Twenty-year-old Gavriella Pantelides, grew up on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus. She is an artist who is currently studying illustration at The Fashion Institute of Technology. At FIT, she is an active member of the student body, volunteering at NY Fashion week through winning the FIT Common Project in 2015. Gavriella will graduate with an Associate’s degree in Illustration in the Spring of 2017. She aspires to become a freelance illustrator after college. She is currently involved in the creation of an original sign language comic book.

Although her abilities extend beyond the various areas of painting such as comic, figure, landscape, still-life, and animal painting, her passion lies in the study of portraiture, through which she uses vivid colors to express the intense emotions of the individuals she captures. Her artwork blends traditional and digital mediums, to create a unique and inspiring perspective.

When she is not fully immersed in creating art, Gavriella enjoys singing opera, playing the piano, and maintaining an active lifestyle. "When I listen to beautiful melodies and how they combine to produce different moods and meanings, I am reminded of the vivid colors of a canvas. To me, each color has its own emotion, and everything that I do influences and inspires me to translate these emotions into my paintings," Gavriella says.