Born in the mid-sixties, Olga and Aleksey (a.k.a. O&A) are now blooming mid-career artists and an extremely sought after team of artists. The two received their academical art education in Moscow, Russia–and have collaborated ever since. During their years in school, they focused their studies on classical drawing, live model painting, human anatomy, and art history.

Upon graduation, the artists explored the world of Russian Iconography and European Renaissance for several years. As part of this exploration, they created a number of restorations, learned the secret technologies of egg tempera painting, and created gesso, gilding, and other coveted methods of the ancient masters.

The husband and wife team immigrated to the United States in 2002. Today, they live and work together in their artist studio in Evergreen, CO.

In their current fine art work, O&A are successfully blending yesterday’s old masters of iconography and Renaissance techniques, with today’s contemporary art language.

Many of O&A’s fine art pieces are hanging in private collections across the U.S. and around the world. (e.g. England, Italy, Denmark, and Russia) In addition, selected images of their art work have appeared in American Art Collector, South West Art, and Fine Art Connoisseur.

ALBERT HANDELL was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1937. He studied at the Art Students’ League in NYC.  As a young man, he received grants from the John F. and Anna Lee Stacy Foundation and from the Elizabeth T. Greenshields Foundation, Montreal, Canada. From 1961 to 1965 he lived and painted in Paris. In 1965 he had his first New York exhibition at the famed ACA Gallery. 

Every year from 1966 to today, Albert has had one-man shows at galleries and museums throughout the country, including museum solo shows at:

• the Schenectady Museum of ART, 
• The Albany Museum of History and Art,   
• the Springfield Art Museum, and
• THE BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART (honored him with a Retrospective of his Pastels in 2007)

He exhibits in numerous national invitational shows, and has received over seventy prizes and awards, including the following partial listing from the annual exhibitions of:

• The Allied Artists of America, New York City 
• The Audubon Artists of America, New York City 
• The National Academy of Design, New York City 
• Academic Artists of America, Springfield, Massachusetts 
• The Pastel Society of America, New York City 
• The Butler Institute of America Art, Youngstown, Ohio 
• State University of New York, Albany, New York 
• University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 
• National Arts Club, New York City 
• The Schenectady Museum, Schenectady, New York 
• The Berkshire Museum of Art, Pittsfield, Massachusetts 
• Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New York 
• Artists of America (Denver- Rotary Club) 1983, 1984, 1990 
• The Oil Painters of America (OPA)-Master category (numerous awards)
• The Pastel Society of America NYC (PSA)- Hall of fame honorary, plus numerous awards

In 1987, The Pastel Society of America elected him into the Pastel Society of America’s Hall of Fame (3^rd living American pastelist to be so honored).  Recent awards include:

• “Chamisa”- OPA (Oil Painters of America) Gold Medal Master Artist Category-cash award (2015)
• “Woods Interiors- Point Lobos”- OPA Gold Medal Master Artist Category-cash award (2015)
• “The White Pine”- PAAC (Plein Air Artists of Colorado) Grand Prize Master Category-cash award (2015)
• “The Swirl of Life”- PSA (Pastel Society of America) Kenneth Wellner Memorial Award- cash award (2015)

Mr. Handell’s paintings are contained in numerous private, public and permanent museum collections including:  

• the Schenectady Museum of ART, Schenectady, NY (3 works)
• the  State  Capitol Collection of New Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico (2 works)
• the  Butler  Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio (2 works)(honored Handell with a Retrospective of his pastels in 2007);
• THE PERMANENT MUSEUM COLLECTION OF THE WOODSTOCK ARTIST ASSOCIATION, Woodstock, NY
• THE ALBRECHT-KEMPER MUSEUM, Saint Joseph, Missouri

Mr. Handell’s work has been the subject of countless art publications over his 50+year career, including: 

• Albert Handell – Going with the Flow, Western Art Collector, October 2007
• Salon d’ Art,  “Albert Handell”, Plein Air Magazine, June, 2005
• “Lessons from the Masters, The Right Balance ”, Albert Handell, The Artists Magazine, Special 20^th Anniversary Issue, January 2004
• “Albert Handell – Making every moment count in Pastel Painting”, by Ruth Summer, The Pastel Journal, March – April 1999 
• “Albert Handell – Brilliant Hues”, by Joy Waldron, Southwest Art, March 1999 
• “The Best of Sketching and Drawing”, by Terry Sullivan, Quarry Books, Rockport Publishers, Inc., Gloucester, Massachusetts 1999 
• “Albert Handell – Honoring the Mystery”, by Jo Ann Baldinger, Focus/Santa Fe, October – November – December 1998 
• “Albert -Handell – On Color”, by Jim Lynch, American Artist, September 1996 
• “The Best of Pastel”, by Constance Flavell Pratt and Janet Monafo, Quarry Books, Rockport Publishers, Inc., Rockport, Massachusetts 1996 
• “Architecture in Color Drawings”, by John S. M. Chen, McGraw Hill Publications, New York City, 1996 
• “The Best of Oil Painting”, by Tom Nicholas and John C. Terelak, Quarry Books, Rockport Publishers, Inc., Rockport, Massachusetts 1996 
• “Albert Handell – Creating Light Through Color”, Art Masters, Spring 1994 
• “Albert Handell – Painting Light with Shadow”, Art Masters, Spring 1994
• “Teacher Achievement Awards, Pastels”, $1,000 cash award, plus an article in American Artist Magazine, June 1994 
• “Albert Handell: He Saw the Light” by Vicki Stavig, Art of the West, January – February 1993 
• “Drawing with Pastels”, by Ron Lister, A Spectrum Book, Prentice-Hall Inc.,
  Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 1992
• “Tastes That Make Life Grand: The Works of Albert Handell”, by Segue Smith, Focus/Santa Fe, April – May 1989 
• “Magic Show: The Works of Albert Handell”, by Mary Carroll Nelson,
  Southwest Profile, August 1987 
• “Albert Handell Enraptured”, by Joy Murphy, Southwest Art, April 1986 
• “Albert Handell”, by Kitty Gibbons Silvery, Art Gallery International, September,’85 
• “The Pastels of Albert Handell”, by Joy Murphy, Southwest Profile, June 1984 
• “Albert Handell: Landscapes in Pastel”, by Leslie Trainor, American Artist magazine, December 1981 
• “The Inner Universe of Albert Handell”, by Heather Meredith-Owens for American Artist magazine, April 1971 
• Art Journey New Mexico, 104 Painters Perspectives, Editors of the 

             Collectors Guide, 2009

• Landscapes of New Mexico, Paintings of the Land of Enchantment, Suzan Campbell and Suzanne Deats
• How to Paint Figures in Pastel, by Joe Singer, 1973 
• How to Paint Portraits in Pastel, by Joe Singer, 1971 
• Pastel Painting Step by Step, by Elinor Lathrop Sears, 1966 
• Who’s Who in American Art, Marquis Publications 
• Dictionary of International Biography, Cambridge, England 

Since 1979, he has co-authored five tabletop art instruction books published by Watson Guptill Art Publications, New York City:

• Pastel Painting Workshop, published in 1981, is in its fourth printing and is translated into German 
• Intuitive Composition, published 1989, is in its third printing 
• Intuitive Light, published May 1995. 

From 1960-1975, his pastels were included in every book published in the U.S. on pastels.

Mr. Handell’s studio and home are located in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

For more information about Albert Handell, visit his website at: www.alberthandell.com.