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 has studied at the St.Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. Her formal studies started at age 11. 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 collection of the Hermitage, and other great museums were also significant influences on her growing up, as well as everyday 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 has graduated from the Parsons School of Design and has been offered a position as a drawing teacher there, while independently continuing her education at the School of Visual Arts, and the Art Student League, experimenting with mixed media, and printmaking.

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

 

Having her own family enriched Natalia's art journey.  Initially, she invited friends and families of her children to her art playgroup, and soon enough Koren Kropf Studio was opened for classes for the next 17 years. Natalia invented a unique method of working with segmented groups and individuals. Overall educating the community 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. Her daughters continue the art lineage, working in Animation.

 

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’ Exhibition, educational programs such as Art in Conversation with Farrin, and monthly members' Zoom conferences called Noon with NAWA. 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 personally participated in a moving day during the December holidays in 2020. After her Presidential term, Natalia remains active on the Board of Directors.

 

The lockdown times allowed Natalia to combine her presidential duties with prolific creativity in her studio. She started a new series entitled Inner Spaces, based on her experience of limited social interactions. The series includes large-scale abstract drawings, paintings, and sculptures, two of which received National merit awards in 2021-22. She continues to add sculptural forms to her works, depicting the interconnectedness and harmony of all the elements of life. Natalia is an avid supporter of a sustainable lifestyle and eco-clean art practice.

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