‘There are no impossible ideas, as long as you put your heart and soul into them.’ Those were Teofana Maneva’s words, the artist who opened a solo exhibition on 18 September 2025, at the Prof. Vasil Gerov Hall of NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’. It included some twenty artworks produced over the past two years.
Teofana stated exclusively for Untold Stories that she has been a dreamer since childhood:
‘I was lucky to grow up in a family where the world of fairy tales was revered. My childhood was filled with brave heroes, mermaids, ghosts, nymph-dryads, and dragons, from the stories of my great-grandfather, Professor Nikolay Raynov. I turned the wardrobe full of hanging belts and bags into a magical forest, while the kitchen table became my cave hidden deep in the rocks of the mountain.’
Teofana Maneva was born in 1972 in Sofia. She graduated in Puppetry Theatre Directing in 1996. She stages plays treating subjects that excite her: the creative flame in ‘Luminous Rainfall’, a play of shadows to the music of ‘The Firebird’ by Igor Stravinsky; ‘The Country of Thirty-six Thousand Wishes’ by André Maurois, where everything is possible; ‘The Flying Elephant’, in which she sees otherness. She is the author and director of television programmes at Nova Television.
In 2005, she left for Spain. Settling in Madrid, she founded the Play Art Gallery, a children’s artistic centre where she conducts workshops in theatre, applied arts, and games. She has succeeded in helping many children who want to create, and in passing on her knowledge to young people who work with children in various organisations. ‘The Body, Objects and Shadows as Means of Developing Creativity’ and ‘The Art of Vivifying Matter’ are some of the topics she has successfully worked on.
Following a visit to a Steiner Kindergarten and School in 2006, while still living in Madrid, Teofana enrolled for a three-year seminar to become a Waldorf educator.
‘There in that group, the individuality of each child could be seen and felt, unlike in other schools and colleges. Years later, I had to return to Bulgaria; I introduced Waldorf education system along with a team of like-minded people. I have worked with children, educators, and parents, for almost 15 years now,’ said Teofana Maneva, adding:
‘I have always felt tremendous respect for children during their free play time, observing the way creativity manifested itself in each one. This feeling also overwhelmed me when I was telling them fairy tales. I could see in their eyes the characters bearing inherent spiritual wisdom become alive in their souls.’
In 2011, Maneva founded the Prof. Nikolay Raynov School, the first Waldorf institution in Bulgaria, and in 2014, she also started up a kindergarten. Her desire to keep alive and develop the imagination and creativity in every child inspired her to establish a creative laboratory, ‘CreARToria’. Thus, she stimulates children to work with their imagination by using various materials. ‘A few years later, I began to study art therapy and help adults to awaken and meet the creator in them,’ added the artist.
Teofana Maneva also recollected the beginning:
‘Some time ago, surprisingly even for myself, I began painting. Coming from a family of artists and sculptors, this was a huge challenge for me. As a child, I had drawn a vase of flowers, and the professionals in my family told me: “This vase is crooked; that’s not the way to draw—this is how you do it.” The result was that I officially announced to everyone that I would never draw again. Well, I realised that one should never say “never”. Today, drawing is a daily necessity for me; it fills me with great joy, makes my soul rejoice, and gives me the opportunity to create.’
Talking about her works in ‘Tales from the Palette’, Teofana Maneva said they ‘came to life in that wonderful moment of excitement, when the flame burns, and images and ideas appear one after another,’ and continued:
‘Looking back, I succeeded in tracking one major thread in my life, and it was connected with the expression of the creator in each and every one of us. What has always excited me—from my very first performances after graduating to this day—is how a creative flame flourishes; how to develop our imagination so that we can fulfil our dreams, and how to gain the courage to be free creators, those we were born to be. And there really are no impossible ideas, as long as you put your heart and soul into them.’