We recently connected with Yana Slutskaya and have shared our conversation below.

Yana, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I can remember, I have gravitated towards an artistic path. I started early in my childhood taking art and music classes, learning ballet, and doing self-made theatrical plays with my school friends. After high school, it was a natural call for me to continue my artistic education at Moscow State Academic Art College where I received a BA in Fine Arts majoring in painting and theatrical design. It took me years of living in several foreign countries, traveling, and starting my own family, before I realized that being an artist is what I wanted to do professionally. To become a professional in any craft takes time, patience, knowledge, experience, love for what you do, and a little bit of “luck” in being at the right place at the right time. I think when you are able to make money doing what you love, it is a huge blessing. Artistic professions, such as visual artists, have a major challenge sustaining their craft and being a successful artist while also learning how to become a businessperson! I love being a professional artist and learning how to accept all of its ups and downs. This helps me to grow as an artist and become a stronger person.

Yana, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was born and raised in Russia and moved to the United States twenty years ago and now call North Carolina my second home. I live in a beautiful countryside setting that I enjoy so very much. My art studio is at my home where I paint and create my still life photography. I consider myself a painter and fine art photographer. As a painter, I create vibrant and modern impressionistic style landscapes, fantasy scenes, and colorful abstracts in acrylic and oil. I enjoy improvising and experimenting with painting techniques while exploring a variety of subject matter. I find inspiration for my paintings from so many things I love, like traveling, talking to interesting people, walking in the park, watching a movie, visiting an art show, going to the theater, or reading an interesting book. When I am not using paint brushes to create art, I love to create and “paint” with my camera. I am so inspired by the painters of 17th Century European Baroque masters, that I decided to create a series of my own still lifes that reflect the influence of those masters while creating my own interpretation of that style. For the Golden Age painters of the 17th Century it was very important to depict still life paintings in a realistic way just as if they were photographed, despite photo cameras not being invented until the 19th century. It is important for me to capture my still life photographs with the look and feel of a painting to better represent the beauty and the poetry of this genre. The things I choose to photograph in my stills are all dear to me. I love to gather flowers and fruit from my own garden, seashells from the beach I visited, and collect an assortment of antiques. These can come from my family, grandparents, or even antique stores and flea markets. One of the most appealing aspects of doing still life photography is that you can take your time and create your own vision of beauty through everyday objects. European masters of still life art brought a lot of symbolism and secret meanings to their paintings. I find it very intriguing to decipher the old masters’ works and discover the philosophical meanings in their paintings beyond the visual beauty they carry. Flowers that we can now simply get at any supermarket today, for Europeans of the 17th century were a subject of mania and a symbol of luxury and status! In my work I am making an effort to bring back the beauty and tradition of classical art while paying homage to the Masters of this genre.
I love sharing my collection of paintings and still life photography and displaying it at small and large artistic venues and art galleries. I love to create, share, and inspire!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

It is fascinating to me how an artist can create something starting from a blank canvas or blank piece of paper that can inspire, bring emotions, and share beauty with others. Creating something new from scratch is an enjoyable challenge and achievement for me. It is very rewarding to know that people find something uniquely special to them in my paintings and photography in an emotional and spiritual way, something that they can cherish and enjoy forever. I believe that Art has great power in connecting people with its own visual language. People speaking in hundreds of different languages can also connect with each other just by looking at the same piece, much like music does. Sharing my art with others is a wonderful way to do this, and is very fulfilling for me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Nobody’s life is smooth or easy, and neither is mine. All of the turns and curves of the road I took were teaching me to keep going and never stop despite how tired or how difficult it was. One of the major pivoting moments in my life was facing the health issues of my child that led me to stop creating all together for many years and focusing on being a caregiver and supporting, loving parent. It was very hard and challenging and it is very painful for me to talk about, but I know that this challenge is what God wanted me to go through and has strengthened me as a mother, an artist, and a human being. During the times I was not creating, I still had that internal artist growing inside of me, always observing, learning, and accumulating something that eventually would turn into ART. I am still learning how to manage my artistic career while being a mom of a special needs child, who is my major focus, endless joy, and biggest pride! After a long break that I took from creating art, I was blessed to restart my artistic business and also make great progress in creating a vast collection of paintings and still life photography. During Covid times, I was able to rethink and revise my renewed art business and began a variety of new and meaningful projects, I met new creative minds, and greatly expanded my connections with other people in and around the creative community. I am grateful to continue my journey to overcome life’s challenges that bring the best out of me as a person and contribute to my ability to create as an artist!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yanaslutskaya.com
• Instagram: [email protected]
• Facebook: Facebook@YSArtStudio