MANUELA MOLDOVAN
**CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025**
Manuela Moldovan was named the EMERALD ARTIST OF AUGUST and the SAPPHIRE ARTIST OF NOVEMBER and was therefore granted entry into the 5th, annual ARTISTS OF THE YEAR EVENT — which led to her triumphant capture of the sparkling CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025 title.
Learn how a clinical career as a pharmacist didn’t interfere with this vibrant artist’s unstoppable inclination to create art and express beauty in her own abundant and irresistible way. You are invited to wander, linger and get lost in her seductive and luscious gardens from around the globe which overflow with copious colour, scrumptious flowers and delicious, decorative and rich details. Come and admire unique and intriguing bouquets teeming with surprising components and discover the process and intention behind these lavish collages — right here in the following feature and interview which was created in recognition and celebration of her CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025 title.
“I invite the viewers to walk in my gardens, enjoy the magic and the power of the flowers — to be captivated by colors and fragility. I love the visual and emotional effects of rich colors and highly textured areas, especially on large surfaces.”
Romanian-born Manuela Moldovan lives and works from her home studio in Toronto.
She is a self-taught, mixed-media collage artist and an elected member of the Colour and Form Society. Her career as a pharmacist contributed to her genuine creativity, which has grown over time. She returned to a full-time art practice in 2017. As a member of the CFS, she was awarded 3rd place in 2022 for her landscape Lake Shore View 1. She won Best In Show in 2020 for her landscape On A Foggy Day at Gallery Ring and in 2024, she won Best In Show in mixed-media at Aurora Juried Art Show. She is represented by Bloom Gallerie in Montreal with her floral compositions which are owned by collectors from Canada, US, Hungary and Romania.
* Walking In The Cuban Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — Welcome! Congratulations on winning CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025. Does receiving this title at this point in your career coincide with any particular artistic moment you are now entering or exiting? Does it act as a marker that reinforces, supports, reflects or settles something? What does receiving this title mean to you?
MM — Winning CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR 2025 represents a moment of clarity and affirmation in my artistic journey. To me, it is not only the recognition of my work but also a reflection of the path I’ve taken. This title also holds personal meaning because it bridges my past and present. Coming from a structured professional background, I have learned precision and patience — qualities that now shape my artistic practice. Being recognized in this way reassures me that this transition is not a departure but an evolution.
* Walking In The Tuscan Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — How did you travel what appears to be a distant and unrelated route from the health profession — as a pharmacist — to the visual arts?
MM — For me, art has been a passion since a very young age. Music, dance, fashion and any artistic expression were always present in my life. The creative impulse never left me. Basically, I’ve shifted from working with molecules to working with colour but the intention remains similar: to create harmony and offer a sense of well-being.
* Walking In The Persian Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — Your work overflows with abundant colour and a certain disregard for stringent, structural foundations and rules. Do you attribute this free and exuberant style as a direct reaction and response to time spent in a clinical atmosphere — generally characterized as quiet, serious, controlled and sterile with bright white lighting?
MM — This is so interesting. I am naturally drawn to abundance — rich colour, layered textures and a strong sense of movement in my work. It could be interpreted as a reaction to having spent many years in a structured, controlled environment and perhaps there is some truth to that — but I believe it goes deeper — it is rooted in my personality. Even as a child, I felt a tension with strict rules and rigid expectations. I remember in primary school not always wanting to follow them, which sometimes resulted in lower marks. Yet those years remain very vivid and positive in my memory because they were also full of curiosity, imagination and a desire to explore freely.
* Walking In The Italian Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — Your artworks of gardens are made individual with the specification of a different location in every title. Are the colour, flower and motif choices driven by the respective nation’s customs, climate, architecture, textiles or history — or are they driven by something more abstract, elusive and personal? How many pieces are in this series and is it complete or still in production?
MM — My Walking In The Garden series is built around the idea that each work carries its own distinct identity. Every piece is defined by a specific attribute — sometimes it is a dominant colour (pink, red, pastel, blue, golden, indigo), a particular mood (joyful, playful, smiling) or a single flower (magnolias, petunias, wildflowers) that guides the composition. Other times, it is inspired by a culture I explored (Florentine, Persian, Spanish) or a place I have visited (Cuba, Tahiti, Italy) and other times by symbols (fish, butterflies) and elements of fashion (Hermes, Swarovski). In terms of numbers in this series, I sometimes feel unstoppable. This sense of continuity is very important to me. The series is not something I aim to complete but something I want to develop over time.
* Walking In The Florentine Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — Walking In The Florentine Garden is divided in two by what appears as a fence — the side view of the leaning sticks can be seen and the diagonal motion alludes to a vanishing point technique in a landscape. What is the significance of this additional element which challenges the resistant aerial-view perspective and spatial atmosphere?
