Maija Briede

Photos by Peteris B

About the Artist 

Maija Briede is a Latvian painter born in the city of Cesis, Latvia in 1964.  

Early stages of her artistic career were based on education in art and architectural design. 

Later on, she developed her artistic skills further in Latvian Forestry Institute parks and recreation design bureau as a landscape designer, working on several major national park projects. 

Her early works have been inspired by the beauty of nature and architecture of those times.  In her travels across the Soviet block.  

Maija has crossed numerous geographic and historic places, drawing inspiration from each one of them. As a result of this, many early artworks came as a direct result of her travels. This can be seen in some of her early ink art, heavily inspired by the beauty and tradition of the Japanese Kuril island region.  

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Maija chose to dedicate her skills and craft joining Latvia’s most famous puppet theater, bringing numerous performances and stage sets to life with her art. 

This amalgamation of a unique set of professional skills and personal experiences is what gives her art the signature style and feel, which she has applied diligently in her art ever since.  

In the year 2019 Maija has published a new series of artworks to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing. This is a collaborative project with her son Peteris Briedis. This series includes some of the most iconic rockets in the history of human space flight,  these artworks depict some famous rockets as the Russian Soyuz system and Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon Heavy.