Writers

Addison has been a writer for Beautiful Bizarre since 2019. Her involvement with Beautiful Bizarre has been a beautiful union of her own artistic endeavors and her skill as a writer to help promote other artists from across the globe. Her background education is in social psychology, with interests in gender-diversity. She enjoys crafting using various mediums with a special emphasis for chalk pastel drawings. She truly comes alive when surrounded by nature, and can often be found nestled up with a book sipping traditional teas.

Andrea Kovacic is a fourth-year Law and Creative Writing student studying in Sydney, Australia. Andrea has also studied Literature and History abroad at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, Italy. In addition to her studies, Andrea works as a freelance writer for a number of publications, whilst working on literary manuscripts. She is interested in the more dreamy and whimsical creations of the moody artistic world.

Bella Harris is an internationally exhibited artist and creator of Wooden Ophelia. She is not only the Online Editor at Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, she also oversees all staff writers and helps support website functionality and development. As a contributing writer for the website, active copy editor, and editorial photographer, she plays a vital role in the growth of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine while working closely with advertisers and artists.

Bella Harris is a self-taught artist whose first experience with the paintbrush came when she realized turpentine wasn’t her Grandmother’s Chanel N°5. Working with a variety of mediums, the St. Louis native explores the fragility, whimsicality, and unguarded emotional expression between realism and pop surrealism. With an emphasis on off-kilter portraiture, her emotionally driven works convey a sense of vulnerability and haunting individuality. Through her growing body of art and photography, she continues to render interpretatively subtle message of self-awareness and personal reflection alongside the many characteristics of a slightly stranger beauty. Her vision presents a wide spectrum of dark detailed lines juxtaposing light minimalism while other works capture a true range of color. Thriving deep in a collective vein driven by fragments of self-perceptions, the reservations in which one’s own criticisms have the ability to cripple distinctiveness are shed. Bringing to life new techniques and evolving styles, each piece embodies personal attachments of the artist’s creative voice and aims to embrace the viewer while delivering a nearly tangible variance of emotional communication. With consistent study, she methodically incorporates a variety of styles to convey the journey of her deeply personal vision.

She is the original creator of Wooden Ophelia, a contemporary collection of original moon designs, handmade woodwork, artwork furnishings, and sacred crystals… all to enchant your home.

Whether she’s wearing her journalist, copywriter or content editor’s hat, Danai thrives on uncovering stories, sounds and spaces that inspire people to embrace new art, music and travel experiences.

Some of her favourite interviews and cover stories over the years have seen her talk black acetate with ex-Velvet Underground John Cale, trace the links between music and boxing with jazz storyteller Diana Krall, and ponder on the Old West with subversive filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

Danai’s background includes publishing content in two languages as a writer and editor at Skyscanner Greece and Ireland travel blogs and serving as a full-time music editor at the long-standing Athens weekly Athinorama. Going freelance and moving to London over a decade ago, she has juggled various roles -including as an online author for the Beautiful Bizarre blog, interviewing artists and covering from dark and dadaist paintings to avant-garde fashions.

Lorena Kloosterboer is a Dutch-Argentine artist living in Antwerp who is best known for painting still lifes in acrylics. Highly inspired by the Dutch Golden Age, her compositions are based on symbolism through which she seeks to convey visual poetry. She’s the author of Painting in Acrylics: The Indispensable Guide. Three additional translations of this book have appeared under different titles and covers. She has written forewords for museum, gallery, and exhibition catalogues, including bilingual introductions for the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona, Spain. In 2023 she published Tempus ad Requiem, a book showing fifty of her still lifes with birds. She enjoys writing essays about art and artists which are published on Medium, and is happy to join the writers team at Beautiful Bizarre Magazine. Besides painting and writing, Lorena loves to read, travel, and spend time on the water.

Based in the UK, Natalia Joruk enjoys a life surrounded by art, nature, and curious trinkets. As Deputy Editor, she’s worked closely with the Editor-in-Chief for over a decade, supporting with the design and growth of Beautiful Bizarre and the maintenance of the annual Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize. Natalia also oversees sponsor partnerships for the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, and distribution of the magazine, so drop her an email if you know someone who would like to sponsor or stock! She also writes for both the Beautiful Bizarre Magazine website and print publication. One of her favourite perks is getting to know artists, gallery owners and their teams personally, so feel free to email her if there is anything she can help you with – or just to connect.

Ren Riley is an aspiring bounty hunter librarian, but until that job becomes a real thing, she works as a graphic designer, freelance writer, and marketing consultant. She holds a Bachelors of Science in Biology from Middle Tennessee State University and a Masters of Education Policy from the University of Washington. In her free time, she enjoys creating digital collages with a focus on futuristic elements and self-portraiture; her work has been shown at the Holy Art Gallery in London. She is the Editor of I, Enheduanna, a zine focused on up-and-coming feminine and non-binary creatives.

Richard Purssey is the Co-Founder and Technical Director of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine.

He is also an ICT Director who is also a lifelong collector and appreciator of modern art. During the life of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Richard has interviewed some of the finest contemporary realist artists from around the world, and been intimately involved in the creation of Beautiful Bizarre as a leading voice in the world of figurative art in all mediums. He has also been closely involved with the fine arts during his time as CIO of one of Australia’s most prestigious public galleries, the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Samantha Dexter is a Manchester-based writer, musician, artist and photographer. Graduating with a degree in music journalism, she now works as an advertising accounts manager and writer for Beautiful Bizarre. Her passion for art and culture runs into every facet of her life. She possess a strong connection to all things weird and wonderful with a particular fondness for dark and pop surrealism, lowbrow, contemporary art and animation. In her free time, Samantha enjoys playing guitar, travelling, collecting art books and designer toys and learning more about the topics that fascinate her the most. Her biggest goal is to be able to share her passions with like-minded people through her work.