Young Shaman Sculpture

GÜLNAR BABAYEVA is a figurative sculptor & designer at @caspianmuse studio. Originally from Azerbaijan, she moved to New York’s Hudson Valley in 2010 to study art & design thanks to the generosity of a local American family. She graduated with double associate degrees in Fine Arts and Advertising Design & Graphic Technology in 2012 from SUNY Ulster, and was awarded the State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence in the same year. Babayeva holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies from Azerbaijan University of Languages. She has been sculpting since 2012, and began focusing on her sculptor identity during the pandemic, which led to Babayeva’s debut solo exhibition of sculpture R e v i v a l at the Arts Society of Kingston in June 2021. Her sculptures have been shown in group and juried exhibitions locally + virtually, and have been acquired for private collections. Babayeva’s love for figurative art propels her mission to make figurative sculpture visible and adequately represented in local galleries & art venues by inspiring a new interest in figurative sculpting and making it accessible to the art community & public, while pursuing its inclusion and advancement in educational art organizations. Recently, Babayeva has been awarded 2022 NYSCA Individual Artist Grant to cultivate figurative sculpture locally, within the Hudson Valley.