I am Ima Mauriņa-Mīlgrāve. OK?!

     I have a fondness for the green drops with a peg at the end. My Granny finds it amusing and tells me they are called goosegogs. I respond, also laughing, that they are actually gooseberries.

     This is the place I call home, Northern Kurzeme, where the sea creates a boundary between the earth and sky and the vibrant yellow of marsh marigolds blends in with the scenery.

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Cape Kolkasrags, Kolka, LATVIA

     The vast ocean occasionally has disagreements with the little sea, but ultimately, they coexist harmoniously.

     I carry a little bit of everything within me - the vibrant colours of the Livonian worldview, the intense longing of Marram grass on the dunes, and the wonder of miraculous amber tears from pine trees. I stand in awe of everything, perhaps that is why fairy tales so real to me. The path is not a road but time that measures kilometres, and I have covered quite a distance.

     I was born in May 1963 amidst blooming nature. I am familiar with the metaphors of elusive butterflies of Imants Ziedonis and I do experience my own. I follow them and write with pleasure. Back then I was learning to learn – I graduated from the Latvian Academy of Arts in 1992.

     In 1996, I earned a Master's degree in art education. Creative activity is an integral part of my life - if I am not painting, I am writing, leading seminars for art teachers, or designing clothes.

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   I practice different painting techniques, but I have a particular affinity with watercolour painting. Flowers, in particular, hold a special place in my heart because nothing is more emotionally charged to me than a blooming stem. Now you too know that stems bloom... with a smile.

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The world of my emotions accompanies me, sharing to the world around me:

• group art exhibition in Jūrmala in 1996

• solo exhibition in O. Vācietis Memorial Museum in 1997

• group art exhibition ‘Thoughts do not get wet …’ in 1999

• solo exhibition ‘Against the wind’ in 2001

• solo exhibition ‘A bit of everything...’ in 2012

• solo exhibition ‘A little bit together...’ in 2015

• solo exhibition ‘From roots to roots’ in 2020

• group art exhibition in Talsi in 2022

 

     My artworks have travelled rather far – to the USA, UK, Israel, France, Italy, Sweden and Russia...

     Occasionally I am working on my book ‘A little bit together..., near the sun.’

     Always alongside the sun and the sea... so inseparable and unique... ima.

 

P.S. “i” and “ima” is pronounced as if separated from the beginning of the word “imagine”.

P.P.S. The domain name of the website “ima glezno” (imaglezno.lv) translates from Latvian language as “ima is painting”.