I was born in Bulgaria in 1961. My father, a self-taught artist and theatre director, inspired my love of the arts. I studied Landscape Architecture and designed parks, rich in color, flowers, and spaces for recreation and meditation. In 1990, I came to America, married, and received Master’s degrees in Religious Studies and Library and Information Science, studying and preserving South Slavic (Bulgarian) medieval manuscripts. My doctoral study revealed "the secret history" of the Balkans during the Ottoman rule (1393-1878) by studying manuscript marginal notes.

After graduation in 2008, I started to re-create and re-interpret Byzantine and South Slavic iconography and manuscript illuminations, and to educate Western audiences about the simple and meaningful illuminations of Slavic scribes by using gold and metallic inks and acrylic paints, embellished by Swarovski crystals. The illuminations reflect the joy of spirituality, emphasizing the themes of the Light within and without and the Tree of Life as major inspiration.

Since 2009, "Sacred Illuminations” has participated in 50 juried solo and joint art shows, including 26 solo exhibits and 82 festivals, bazaars, and fairs, in Texas, New York, New Mexico (Santa Fe), Colorado (Denver), California (San Francisco), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh), North Carolina (Raleigh) Holland, Bulgaria, and South Africa. "Tree of Life - Holy Spirit" has been published in Christian Century, L-Magazine, Behold. Kamerkoor Kwintesens used my "Tree of Life - Infinity" for its production of Arvo Part's Adam Lament in the Hague, Holland. . "Tree of Life - Eyes and Hands" served as a book cover for Peter Traben Haas' Beautiful Prayer. The catalog includes more than 350 titles.

I have also participated in the JGallery exhibit "Out on a limb" and the anniversary performance of the Fiddler on the Roof at Trinity Theater. One of the pieces for the Fiddler was L'Haim.

​Shalom!
Tatiana

SACRED ILLUMINATIONS
Tatiana Nikolova-Houston, Ph.D.
http://www.sacredillumination.com
gabrovo61@yahoo.com; (512) 619-5186