Biography
I was born in Russia and attended the Moscow
School of Fine
Arts, where I studied art history and figure
painting and
drawing in the classical realistic tradition, with anatomy studies,
and drawing and painting from life models.
I also studied at the Department of
Applied Arts and Design at Moscow Textile Institute and graduated
with a BFA in painting, textile design and fashion illustration and
design in 1977.
Before immigrating to the United
States, I spent the summer of 1981 in Italy, studying art at the
greatest museums. To be in Rome, to spend days in front of the
masterpieces in the Vatican and to study for weeks the works of the
Masters was an unforgettable experience.
After moving to Philadelphia, I worked
for many years in textile and fashion industry companies.
I continued to paint and
draw and exhibited at the local art centers and galleries and in 1998
started working full-time as a professional figurative artist. At
that time my interest in sculpture grew stronger and I started
working in terra cotta.
I went back to school at the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2005 to study stone sculpture
and
figure modeling.
In
February 2010 I was awarded a commission to make a life size bronze
statue of Saint Leonie Aviat for
Saint Bernadette of Lourdes Parish in Drexel Hill, PA. The statue was
installed in April 2011 and
blessed and
dedicated by Cardinal Rigali on May 14, 2011.
In
2011 two of my works won at the nationwide competition and were
published in the "Strokes of Genius 3, Best of
Drawing" book.
I have exhibited extensively in the
Delaware Valley area in solo and group shows, and my sculptures and
drawings and some commissioned portraits are also in many private
collections.
I am a faculty member and instructor at
the Darlington Arts Center in Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania, and at The
Community Arts Center in Wallingford, Pennsylvania. |