Who is Mia?
Mia Melanie Saar is a young Estonian artist who is telling her personal stories through emotionally loaded and colorful paintings.
She grew up in the midst of South-Estonian forests and fields where her ancestors have lived in the same homestead for 5 generations. Therefore connection to her home and roots is a very important ongoing topic in her creative work. She is dissecting life and the human experience from her own personal angle and by that she is giving her audience an opportunity to both relate and discover.
Mia Melanie Saar has had both personal and group exhibitions all over Estonia and abroad. She has a bachelor’s degree of fine arts from the Pallas University of Applied Sciences and is currently pursuing a masters’s degree from the renowned NABA university in Rome, Italy.
Oil paint and naïve art
Her medium of choice is the oil paint that allows to build up the artwork in many layers and have many different paintings in rotation at the same time. But painting is only one part of the creative process, gathering inspiration from seemingly mundane moments and sketching are as important components in the creation of the finished result.
Mia has tried out different techniques but the main things that characterize her work have always stayed the same – strong emotions and bold colors, tipping her toes both in surrealism and naïve art. Nowadays she feels comfortable in her own personal style but what are we going to call it? Well, only time will tell.
Organized chaos
Her studio is located at her home in Tammuri, in the same room where Mia’s grandmother was born years ago. That fact will further solidify the strong intergenerational connection, a topic that is highly important in Mia’s work.
A bright space with a lot of natural light, organized chaos and carefully selected 60’s soul – this is how Mia describes a perfect creative environment in her home studio.
CV
Mia Melanie Saar
artist & curator
Education
2024- …
Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti (NABA) | Rome, Italy
– MA Visual Arts & Curatorial studies
2019-2023
Pallas University of Applied Sciences | Tartu, Estonia
– BA fine arts
2022 (March – July)
Erasmus
Artistic School of Oporto | Porto, Portugal
– fine arts
2020 (September – December)
Erasmus
Tbilisi State Academy of Arts | Tbilisi, Georgia
– fine arts
Solo exhibitions
2025
“The Many Faces of MIA vol 3” | Aparaaditehas | Tartu, Estonia
2023
Selected works | KODAS | Valgjärve, Estonia
2022
“Public intimacy and other tales” | Design and Architecture Gallery | Tallinn, Estonia
2021
“Wonder and pain” | Tartu Art House | Tartu, Estonia
2021
“The Many Faces of MIA 1.2” | Gallery Night, Aparaaditehas | Tartu, Estonia
2020
“The Many Faces of MIA” | Aparaaditehas | Tartu, Estonia
Group exhibitions
2025
“Näoga naivismi poole” | K28 Studio Gallery | Tallinn, Estonia
2024
“Femisfäär” Kaupo Karelson Collection-Based Exhibition| Volta Gallery | Tallinn, Estonia
“Pärisuunas vastassuunas” | Konservatoorium | Viljandi, Estonia
“Koos/Kõla” | Pärnu Muuseum | Pärnu, Estonia
2023
“Koos vaadates“ | Design Digesto | Tallinn, Estonia
“The New Artist“ | Boomer Gallery | London, UK
“Lend 2023“ | Pallas Gallery | Tartu, Estonia
“Pühendumus” | Betti Alver Museum | Jõgeva, Estonia
2022
“Ioiô“ | Galeria Dinamo | Porto, Portugal
2021
Group project, Paintings for Tartu University Hospital | Tartu, Eesti
“Vaatenurk” | University of Tartu Library | Tartu, Estonia
“Kollane koridor” | Looming Hostel | Tartu, Estonia
“Kvaliteet” | Pallas Gallery | Tartu, Estonia
2020
“Vaatemäng“ | Noorus Gallery | Tartu, Estonia
”Tulevik on teos“ | Promenaadiviis | Tartu, Estonia
Curated exhibitions
2025
“Dolce far niente” | Lauda Gallery | Otepää, Estonia
2023
“Dedication“ Pallase painting department | Betti Alver Museum | Jõgeva, Estonia
2022
Jürgen Vainola solo exhibition “Lost witnesses” | Jakobi Gallery | Tartu, Estonia
Art auctions
2024
“Osta noort kunsti” | Telliskivi Roheline Saal | Tallinn
2023
“Osta noort kunsti” | Telliskivi Roheline Saal | Tallinn
2021
“Osta noort kunsti” | Telliskivi Roheline Saal | Tallinn
2021
Tartu kunstioksjon | Tartu Art House | Tartu
Projects and comissions
2021 – …
Label design, Tammuri Talu wines – wine label illustrations in collaboration with Höpler Winery, Austria
2024
Label illustrations in collaboration with Pühaste Brewery, Estonia
2024
Illustrations for Värske Rõhk Magazine, January Issue
2023
Logo Illustration for the Supreme Court Prosecutor’s Office, Estonia
2022
Lauda Gallery, co-founder and curator
2021
Mural “Clearcutting Bubble,” Telliskivi, Tallinn (Street Art Festival)
Residency
2025 (March)
R.A.R.O Residency | Barcelona, Spain
Scholarship
2021
Hotel Pallas Scholarship, Estonia