H A S M I G A R T

Hasmig Kafafian Mouradian: a self-taught, self-representing artist

Art is her passion.

According to artist Hasmig, she never had an art teacher growing up in Beirut, Lebanon. Due to the civil war in Lebanon (1974-1991), her school eliminated art and other non-academic subject areas. How she became an accomplished artist is an amazing story. Born in 1966 into a family of seven brothers and sisters, Hasmig began drawing as a child. She drew on anything that was available at home, usually in pen or pencil. Throughout her school years, drawing was her passion. Landscapes, street scenes, people were subjects she explored on paper. Later she began painting with oil and acrylic on canvas.

She knew there was more to learn about art and that she could benefit from formal instruction. At the age of 24, she began taking classes at the Hamawi Art Center in Beirut. Just before she was about to graduate, she received visa approval from U.S. Embassy and left Beirut to join her family members who had emigrated earlier to the U.S.

Once settled in the U.S., she went to work in Manhattan’s jewelry district on 47th Street, mostly learning how to make jewelry and selling in retail stores. In 1997, she studied jewelry drawing at the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), seeking a way to combine her knowledge of jewelry with her drawing talent. Her studies were interrupted with another major life change when she married Mike.

In 2004 she lost her job, thanks to corporate downsizing, and found herself with lots of free time to devote to painting. The same year, she and her husband Mike moved to upstate New York, where she began classes at the Art Instruction School. When the booming economy, long commutes and the long winters became unbearable, they moved to North Carolina. There Hasmig completed her art studies and graduated in January 2008.

Throughout the many twists and turns in her life, Hasmig’s focus on her passion for art never wavered. Today she is a well-defined, confident artist whose talent continues to grow as she expresses the deep recesses of her passion for art.

Reproductions of all her paintings are available on a variety of materials, including canvas, ceramic tile, masonite, tempered glass, etc.

Please contact her at hasmigart@yahoo.com