My Background
My Inspiration
My Background
As a kid, I started to study with a talented artist and educator Yakov Frumgarts at the Children Art Studio in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The Studio focused on developing imagination, composition, and life drawing skills. Later I had many more years of formal art education yet the Studio played the most important role in my becoming an artist.
My Medium
My Inspiration
My Background
I always have been interested in trying various mediums and finding what works best for each project. I've done wood carvings, mosaics, glass painting, and more. Then there was a period when I focused almost entirely on linocut printmaking. Today, I do drawings, acrylic and pastel painting, collage, digital work, etc. It's fun to explore and learn more about art.
My Inspiration
My Inspiration
My Inspiration
My love for poetry had a great impression on my work. Like a short piece of poetry can say more with fewer words than a long novel, a graphic image, laconic and powerful, can convey much "on a limited budget". Uniting strong concepts and expressive graphics, I create visual metaphors with multiple layers of meaning.
Bio
Bio
I was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (former Soviet Union). My parents had a great interest in arts and literature. They put together a good home library and often took my older brother and me to art museums and theaters. When I turned 11, I started attending a children's art studio. There, we were taught drawing, painting, and composition. The main focus was placed on developing imagination. I loved reading and drawing and combined my two passions by illustrating my favorite books.
After attending a children's art studio for a few years, I studied at Republican Art School (Graphic Design) and then at the Tashkent Institute of Fine Arts (Book Illustration). There I was introduced to relief printmaking. Since then, linocut became my favorite medium. I started taking part in art shows while I was still a student. My artworks were purchased into public collections such as the State Museum of Fine Art, Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the Museum of Modern Arts, Urgench, Uzbekistan.
In 1995 I moved to the United States with my family. Residing in New York, I continued my education at the Fashion Institute of Technology (Graphic Design and Advertising) and worked as a graphic designer and freelance illustrator. The list of my clients includes UNICEF Flag Stamp Program, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and North Carolina Literary Review to name a few. My husband learned jewelry making and I started creating designs for his jewelry pieces.
In 2002, we moved to North Carolina. There, my husband built a printing press for me and I returned to printmaking. I have become a member of the Society of American Graphic Artists, American Color Print Society, and Los Angeles Printmaking Society. My artworks have been represented by a few galleries in the US and exhibited widely in numerous printmaking competitions and shows.
A new chapter in my life started in 2006 when I opened an Etsy shop wingedlion.etsy.com to sell my prints along with the jewelry made by my husband. Over the years our jewelry business grew and our items became very popular. We strive to make original pieces that are rich in cultural traditions, sophisticated, and beautiful. We enjoy turning our artistic fantasies into pieces of wearable art. Sergey and I live in Charlotte, NC with our two sons.
