Garessio
Garessio is a municipality (comune) in the Province of Cuneo, located in the Tanaro Valley. Since 2023 it has been the home and studio of Estonian painter Keili Major, who on 6 November 2026 received an international award in Venice for a series of works dedicated to the River Tanaro.
Keili Major and the NY20+ Special Prize
Keili Major, born in Estonia in 1989, trained in oil painting in Australia under the guidance of master painter Bill Mackay, receiving the 2016 Emerging Artist Award in Queensland. Having returned to Italy at the end of 2021, she has lived and worked in Garessio since 2023, where she paints using two techniques: the traditional brush technique and Finger Painting, done solely with the fingers, which has been her distinctive style since 2018 [1][2].
On 6 November 2026 Major received the NY20+ Special Prize of the 21st Arte Laguna Prize, an international contemporary-art competition founded in Venice in 2006 by the Associazione Culturale MoCA, at the Arsenale Nord in Venice. The prize consists of a 31-day artist residency in Chengdu, in Sichuan, at Nongyuan Culture, an organisation that runs three themed parks in the Chinese city and is involved in international cultural exchange. Major was the only Estonian artist among the finalists and winners of the 21st edition [1][2].
The «Anno Tanaro» series
Major will leave for China after completing Anno Tanaro («Tanaro Year»), a series of twelve paintings begun on 1 June 2026. In the first week of each month the same spot on the bank of the River Tanaro is photographed with the same framing, and from that photograph the artist paints, using only her fingers, a 60×80cm oil-on-cotton canvas. The spot never changes: only the time of year portrayed changes. At the time of the award, five paintings had been completed [1][2].
Timeline
- — Estonian painter Keili Major, who lives in Garessio, receives the NY20+ Special Prize of the Arte Laguna Prize in Venice, which grants her a month-long artist residency in Chengdu, China. → Cuneo24 IdeaWebTv
Sources
- Garessio, a Keili Major il Premio Speciale NY20+ dell’Arte Laguna Prize — Cuneo24, 9 November 2026
- Garessio: a Keili Major il Premio Speciale NY20+ dell’Arte Laguna Prize — IdeaWebTv, 9 November 2026