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A figurative painter, Elena Peteva combines Old Masters’ and modern techniques in a contemporary narrative that draws historical parallels between religious, political and private realms. Born in 1978 in Sofia, Bulgaria, Peteva began her art studies in 1990. In 1995 she left for the United States, where she studied printmaking at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, and later, painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Among her teachers were representational painters Sidney Goodman and Bruce Samuelson at the Pennsylvania Academy, Bo Bartlett at his private studio in Philadelphia, and Odd Nerdrum at his private studio in Norway. Elena Peteva is a recipient of numerous awards, including Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grants (1997 and 2000), the Richard von Hess European Travel Scholarship (2002), and the Frances and Leslie Posey Foundation Art Grant (2004). Her work is in a number of public and private art collections, including the Samuel and Selma Savitz collection, the collection of the Department of Graphic Arts at Princeton University, and the Omega Group collection in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. She is represented by the Artists’ House Gallery in Philadelphia.