FAMOUS PEOPLE

OSKAR KOGOJ

Industrial designer Oskar Kogoj was born in 1942 in Miren. In 1966 he graduated in industrial design. Since 1971, he has been renowned as a freelancer designer, in the same year, he also received the Prešeren Fund award.

His works are kept in more than 100 museums and permanent collections all over the world. He has exhibited at more than 350 exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad, and he has received more than 60 international awards and recognitions for his exceptional work. A large part of his creative opus can be viewed at the Oskar Kogoj Nature Design Gallery in Miren. In his works, Oskar Kogoj revives nature patterns and searches for the way of creating forms that will inspire us to know how to recognise and appreciate the energy of nature. He is an artist who describes himself as a researcher. He believes that life is one big discovery of secrets and laws of nature that were understood already by ancient cultures. He lives and works in Miren along the Vipava River, which has, just like his family, been in his life since he was born.

NEGOVAN NEMEC

Academic sculptor Negovan Nemec was born in 1947 in Bilje, a part of Miren Kras. In 1976, he graduated in academic painting and received the Prešeren Award as a student. In 1987 he had an accident and soon after died very young.

During his short but very creative life, he made many bust portraits, public monuments and reliefs. He cooperated at many domestic and foreign exhibitions, biennials and symposia. He was also involved in graphic and industrial design. His works are exhibited in a gallery atelier in Bilje.

LOJZE SPACAL

Painter and graphic artist Lojze Spacal was born in 1907. He finished his schooling in 1932 in Venice. He worked as a lecturer all his life. He received the Prešeren Award for his opus of graphic arts and paintings and died in 2000.

Lojze Spacal was one of the most important world renowned representatives of modern graphic art. His work reflects deep affiliation and love for Karst. The dramatic imagery of Karst was astonishingly created in his modest artwork in cold, winter colours. He also created the monumental frescoes that decorate the parish church in Graden and the paintings of ocean steamboats. Spacal also transformed a house in Miren into a unique karst pearl.

EDVARD IN JOSIP RUSJAN

Edvard Rusjan was born in 1886 in Trieste. He and his two-years older brother Josip were interested in aviation since they were small children. They made their way into history by constructing the first powered aircraft. They soon moved their workshop close to Miren, in 1910 they amazed the public with their flight 40 metres above the Miren field, i.e. with one of the most successful airplanes of the Rusjan brothers. In 1911, they presented their new airplane across the Balkans and broke world records. Despite bad weather, Edvard took off in Zagreb, but during the flight, the wind broke the airplane’s win and Edvard was killed in the crash. After his death, Josip made two other planes and later moved to Argentina.

ZORAN MUŠIČ

Zoran Mušič was born in 1909 in Bukovica, in the lower Vipava Valley, and baptised in Bilje. He was a modern painter, drawer and graphic artist, very well established in West Europe. He received many awards, including the awards at the Venice Biennial and Ljubljana Graphic Biennial. He also received Prešeren’s Award for life achievements and the Golden Order of Freedom of the Republic of Slovenia. His works were also exhibited at the Louvre Museum in Paris, Modern Art Museum in New York and the Tate Modern Gallery in London. He died in 2005 in Venice.

He mostly painted still life, portraits, self-portraits and the Karst landscape. He also dedicated a part of his opus to scenes that he experienced himself at the Dacha concentration camp. He gained his world recognition with his cycle “We Are Not the Last”.

SILVESTER KOMEL

Painter and art teacher Silverster Komel was born in 1931 in Rožna dolina near Gorizia. After graduating from the Academy of Art and Design, he lectured 22 years at the primary school in Miren. He dedicated his life to painting after he retired due to illness. He created more than 1000 works that were exhibited in Slovenia and across Europe. He received the Bevk Award and the Prešeren Award. Komel died in his birth place in 1983.

With his paintings, he introduced abstract illusionism in Slovenia, because he was also much involved in abstract painting. He mostly dealt with the dimensions of colour, because the latter is essential in illusionism. He was mostly interested in karst landscape. His works were mostly done with oil and acrylic paints.

