Natalia Koren Kropf is a classically trained interdisciplinary award-winning contemporary artist who combines art and science in various studio media. She explores current topics of change in climate and society and the eternal themes of light and movement. 

 

Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, into a family of artists, Natalia's formal studies started at age 11 at the esteemed St.Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. During these forming years, she had absorbed the European cultural traditions and the old masters school of painting and drawing, enhanced by the community of artists and professors at the Academy. The literary circles and scholars, the Hermitage collection, and other great museums significantly influence her growing up as a fine artist, living in St. Petersburg with its architectural splendor and cultural enigma. Unfortunately, her studies were interrupted by a political crisis in 1991. Her family was able to escape to the United States.

 

Upon family relocation, to New York City, she embraced its contemporary art scene. She graduated from the Parsons School of Design, where she was offered a position as a drawing teacher, while independently continuing her education at the School of Visual Arts, and the Art Student League, experimenting with

advanced printmaking techniques. Working with master printers John Ross, Mohammad Khalil, Lorenzo Clayton, and Bill Benken, Elaine Breuger, Bruce Waldman to name a few, Natalia absorbed the knowledge and hands-on experience in intaglio on zinc and copper, aquatint, viscosity printing, silkscreen, lithography, woodblock, linocut, digital imaging, and artist’s books.

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Later on, her love for form, gesture, and curvature was manifested in three-dimensional works. Starting with ceramics she transitioned to bronze sculpture with technical support and production at the Art Students League of New York.​

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Natalia has 30 years of continuous exhibition history, as seen in her resume.

The scope of Natalia’s artistic inspirations takes many forms, from her figurative ink and graphite drawings, mixed media, and gesture paintings, to her non-objective meticulous printmaking works and ner biomorphic sculptures.  Nature, science, and music play an intrinsic part. Movement and light remain recurring themes in her artworks, which she refers to as visual poems. 

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Her own Koren Kropf Studio was opened for classes for 17 years. Natalia invented a unique method of teaching art as a form of self-discovery, working with small groups and individuals. Overall, educating communities in New York City and Pennsylvania from 3 to 92 years old. She created a challenging curriculum for teens, many of whom got accepted into competitive specialized High Schools' and later on to top colleges, such as Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Rhode Island School of Design, and School of Visual Arts, due to the superb quality of their art portfolios.

 

Natalia was always drawn to the invisible world. Once she undertook a spiritual journey, which manifested in a shifting focus on ecology in her artworks, and two diplomas, one from the Kundalini Research Institute (KRI) and another from the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Natalia has offered additional classes at her creative studio to suit the personal goals of her students, combining Yogic principles with self-expression in a holistic form of Art therapy. 

 

In 2010 Natalia was accepted into the National Association of Women Artists (NAWA), the oldest American Art organization founded in 1889, by women artists to promote and educate women artists, www.thenawa.org. 

In 2018 Natalia was elected as President. During the tumultuous years of the Pandemic, she re-directed all operations online. She established new virtual routines as early as May 2020: the remote office protocols, monthly exhibitions, including the historical first 131st Annual Members’ online Exhibition, and educational programs. Due to the real estate crisis in Manhattan, NAWA headquarters had to relocate. With the assistance of an honorary member and the Board, Natalia was instrumental in negotiating a new lease at the National Arts Club,  15 Gramercy Park South. She participated in a moving day during the December holidays in 2020. After her presidential term, Natalia remains active on the Executive Board of Directors.

 

The scope of Natalia’s artistic inspirations takes many forms, from her figurative ink and graphite drawings, mixed media, and gesture paintings, to her non-objective meticulous printmaking works and ner biomorphic sculptures.  Her love for people resulted in painterly and sculptural portraiture. Her love for architecture produced a series of lyrical cityscapes, largely but not exclusively of Forest Hills, NY. Nature, science, and music play an intrinsic part. Movement and light remain recurring themes in her artworks, which she refers to as visual poems. 

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