About
Lelia Brinda
Romanian traditional art with a modern twist
My story starts in a small village in Northern Romania, where I was born in 1960. The faces of hardworking peasants and harvest celebrations, my father carving wooden tools for our family farm, and the scent of my grandmother’s bread are forever imprinted in my soul. But the most vivid memory of all is that of my mother patiently weaving at her loom – her tapestries adorned our house, filling it with warmth and beauty.
Though I always wanted to become an artist, it took me until my mid-50s to pursue this dream. At first, I wanted a better life than that of my parents. This meant making a living and building a family through the work of my mind rather than my hands. So, I chose a career founded on rigor and logic, and for the next three decades I thrived in the world of commercial law and public service.
But as time went by, I yearned for a different perspective on life – something vastly deeper and more soulful than legal puzzles and procedures. Something that would help me recover that lost feeling of warmth and beauty from my mother’s tapestries. As I kept searching, childhood memories began to come to life and inspire me – first in the eyes of the mind, then on the canvas, and later in clay. Art became my anchor and my passion. And as my first career approached its end, I got a master’s degree in fine arts from the West University of Timisoara.
Today, I am a full-time artist. My ceramics, abstract paintings, and decorative objects give a modern expression to my family’s creative legacy.