Classically Trained
Present to what’s Here Now
A member of Portrait Society of America, Tatyana is currently based in New Zealand. Leaving her birthplace in Crimea, Tatyana completed her B.A. and M.A. degrees in the USA. After exploring careers in consulting and non-profits, drawn to traditional ideas of beauty and art she sought out the Florence Academy of Art (FAA) to discover a solid foundation as a painter, graduating with diploma in Painting. Tatyana is a recipient of the Ann Lee and John F. Stacey scholarship awarded to emerging realist artists. She is a prizewinner of the ARC scholarship competition as well as an awardee of the 4th Year Prize apprenticeship at the Florence Academy of Art. In 2014 her work was accepted to the Royal Academy of Portrait Painters Exhibition in London. In 2015 she showed at "The Royal Society of British Painters Exhibition 2015" where she has received the 'The de László Award for Classical Draughtsmanship'. Other showings include "Chiaroscuro" with the Richard Massey foundation in New York, NY and "Women Painting Women" in Charleston at the Principal Gallery. Tatyana was a finalist in the Parkin Drawing Prize in Wellington New Zealand in 2016 and has received the Nola Hartford Memorial Award at Peter Doig National Art Awards in Blenheim, NZ in 2017. She recently held a solo exhibition of 37 paintings at Aratoi Museum in Masterton, New Zealand.
Tatyana’s paintings can be found in private collections in the UK, USA, Europe and New Zealand as well as now in the permanent collection of the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut and Cameron Museum of Art in Wilmington, NC.
As a former instructor at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, where she taught drawing and painting, Tatyana is continuing her teaching practice in Wellington, working with students in her Anthesis Atelier on lower Cuba St providing teaching in the classical tradition. Tatyana travels teaching master classes in Australia, Europe and New Zealand. Tatyana is most passionate about painting commissioned work as well as her sought-after floral work in her studio on Cuba st; here she has painted (among others) the official portrait of Sir Bill English, Dr. Jane Goodall and Minister James Shaw.
FAQ’s Why don’t you paint from photographs?
Being present to life is the reason I paint. I come to life painting the light falling on petals or observing light as it turns in space to create the presence of a person. In the times of smartphones, AI and self driving cars, the speed of the world is mind boggling. Everything competes for our attention and we don’t give sufficient consideration as to how to grant this precious commodity. A panting is a method of coming into presence with oneself and finding the listening to what’s inside. Painting slowly, exclusively from life, in natural light, in communion with what I am observing. It is the method of observing and dialoguing with life that can deliver a presence-filled work. That’s why contemplating a painting created from life gives the viewer the experience of presence.
Why does the work look “old fashioned”
Vast majority of imagery produced these days is a copy of photographs. We are inundated with smart phone images and advertisements. Our aesthetic is driven by what we are used to looking at, and turns out we don’t look at life very often - not in the way that notices it. To produce a work from life with deliberate expression and not haphazard copying is something that was practiced since the renaissance and up to the middle of the 20th century and seems to be momentarily obscured. However with the rise of AI, experiencing something deeply seen and crafted is increasingly rare and no convenience in the world can replace being seen and seeing.
Find your Perfect Painting
A painting transports you to the timeless place of the “now”