I was born and grew up in the capital city of Ukraine (Kiev). At that time Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, so I guess I grew up in a regular Soviet family. My parents were both engineers and we shared a household with my grandparents.
I was a very active and impatient child, so my parents discovered a way to keep me busy and quiet. They would give me pencils, paper, paints, chalks and clay and challenge me to draw or sculpt a perfect "horsy" or a "birdy" and I seemed to stay busy for hours trying to get it right. I don’t know what gave me patience, but I seemed to lose myself in shapes, colors and stories. I felt so happy and proud when I would show the finished drawings to my parents and grandparents and they would act surprised that I could create something like this. I loved seeing them enjoy my little creations.
When I was five my drawing was selected to be published in the “Pre-School Education” magazine. My parents considered putting me through a specialized art school, but it did not go as planned. I went to a different school after moving to a different part of town because my aunt died and we took my cousin into our family. There was no art school nearby, so I got envolved in sports.
In school I faced a lot of rules that were stagnant to the creative mind. Fake perfection, fed by the corrupt system did not allow much room for self expression within the standard norm. I started to question things only to find out that we were slaves of this system. I rebelled, I wanted to change things, I wanted to be free, I hated that somebody out there was controlling my life without any care of what I thought, what I wanted, or what was inspiring to me. So I got involved in ice skating and focused on being an "A" student, since my parents told me it was the only way to beat the system and be free to travel abroad so I could know the things other than the usual propaganda that we were fed. I still did a lot of artistic projects for the school, but as much as my family and friends liked my work nobody encouraged me to become an artist. My great uncle Nikolay Boychenko, a painter quite known in the art circles in Kiev, has always inspired me. Through him I also observed that even talented and known people had a very difficult time making a living in expressive arts when the economic situation in Ukraine started to get worse. The system would not tollereate raw creative expressions so most of the artist were underground and were not supported financially unless portraying politically convenient ideas. Facing the corruption of the system and the economic situation in Ukraine I realized that I could only be an artist as a hobby.
When I was sixteen I suffered an illness which was related to the accident at the nuclear plant in Chernobyl. My parents started looking for a chance for me to leave the country and escape the radioactive contamination. Family friends in the United States presented an opportunity for me to come and study in America and my parents paid their life savings for the ticket to the U.S. My life has changed forever. As the years went by I was overwhelmed by the possibilities that became available to me. I tried so many things, I learned, I struggled, I questioned life and my motives, I went back to the Ukraine and studied with the leading artists in Kiev, I compared different cultures, I tried to understand, to survive, to heal, to spread my wings, to adjust, to deal with completely different systems. I have met amazing people and I know I can not deny that art is my form of communication to the world. I am gratefull for the opportunity that God and this country allowed me to have. I really want to express the jewels that I have found on my life's path that have helped me to overcome the obstacles, expand my visions, open my heart, and bring me true happiness through my art, so others could be inspired to find what is extraordinary in their lives. My intention is that the art I create will become a tool for someone to get closer to their dream and live an amazing life.
Love, Tatyana