JOŽE ŠPACAL

Painter, set designer, mosaic and graphic art designer Jože Špacal was born in 1939 in Kostanjevica na Krasu. He graduated from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and the Art College in Milan, where he graduated in mosaic art. In the 1990s, he worked as a set designer at TV Ljubljana, where he made more than 300 set designs. He correlates various areas in his installations and graphic work, and often relies to his knowledge in mosaic art. He has also created an erotic painting cycle. He says that he has the colours of karst in his blood – Teran vine, sumach and Teran wine. Despite being torn between Ljubljana and Karst, he has always carried the latter in himself.

MILOVAN VALIČ

Painter Milovan Valič was born in 1953 in Opatje Selo na Krasu. He graduated from the Faculty of Education in Ljubljana. He was a lecturer of painting, art theory and plastic design at the Art Gymnasium in Nova Gorica. He founded and led the international art symposium in Nova Gorica, and has organised more than 35 independent exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad. He has also received many national and international awards. 

Through paintings, Milovan Valič responds to events happening in the world around us. He uses symbolism, colours and gestures to express his inspiration.

ZMAGO POSEGA

Sculptor Zmago Posega was born in 1959 in Postojna. He graduated in sculpting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Ljubljana. He also lectured at that faculty and was the head of the Restoration Department. He exhibited often at independent and group exhibitions abroad and in Slovenia. As a student, he received the Prešeren Award, in 2002, he received the grand award at the Slovenian Biennial in Kranj. He also sculpted many public monuments. He died in 2009. 

Geographic location had a great impact on his work. Due to the vicinity of the border, he was often influenced by the Mediterranean culture. He combined traditional sculpting and the understanding of the modern subject in space. He mastered metals, clay, bronze and karst stone. He strongly combined sculpting with drawing.

ALEXANDER GADJIEV

Pianist Alexander Gadjiev was born in 1994 in Gorizia. As a child of extremely musically gifted parents, he started showing interest in music when he was five. His first piano teacher was his mother, later on he was taught by his father, the renowned pianist Siavush Gadjiev. He debited with an orchestra when he was nine, at ten years of age, he already played his first piano recital. In 2012, he graduated with honours from the Bruno Maderna Conservatory in Cesena. Despite his youth, he has already received many awards. In 2018, he won the world competition for piano masters in Monte Carlo, an elite event reserved for pianists who had already won the competition before. Gadjiev travels the whole world, where he is invited to elite competitions and festivals.

DARKO BEVILACQUA

Sculptor Darko Bevilacqua was born in 1948 in Bilje. He visited art school and acquired work experience in ateliers of renowned artists. During his career he travelled to many European countries. Before his death, he lived and worked in Cividale del Friuli. He died in 1991.

He was employed in an atelier when he was young. When travelling across Europe, he encountered Etruscan and Greek civilisations through art. This influenced his work. In 1975, he started working as an independent artist with his own atelier. He used bronze and clay, the impacts of ancient civilisations mythology are reflected in his works, which also pose the question of symbolism and relationship between man and nature. Subsequently, symbolism is replaced by narrative that mediates between man, myth and religion.

EVA DOLINŠEK

Harpsichordist, originally from Orehovlje, studied harpsichord at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana at the Department of Early Music with prof. Egon Mihajlovic. In 2015, she received a summa cum laude diploma for her outstanding artistic achievements and excellence in the master's exam. As a soloist and chamber musician, she performs on the concert stages of various festivals. In addition to concert activities, her activity in the field of reviving and researching early music continues in the form of professional lectures and writing scientific articles. She has received many awards at numerous international competitions. She regularly attends summer schools of various renowned professors, and upgrades her knowledge with the internationally renowned French harpsichordist and conductor Christophe Rousset and the Italian harpsichordist and expert in Italian Baroque music literature prof. Enrico Baiano. She has been the artistic director of the baroque chamber group Musica nucis since 2011. Furthermore, she has been an assistant in the field of harpsichord at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana since 2018. In 2021, she released her second CD entitled BAROQUE II - Pièces de clavecin, which succeeded the BAROQUE CD from 2016.