MM — My style is continuously evolving, shaped by my passion for textile and paper work and experimentation. At first, I was attracted by the notion of separation within the garden. This concept emerged from noticing the paths, fences, borders and decorative elements often present in real gardens. In my opinion, they create structure, guide movement and define different spaces within a single environment. Over time, what initially appeared as simple paths or fences in my work — began to evolve into more complex and meaningful visual elements drawn from my travels such as graffiti, geometric patterns and decorative aesthetics.
* Walking In The Spanish Garden *
Mixed media collage
GR — Walking In The Spanish Garden has decorative tile serving as a flat ground from which flowers are springing. It gives the impression that some flowers were plucked from the garden in a reductive style process resulting in the selective exposition of the tile beneath. Can you talk about the method you used and how this beautiful piece came to be?
MM — I became particularly inspired by motifs such as Spanish and Portuguese tiles as well as Florentine Renaissance floral motifs and ornamentation. These elements moved beyond their original function as separators and became active participants in the composition, carrying cultural memory and visual richness. This transformation reflects my ongoing interest in layering: blending observation, travel, cultural research and imagination into a unified visual language. Spanish tiles are not only a symbol of beauty but also a reflection of the country's rich cultural heritage. In Walking In The Spanish Garden (now in a private US collection), the blue tiles are not only decorative — they amplify the abundance and serenity of this environment. Regarding the method used in this piece — and actually in all my series — I worked with papers collaged on to the canvas, moulding paste to define the textured flowers and realistic photos, taken by myself during my travels, with recognizable magnolia/zinnia/cosmos fleurets. It is a mixture of techniques and materials I truly enjoy exploring. This complex layered approach made me discover something essential about myself — a deep capacity for patience. It supports the richness of detail and the sense of balance that I want to achieve in my gardens.
* A Bordo Bouquet *
Mixed media collage
GR — Your paintings are large with many components — it must require finesse to maintain organization, direction and focus. How do you know when to stop working on a piece?
MM — That’s a sophisticated question — knowing when to stop is less technical and more perceptual. In my kind of work (layered, intuitive, materially rich), stopping is not about “finishing” but about recognizing balance. Usually, once I consider it finished, I let the work rest for the next day and look at it again with fresh eyes. If I feel that nothing can be added or improved, this means it is done.
* A Sunflowers Bouquet *
Mixed media collage
GR — Sometimes surprising, man-made items can be spotted — almost hidden and not immediately obvious — in your pictures. What makes you invite these hard, sharp materials and objects — almost alien visitors — to the soft, gentle and natural bouquets?
MM — I simply resist predictability. In my work, especially in the Bouquets series, the familiar forms of bouquets and the flowers are recognizable — this is a quick invitation to enjoy the beauty and the fragility of nature. Then, I intentionally introduce elements considered unexpected such as fragments of shiny metal, sparkling jewellery, buildings, windows, lamps and disruptive components. In this way, I discovered that a deeper, more subtle harmony can emerge which invites the viewers to a slower, more attentive way of looking and engaging emotionally. Unpredictability, for me, is a way to keep the work open, active and continuously evolving.
* A Tulips Bouquet *
Mixed media collage
GR — What inspires your work? Which artists or art periods do you admire and in what way do these influences impact your art and show up on your canvas? With whom do you feel you share a similar spirit or aesthetic approach?
MM — During my artistic years, I got influenced by the Romanian painters, my art teachers in school, local Canadian artists, Vincent van Gogh, Matisse and Klimt's stunning work. Lately, I discovered the work of the contemporary artist Robert Kushner, whose approach has significantly influenced and helped shape my artistic direction. His passion for flowers and greenery resonates deeply with me — a connection I have felt since a very young age.
GR — What made you choose collage as your medium? What materials do you use and do you paint or make any flowers by hand or is everything torn and cut from magazines? Do you plan the finished product beforehand or does it reveal itself along the way? Can you talk about your process and workflow?
MM — Collage allows me to bring together different materials and textures. I love moulding, wrinkling and crumpling different types of papers — which I collect from everywhere in the world. It's like playing spontaneously, reinterpreting the world. Before talking about my technique, I need to explain my passion for photography. I feel inspired by any shape, form, colour, unusual compositions, buildings, including decayed walls or graffiti. Once I decide on the character of the garden or the bouquet, I work on collecting the necessary materials — a variety of papers — Japanese, English, European, prints of my photos, paper painted by myself and — rarely — magazine pages. It is a time-consuming task. My process consists of applying moulding paste with a palette knife to create the main flowers in the composition and then I let it dry. Meanwhile, I work on collaging the specific attributes of the garden. Once the moulding paste is dry, I paint it with acrylic in my colour of choice. I continue to collage the papers to create the background until the whole surface is covered. I balance the composition by adding layers to the main flowers until I feel it is done.
* A Zinnia Bouquet *
Mixed media collage
GR — Thank you Manuela for visiting and sharing your thoughts about your beautiful work. It has been a pleasure and congratulations on winning CRYSTAL ARTIST OF THE YEAR.
MM — Thank you very much for the time spent to analyze my work. I appreciate it.
* A Hydrangea Bouquet *
Mixed media collage