Alexey Steele Receives a Prestigious Artemis Award and Announces the Formation of Artists for Marbles

Athens, Greece. Alexey Steele, a noted Los Angeles artist, was recognized for celebrating the power and beauty of women through his art on a heroic scale in the modern world particularly in his multi-figure compositions “The Circle” and “The Soul of The Hero”. He was one of the 14 distinguished honorees and came to Athens for the Annual Euro-American Women’s Council’s Global Forum sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture, and the Mayor of Athens.

Honorable Deputy Foreign Minister Theodore Kassimis, Former Economic Minister Peter Doukas, Vice Mayor of Athens Sophie Daskalaki Mytilinaiou were among government officials, dignitaries and celebrities gathered at the historic Zapio Megaro to Honor the 2009 EAWC Award recipients at the 13th annual EAWC Global Women’s Forum on the 15th of June.

The awardees also included an Emmy-award winning journalist Rita Cosby, Noble-prize winner Dr. Devra Davis, Greek scholar, and former Vice President of NASDAQ. Loula Loi Alafoyiannis, Founder and President of EAWC said, “These honorees truly exemplify what the Goddess Artemis Award is all about: outstanding personal achievement, the protection and promotion of women, a vocal concern for the environment, and a passion to create a better understanding between cultures. These remarkable individuals serve as true role models for future generations.”

One of the highlights of the event included the unveiling of the painting “Arrows of Artemis” by Alexey Steele dedicated to EAWC’s mission to empower women. With Mr. George Sourlas, Vice President of the Parliament and Speaker of The House, the prominent awardees pledged their full support to bring the Elgin Marbles back to their rightful birthplace at the Acropolis. From the floor of the parliament Alexey Steele proposed that the opening of the new magnificent Acropolis Museum has dramatically altered the protracted debate about the fate of this famed and sacred to Greece World Treasures now in possession of Great Britain.

From a long held noble cause of the few idealistic dreamers it has now firmly transformed into a very attainable reality. Yet to finally see this incomparable example of human genius reunited in the closest to a complete form possible under the Rock of Acropolis will require a wide international effort aimed at bringing this issue to the forefront of global public attention, turning it into a popular cause and elevating the pressure on the British Government to a tipping point.

Alexey Steele also stressed the importance of expressing historic gratitude to British people for preserving the marbles through Greece’s struggle for independence. “With opening of this magnificent museum it is truly momentous and historic to symbolically fulfill the dream and the belief of Lord Byron’s generation in the future of Independent Greece that Greece has now fully realized. It is now time to fulfill the purpose and the mission of preserving the Greek treasures for the World by returning the Parthenon Marbles to the sacred place where they belong and where they will rest in now indisputable safety to be shared in perpetuity with rest of the World. It’s time for “Elgin Marbles” to finally come back home, to finally become again and forever, what they once were – THE GLORIOUS MARBLES OF PARTHENON.”- Says Alexey Steele

Alexey Steele further announced the formation of “Artists for Marbles: Artists for a return of Parthenon Marbles to Acropolis” group, based on the belief that artists have a special personal connection to Acropolis and therefore shall act as its symbolic international guardians; he also outlined a complex of initiatives including a tiered, coordinated international print, radio, TV and Internet multi-platform media campaign launching with his creation of special original “Weeping Greece” painting.

The EAWC winners also were honored with a special award for promoting Hellenic culture by the City of Athens Mayor’s Office. EAWC Awardees also visited two of Greece’s spectacular islands – Crete and Myconos. On behalf of EAWC Alexey Steele executed a portrait sketch of Mayor of Myconos, Mr. Athanasios Kousathanas who vowed his continued support for EAWC, and helped induct the honorees into the Women’s Hall of Fame on the sacred island of Delos, the birthplace of the mystical goddess of Artemis.

About Artemis Awards

The Artemis Awards are given annually to leaders from around the world for their distinguished achievements in the fields of business, politics, journalism and academia, who bridge nations and cultures, set economic trends, exercise influence, innovate change, and make a difference in this world. The classic bronze Artemis Sculpture was designed by Exsekias Trivoulides. The magnificent Artemis Medallion, presented to each of the recipients, was created by Status Gold Workshop based in Myconos. The Hellenic Post Office Authority (ELTA) presented each honoree with a commemorative papyrus having their faces embossed on an official stamp.

About EAWC

EAWC's mission is to strengthen the status of women in the global marketplace by building strategic alliances between women in business and prominent leaders across the United States, Europe, Mexico, Latin America and other places of the world. Through EAWC, women of diverse backgrounds and accomplishments work together to advance women's access to positions of leadership and to pave the way for the next generations of women business leaders.

About Alexey Steele

Born in Kiev, Ukraine, on March 19, 1967, Alexey Steele began his art training at an early age in the studio of his father, renowned Russian artist Leonid Steele. Alexey furthered his professional education at the prestigious Surikov Art Institute of the Soviet Academy of Arts in Moscow, studying under internationally acclaimed artist Illia Glazunov. In 1990, Steele moved to Los Angeles where he still resides as he paints large-scaled figurative paintings and murals, portraits, and California plein-air landscapes inspired by the classical color palette of the Moscow School.
Through its broad thematic range, Steele’s work exhibits his remarkable ability to draw monumental figures in foreshortened positions and the ability to construct complex compositions.

Two of Steele’s unique grand-scaled mural commissions include The Circle, figurative composition with a diameter of 31 feet, and the allegorical work, The Soul of the Hero with a diameter of over 20 feet. 


Alexey Steele is a participant of numerous exhibitions, including museums and one-man shows, with his art extensively covered by art magazines. Steele is a Signature Member of the California Art Club and was the recipient of the Silver Medal for the 1994 California Discovery Award. In 1996, he co-founded the Annual Russian Heritage Festival presented at the historic Mission San Juan Capistrano in Southern California until 2005. In 2007 he founded Classical Underground in Los Angeles. It showcases the relation of representational arts and classical music through a uniquely formatted Chamber Music in the Studio Series.

Alexey Steele is represented by American Legacy Fine Arts, Pasadena.

Official web site: http://www.highartforever.com/  - wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexey_Steele/  - Artists for Marbles: http://www.artistsformarbles.com/  

This is an updated version of July 14 press-release with updated images in the gallery.