Exhibiting Artist

Bistra Hristova is a Bulgarian-born photographer and artist who currently lives and creates in Asheville, North Carolina. Bistra’s strong background in fine arts and her passion for the outdoors took her through several careers from wilderness trip leading and teaching to interior design/painting but all of those experiences finally culminated in her last most exciting vocation as a mixed media photographer and artisan. Bistra spends most of her time traveling, backpacking, hiking and kayaking and these adventures inspire her photographic art. She developed her artistry, her crafts skills and her photographic technique partially on her own and through her previous educational and professional experiences. She combines her vast knowledge of building and natural
materials and her artistic, photographic and technical skills to create completely original and unique mixed media pieces. Bistra creates one-of-a-kind handcrafted photographs on salvaged wood and stone. The technique she uses is known as phototransfer or ink transfer. Bistra discovered the process online and has been perfecting it since 2016. She is the only photographer in North Carolina who exhibits this mixed media photography professionally.  The process of ink transfer is often confused with decoupage but it is actually quite different and more complex. It is achieved with the help of various art mediums. Bistra salvages wood from construction sites, barns, sawmills and local businesses. She also picks marble tiles from the closeout shelves in the local tile stores. The wood is cut, sanded, primed, and painted white. An original photo is edited, resized to fit the material and printed with a laser printer on regular paper. The paper photo is then glued face-down to the wood. While the paper dries, the ink transfers to the wood so that after the paper dries, it can be wetted and rubbed off but the ink stays attached to the
wood. Bistra applies acrylic paint touch ups to the ink transfer to add another art layer to the final piece. The image is then sealed for protection. Due to the nature of the materials and the variables in the process, Bistra’s phototransfers are absolutely unique and cannot be duplicated. These mixed media photographs never fade and thus have an heirloom quality to them and can be owned by many generations.

Hurricane Helene Visiting Artist