Who Is Kristina?
Kristina Mekdeci was born with an artistic talent. Her mother recognized this talent and enrolled her into summer art programs at a very young age. After graduating with a Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Central Florida, she worked as a Mural Artist for Walt Disney Studio and Nickelodeon. She spent over a decade working as a graphic artist with Florida Today News, WB18-WKCF, and New Horizons. Kristina was an art teacher with the Department of Education since 1999. Along with creating her own artwork, she is also a Children’s Book Illustrator, Graphic Artist, Educational Video Editor and skilled in Marketing & Advertising. You can watch many of her educational art videos on her YouTube Channel Kre8withKristina.
Kristina believes there are a variety of art styles, so why restrict one’s artistic freedom to only one style? She is always pushing the limits in visual communication. Her style brings up a feeling of joy inside the viewer while also telling a story of the possible realities we appear to be living in. Each series is uniquely different while still expressing an overwhelming theme of bright colors and flat 2D brush strokes.
Kristina was a professional surfer in early 2000 and continues to spend her free time surfing in Maui, Hawai’i. Living and visiting so many beautiful tropical surfing locations influences her paintings. Here in Maui her connection with Mother Oceanʻs sea-life and the amazing sunsets cascading the skies in bold bright colors influence the “Maui Haliʻa,” series. “Maui Haliʻa” means Maui Memories and these paintings remind the viewer of the intense feeling of beauty one experiences while visiting the islands of Hawaii.
She break away from the 2D paradigm with her “Centrifugal Force” series. Surfing is the major influence of this series. She had a desire to find a visual representation of the powerful motion in surfing using the energy of Mother Ocean in a way which ‘pops’ off the canvas. She also expresses this same motion in her golfing series. “The swing of the golfer is very much
in harmony with the lines carved into a wave by the surfer,” she explains.
“Sun Salutation” is her tropical acrylic series which is an expression of all of the beautiful places Kristina has visited during her career as a professional surfer. The viewer is transported to those tropical places with the warm colors of the setting sun contrasting against the deep blues of the salt sprayed oceans.
This remarkable artist still finds a way to balance the depth of her work with a ‘lightness’ you will see in her humorous illustrated mixed media series “Warrior Women of the World.” She emphasizes the importance for women to love themselves. With a little humor, this series is a reminder for every woman to remember just how beautiful we truly are. She expanded this series to include hand-painted, illustrated earring holders expressing the beauty of all women from every color and every culture around the world. Each paintings background is an acrylic paint pour technique. Then she illustrates the female portrait with paint pens, cuts out the image and seals this onto the acrylic canvas. Finally, she hangs the earrings on the canvas for functional piece of artwork.
Sparked by her desire to understand the human psyche better, she completed several training programs to become a certified Medical Hypnotherapist and Quantum Healing Hypnotherapist Level 2. This training inspired her “Quantum Awakening” series. This artwork pushes the limit of one’s visual comfort, as Kristina exposes many of the conspiracy theories through her artwork, conspiracies from decades ago which are now proven facts. The paintings are almost painted ‘through her’ as if by some divine guidance. She explains, “I don’t plan, I just allow the creative force to move my hand which directs the paint brush and paint around the canvas.”
Beside surfing she likes to spend her time at home with her pet birds while creating beautiful works of art for all to enjoy. She hopes her artwork brings the joy of this tropical paradise to your home.