Geraldina Khatchikian: Finding Yourself Through Art
Based in Milan, Italy, artist Geraldina Khatchikian’s creative journey has shaped her to be the artist she is today. As a painter, Geraldina embraces spontaneity and intuition to create an ongoing personal dialogue within her work.
How did your creative journey begin?
For years I've been searching "for something impossible to find”. Only lately I realized that the quest was more about finding myself, I needed to dig deeper into my inner world and understand my call as an artist. This was a difficult and scary adventure but was definitely worth it.
In 2017 I moved to Milan and I attended a jewelry design course at the European Institute of Design learning basic techniques of goldsmithing. After attending several workshops, I became interested in the coloring techniques of metals and at the same time I attended a painting course in mixed techniques directed by my friend and teacher, Alessandra Bruno.
When the experience at the IED ended I decided to pursue my passion for painting so I travelled to New York to attend a course on how to build my career as an artist at Sotheby’s institute.
We were 8 international women from different countries attending for the same reason; to understand how to live with our Art and make this dream possible. I had wonderful teachers, I learned a lot about the business of art, and what made this adventure magical was the feminine power and the sense of community we built.
This experience gave me the courage to pursue my passion for painting, transforming it to a profession.
Once I got back to Italy I turned my life around. I finally screamed to the world who I was. I proceeded with building my portfolio by expressing my emotions on canvases. I built a website, I started sharing my work on social media, I sold my first ring “ Embrace your mistakes” in my family jewelry boutique in my hometown of Bologna, Italy. I started to exhibit my work in different locations, knowing that I was finally in the right path and in alignment with who I was and still am.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
Music has always been one of my best inspirations. It has the power to bring me in a meditative state where I connect with my emotions and feelings and while I’m painting it helps me create a liberating conversation with the canvas.
Other fonts of inspiration are: walking in nature, observing Flowers, trees, the infinite sky and its light, clouds and all the shades of colors.I also find inspiration in connections, solitude, deep conversations, questioning human behaviors and psychology.
How has your work shifted and evolved over time?
Since 2018 I have never stopped painting. I have to say that my work has shifted and evolved thanks to consistency and the courage I had on continuing my healing journey which played an important role because as I worked a lot on my personal growth I could see that it was reflecting on my art as well.
My art has always been an exploration of my inner world and allowed me to communicate what I couldn’t tell with words. I’ve started to paint with watercolors, then I mixed together acrylics and watercolors on paper and after I decided to paint my explosions of colors just with acrylics on canvas.
Right now I stopped using brushes and I just paint with my hands mixing together modeling paste, sand, as well as acrylic colors, metal powders. Lately, I started applying wires and engraved sheets of metals to give a three dimensional effect on the canvas.
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you, and how has your art practice grown or changed?
Something that has completely changed in the last couple of years is that I started following a sustainable and organized art practice. Lately I’m working in my studio- apartment so before painting I love to give structure to my mornings starting with nourishing self care rituals and exercises that help in boosting my creativity and get me ready for the day ahead. Those rituals include Meditation, Yoga, Face-Yoga, drinking green tea and a morning walk in the park. After which, depending on my schedule, exhibitions, commissions I normally work on my laptop, answer emails, update my website, create content for social media and so on… and after I finish I’m ready to paint, sketch or design jewelry while I listen to music or inspiring podcasts!
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist?
There are so many wonderful experiences that have impacted my work as an artist and two of them are both related to my grandparents from my mom’s side.
I remember when I was a child the pleasure I had seeing my grandmother in her spare time practicing her creative hobbies like painting landscapes and animals, taking care of her flowers, and crochet huge, smooth and super colorful wool scarfs for us. One day she was coming back from London and she gave me this beautiful lilac dress decorated with a lot of hand painted flowers and I remember the joy and the excitement I experienced while I was wearing it that I couldn’t take it off anymore.
Another experience that had a huge impact has been the last advice my grandpa gave me before he passed away. It was his last birthday and we were speaking about my future, at that time I was 23 years old, I just came back to live in Italy after a couple of years spent in London and while I was there I put on hold university, but once back I didn’t know if I wanted to continue or not. I knew I wasn’t on the right path and I wanted to leave it, but I felt some sort of guilt and failure amplified by the fact that I didn’t know what else to do. I was explaining this to him and he told me that I needed to understand what my real dream was and he suggested that I leave university, keep traveling and eventually I would figure it out, and he gave me a drawing of a necklace asking me if I could make it better. After a couple of months I left university and I decided to move to Milan to do the intensive jewelry design course…and everything started to make sense.
How has social media impacted your art career?
Social media impacted my art career in a positive way, especially instagram.
I found most of the art opportunities and connections through that platform and it gave me the chance to discover the amazing work of international artists from all over the world. Although I often find it frustrating to understand how the algorithm works.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
I have different goals and aspirations. In the long term I would love seeing my art one day in a museum, collaborating with a big fashion brand for a collection of clothes and collaborating with some music producers I admire for album covers…these are just a few!
Website: www.geraldinakhatchikian.com
Instagram: @g.khatchikian.art