A review of “Secret Garden” by Mariya McAllister, written by William T & Tiana DJ with assistance from staff member Megan.
Mariya is an art teacher and a full time artist who is originally from Ukraine.
In her writing about herself, she says she is very sad about the war between Russia and Ukraine, but she finds love and peace in painting.
The paintings are of flowers and fruit, you can tell what they are because she’s drawn them so well. The colours are subtle and realistic. She studied design and art education so she’s really good!
The paintings look very summery, there are about 23 paintings of different sizes – some are A4, the biggest one is 80 x 60cm. They are very expensive but they are new, not antiques. They have high prices because the artist worked so hard on them. The small ones are different, less money, but we still prefer the big ones.
The paintings are called lovely sweet things like “Wisdom”, “Embrace”, “Courage”, “Love” and “Secret”. They are romantic, make you embrace your feelings, give you belief in yourself and make you feel like you are in love. They remind Tiana of ‘Beauty and the Beast’.
William’s favourite painting is “Pumpkins”
“It has beautiful colours, and it’s very different. Its not small, but it’s cute. It has depth and contrasting colours”
He continues “The exhibition is GORGEOUS! They’re beautiful colours that make us feel happy, not depressed.”
Tiana’s favourite is “Sunshine” because “it makes you feel like summer is here!”
She says, “Mariya, I love your different paintings, and how accurate you have done them. They must have taken you a long time.”
We would like to invite everyone to come and see this fabulous art which is on until 29th April. Some artwork is depressing and makes you want to go to bed, but not this!
Tiana gives the exhibition 5/10 and William gives the exhibition 10/10.
“Secret Garden” is showing at Level Best Gallery until 29th April 2025.
