Biography
Nevena Niagolova is an artist and designer working with a variety of mediums. Born in Sofia, Bulgaria, she now resides in Toronto.
Starting with drawing and painting lessons at the age of ten she continued her studies in the National Fine Arts School in Sofia. Since, she has received her BDes in graphic design from OCADU, has studied interaction design at the Canadian Film Centre Media Lab, and has finished her Masters of Architecture in University of Toronto.
After Niagolova’s classical training, she developed an interest in abstract art and interactivity, and in particular the internal conversations a work of art could trigger with a viewer. Her work focuses on the pure expression of emotions, fascinations, influences and the like, gathered through her experiences of the world—a way of an emotional release. In the case of her paintings—they are spontaneous bursts of energy with a dynamic, high contrast relationships; whether explosive or calm—there is always a purpose and balance. Though constantly evolving, there is a sense of determined exploration through intuition and excitement.
Selected Exhibitions
2019 The Artist Project 2019, Toronto, Canada
2018 Momentary Bursts, Solo Exhibition, The Toronto Heliconian Club,
Toronto, Canada
2018 Salon Exhibit, The Toronto Heliconian Club,
Toronto, Canada
2018 The Artist Project 2018, Toronto, Canada
2017 Messy Excitements, Solo Exhibition, Gramophone Club, Sofia, Bulgaria
2017 The Artist Project 2017, Toronto, Canada
2015 Toronto Outdoor Exhibition, Toronto, Canada
2010 Solo Exhibition at Hot Soup, Labspace Studio, Toronto, Canada
2009 Found Wanting, CFC Media Lab, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche,
Toronto, Canada
2007 Monosaic, Labspace Studio, Toronto, Canada
2007 Night of the Living Artists, Florence, Italy
2007 Manifestation for Art in Malmo, Malmo, Sweden
2006 Montorontreal, Methinks Presents, Toronto, Canada
Artist Residency
2017/8 The Toronto Heliconian Club, Toronto, Canada
2006 Ramazzoti 2006 Art Colony, Kavadarci, Macedonia
Education
2013 Master of Architecture, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2010 Global Architecture 2010, University of Toronto & UBA,
Buenos Aires, Argentina
2009 CFC Media Lab Interactive Art & Entertainment Program,
Canadian Film Center, Toronto, Canada (full scholarship)
2008 Florence Off-Campus Advanced Studies, OCAD University,
Florence, Italy (full scholarship)
2006 BDes in editorial Graphic design, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2000 National School of Fine Arts Ilia Petrov, Sofia, Bulgaria
Professional Experience
2017/P Intern Architect / Artist in Residence, RED Studio Inc. Architects,
Toronto, Canada
2014/7 Architectural Designer / Project Coordinator, Fishtnk Design Factory,
Toronto, Canada
2013 Accreditation Exhibition / Woodshop Support, University of Toronto,
Toronto, Canada
2010/7 Background Artist, Mercury Filmworks, Ottawa, Canada
2005/P Freelance Designer, Nevena Niagolova, Toronto, Canada
2007 Class Assistant, Principles of Interaction Design, OCAD University,
Toronto, Canada
2006/7 Interface and Graphic Designer / Research Assistant,
MDCN / Mobile Nation, OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
Publications
2012 Bohlen, Marc; Maharika, Ilya; Sargent, Paul Lloyd; Zaianty, Silvia;
Lee, Nicole; Delgado, Angelica Piedrahita; Niagolova, Nevena; Vogelsteller,
Fabian. “Prototyping Ubiquitous Biosensing Applications through
Speculative Design”, 2012 8th International Conference on Intelligent
Environments (IE). 2012, pp: 198-205
Extra Courses
2018 Danish II, Nordic Languages Initiative, Toronto, Canada
2017 Creative Writing Fiction, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2017 Creative Writing Non-Fiction, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
2017 Danish I, Nordic Languages Initiative, Toronto, Canada
2017 Design of Serious Games, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
2016 Science Communication in Theory and Practice,
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016 Argentine Tango, University of Toronto Tango Club, Toronto, Canada
2015 Revit Architecture, OCADU, Toronto Canada
2015 Argentine Tango, University of Toronto Tango Club, Toronto, Canada
2008 Italian, Florence, Italy
2007 Book Binding, Toronto, Canada
2007 Italian, Toronto, Canada
2002/6Bronze Casting, Paper Casting, Photography 1&2,
Colour Photography 1&2, Printmaking, Etching,
OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
Featured & Mentions (aka Web Search)
2017/8The Artist Project, Toronto, Canada
2015 Canadiano
2015 Toronto Outdoor Exhibition Artists
2015 Photo Credit
2012 MArch Thesis Review. Project: “Conversations Between Strangers”
2012 Martha Ladly, Mobile Communities at Work and Play
2010 First Year MArch Presentations
2010 STABLETALK
2010 1000 x 10
2009 During TOJam #4, Nevena & Milan created the game Bloom
2009 Featured in Young Blood in Applied Arts Magazine
2009 Damaged Goods
2009 1000 x 10
2009 Monosaic Artist
2008 Per Aurim
2008 Our OCADU blog from Florence
2008 Amazing Project by Denica Sabeva
2008 Barbara Crow, Michael Longford, Kim Sawchuk, Andrea Zeffiro,
“Voices from Beyond: Ephemeral Histories, Locative Media and the
Volatile Interface”, Urban Informatics: Community Integration and
Implementation, ed., Marcus Foth, Hershey, PA: Information Science
Reference, IGI Global, 2008.
2007 MDCN
2007 Mobile Nation
2007 Park Walk, MDCN
2007 Alter Audio, MDCN
2007 Mobile Nation