55th Anniversary Juried Member's Exhibit - 2023

Nadya Steare (b. 2001) is a native Virginian and an avid environmental enthusiast. Nadya is a 2020 Virginia Museum of Fine Art Undergraduate Fellow. In 2021, she was accepted into the Backspace Studio at George Mason School of Art. There she began expanding her practice to large-scale sculpture and installation, and created several public artworks currently on display throughout the building.

In 2022, George Mason University awarded Nadya a research grant to complete an artist residency in Akureyri Iceland. There she completed a body of work on reforestation and landscape identity, which she presented in her debut international solo exhibition at the Deiglan Gallery.

While pursuing her undergraduate studies, Nadya actively participated in group exhibitions throughout the Greater Washington Area. Her work has been shown in galleries including the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts, Delaplaine Arts Center, Touchstone Gallery, the Athenaeum and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art.

When she’s not in the studio, Nadya volunteers and participates in educational and outreach programs. During her sophomore year of college she served as president of the Lambda Sigma Honor Society, Beta Kappa Chapter. In 2022, she was crowned a Cherry Blossom Princess by the Society of Virginia and represented the Commonwealth in the annual CBPP program held in Washington DC. Nadya is fluent in three languages and enjoys spending her free time with her studio assistant, Mousie the cat.