“The talent to create is given to an artist from above, and the artwork she creates is a reflection of her soul and nature. The depths from where she receives her inspiration determine the light or dark, divine or evil nuances in her art. Every artwork incorporates the artist’s soul, her way of thinking and circumstances of her times.

With my art I seek for and try to awaken the heavenly sparkle embodied in people from the very beginning. I try to introduce them to the sometimes harmonious, and at other times restless lines, forms and playful colors of the artwork, and to open up an opportunity to contemplate, analyze and finally admire the beauty.”

Mariam Hakobyan

Mariam Hakobyan, the founder and president of “NorEon” Creative Center, has more than thirty years of professional experience in the field of sculpture.

Born and educated in Armenia, she became renowned throughout the world for both her minor bronze sculptures and monumental works. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, sculpture symposia, festivals and biennales both in Armenia and abroad (Russia, Italy, Greece, USA, Norway, Germany, Poland, Latvia, China, France, etc.). Her latest solo exhibition was held at the Museum of National Architecture and Urban Life of Gyumri, Armenia in May 2010. She also held a solo exhibition at Orchard Gallery, Bethesda, MD, USA in August 2006 presenting to the public her minor bronze sculptures and oil paintings. Her other solo exhibitions were held at the Embassy of Armenia in Washington, DC, Albert and Tove Boyajian Gallery, Artists’ Union of Armenia, Komitas Chamber Music Hall, and Museum of Yervand Kochar. She was also invited to exhibit her works during the 32nd International Chess Olympiad held in Yerevan in 1996.

Mariam’s monumental sculptures can be found throughout Armenia, Russia, Austria, China, Lithuania, Germany, and the United Arab Emirates. Representing Armenia at various sculpture symposia and festivals, she is the recipient of many awards and prizes including the International Mon-Art Prize of Florence – Gold Medal in the group of Armenian sculptors at the 13th International Biennale dedicated to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (Ravenna, Italy, 1998), Third Prize at the Forth International Festival of Ice Sculpture “Polar Rhapsody” (Salekhard, Russia, 2004), Second Prize at the competition “Stone-Monument” (Changchun, China, 2001), Third Prize at the International Symposium of Sculpture (Vilnoja, Lithuania, 2003), Bronze medal at the 12th International Biennale dedicated to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (Ravenna, Italy, 1996). Her monument “Faith” dedicated to the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity as a state religion in Armenia chosen from among 50 proposals was commissioned by the Armenian community of Vienna and was placed at the square adjacent to Vienna’s Armenian Apostolic Church later renamed the Armenian Square.

Mariam’s minor sculptures and graphics are held in the state and private galleries and museums such as National Gallery of Armenia; Ministry of Culture of Armenia; Museum of Wood Art; Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC; Centro Dantesco, Ravenna, Italy and others. About 200 works are held in private collections throughout the world (Great Britain, USA, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, France, China, Lebanon).

In 2001, Mariam founded “NorEon” Creative Center to promote the Armenian visual arts throughout the world and assist the Armenian artists in their professional careers. As the president of the Center, she initiated and carried out the Yerevan First Symposium of Minor Bronze Sculpture and its concluding exhibition at the National Art Gallery of Armenia in 2001, the exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian composer Aram Khachaturyan in 2003, and the National Stone Sculpture Symposium in Jermook, Armenia in 2005. Other major accomplishments of the Center include the establishment of the Art Resource Center specifically designed to meet the growing demands of the Armenian artists for information on international artist calls and art events, the funding of series of exhibitions by Armenian artists and the publication of their booklets.

Mariam Hakobyan also is an experienced tutor and professor of sculpture. She devoted almost fifteen years to working with the youth at the Children’s Center for Aesthetic Education and Schoolchildren’s Recreation Center in Yerevan sowing love and appreciation for the visual arts among the youth and teaching them the various genres of art. From 1993 to 1997, she worked at the Roslyn Fine Arts Institute as a professor of sculpture.

Sculptress Hakobyan graduated from the Yerevan State Institute of Fine Arts in 1974, and completed her undergraduate work at the Terlemezian Arts College in 1968. She has been an active member of the Artists’ Union of Armenia since 1979, and served as a Secretary of the Sculpture Section for many years.

View the complete curriculum vitae (CV) here.