Living in a beautiful fishing village on the Irish east coast, Maja originates from Ljubljana, Slovenia. She was born in 1979 and had a difficult childhood that was deeply impacted by an alcoholic stepfather. Immersing herself in her art offered her comfort and enabled her to escape sometimes overwhelming reality. She left her family home at 19 years of age and immigrated to Ireland in 2018.

From an early age, she participated in many art courses with some renowned painters. Throughout life curiously experimented with different art techniques, yet all seem to have a common theme – surrealism. Her main passion though was always drawing.

Engaging in the creative process became almost like therapy. The one thing that changes her perception of time and she enjoys it deeply. Maja mostly uses a mechanical pencil or ink pen which enables her to go into fine details and finish them with great precision. The drawings are full of symbolism, sometimes witty but always of a surrealistic nature. When she is drawing, she feels like the subconsciousness takes over. It almost feels like she is not the one making the strokes. 

Lately, she has been experimenting with plaster and ceramics as she feels a strong need to reach into the third dimension on a larger scale. The sculptures are also of a surrealistic nature, inspired by the depth of the human soul and our connection to Mother Nature. To expand her knowledge of the processes and techniques when working with clay, she is attending ceramics courses at Crawford College of Art and Design in Cork.

Maja Ban, member of Visual Artists of Ireland and Sample Studios