Stela Railean (artist name: Estela Raileanu) is a multidisciplinary artist, animator, illustrator, educator, and researcher from the Republic of Moldova. Her practice combines painting, drawing, animation, and artistic research to explore memory, perception, cultural narratives, identity, and the emotional and historical traces embedded in landscapes. Through place-based and process-oriented methodologies, she investigates how creative practice can generate new forms of knowledge and dialogue.
Stela recently completed her PhD in Animation and Education Studies. She earned her degree in Painting from the Alexandru Plămădeală College of Fine Arts and later completed degrees in Graphics and Animation Directing at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts in Moldova. She was awarded a Fulbright Visiting Scholar fellowship, through which she conducted research in the United States, expanding her interdisciplinary approach to animation, education, and artistic research.
Since 2022, she has been a lecturer in Animation at the Faculty of Art and Design, Ion Creangă State Pedagogical University, where she combines teaching, research, and creative practice. Alongside her academic work, she has illustrated more than 100 children’s books under the pseudonym Loopina, collaborating with authors and publishers worldwide. She is also the founder and creative director of Loopina Creative, a multidisciplinary studio specializing in illustration, animation, visual development, character design, and educational storytelling. Through the studio, she develops creative projects spanning publishing, animation, branding, and visual communication. She is also developing Loopina Publishing, an independent imprint dedicated to creating original illustrated books and visual storytelling projects.
Her work has been presented in international exhibitions, residencies, and artistic symposiums, including the Ludvig International Symposium (Hungary), Rebart Symposium (Austria), and Inter-Art International Art Camp (Romania). Working across traditional and digital media, Stela develops visual narratives that foster reflection on place, belonging, and collective memory while building connections between artistic practice, education, and research.
