The following is part of a series featuring a leader in the art community who will be teaching pastel painting at Pastel Live, September 18-20, 2024, with an Essential Techniques Day on September 17. Learn more and secure your spot at PastelLive.com.
Spotlight on Pastel Artist Daud Akhriev
Daud Akhriev was born in the former Soviet Union in 1959. He studied classical painting and drawing for 14 years, graduating with honors from the Russian Academy of Fine Art (The Repin Institute) with a master’s degree in painting, mentored by the late academic, Piotr Fomin. In 1991, Akhriev moved to the United States with artist Melissa Hefferlin, now his wife. Since 2011 the two divide their time between the USA and Europe.
In addition to regularly exhibiting his easel paintings internationally, Akhriev’s monumental work can be found around the United States in churches, hospitals, and educational institutions. His intricate mosaic for Erlanger Hospital Chapel was exhibited as one of the ten best mosaics in the United States by the Society of American Mosaic Artists (2015). His monumental sculptures, The Four Seasons, adorn Chattanooga’s John Ross Bridge.
Akhriev is featured in a diverse list of respected art periodicals and books, among them Daud Akhriev: Stylistic Pluralism published in 2002 by Common Place Publishing, Pastel Journal, Artists Magazine, Traditions Rediscovered: The Finley Collection of Russian Art, Island Journal, Chattanooga Magazine, Southern Living, and American Art Collector, and a feature in The Island Journal for his paintings of American coastal life. A selection of Akhriev’s drawings is also in many books about drawings and paintings from the Repin Institute, both in Chinese and Russian languages.
A selection of awards the artist has received over the last ten years include Pastel Journal 100 Competition Grand Prize and Portrait award, Oil Painters of American National Show Silver Medal, Greenhouse Gallery Salon International Best Still Life, Grand Prize and Best Landscape, PleinAir Magazine’s PleinAir Salon Best Plein Air Landscape (April/May 2016). His work is in the permanent collections of the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Academy of Fine Art Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, the National Gallery of Art, Almaty, Kazakhstan, the Finley Collection of Russian Art, Southern Adventist University, the American Episcopal Church, Erlanger Hospital and Baylor School.
Remembering the dedication of his instructors, Akhriev enjoys teaching and offers occasional classes in Europe and the States. He has taught at The Florence Academy, the University of Tennessee, Baylor School, Townsend Atelier, and many others.
Join us at PastelLive.com to learn from Daud and many more of today’s top pastel artists!
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