. Art was not limited to galleries. I did not even think about going to study art formally in my early life.

I got into a painting class by chance, when a friend asked me to join her in art class and from that point I was hooked! I joined art classes in the local community college in the San Francisco Bay Area. My art instructor suggested that we visit the San Francisco Art Institute where he got his art education and introduced me to his mentors. He was convinced that that’s where I belonged, and he was right. I found my home. I entered a 4-year course, made possible with a stipend, leading to the most wonderful and exciting years of my life.

After graduating school, I rented a studio with a collective of 50 other artists in an industrial building in the Mission District in SF. We held exhibitions twice a year where we showed our art. These were the most fruitful years in my life as an artist.

The financial economic crisis in 2008 forced me to give up my studio and work full time. Although I loved my work, I deeply missed painting.

March 2020 – the pandemic brought new challenges and change again. Sheltering in place, I found myself painting again, hours and days of painting. I managed to produce close to 100 pieces of art.

For so many people COVID-19 was a disaster. I found that silver lining in my home studio in San Francisco, sheltering in place. This time around I intended to paint. The pandemic opened a window I thought was closed. As an artist I realised the challenges inherent in painting and selling my work. I have always been an artist; happiest when painting.

[ See more of Mira’s work here: Mira Waksman Art & Instagram ]