I was born in Ukraine and educated there at the Kharkov Art Institute. I worked in different fields in Ukraine and Estonia: designing leather bags and belts, teaching painting and drawing at the Kharkov Architectural College. My family immigrated to the USA in 1997. For 11 years my connection with art was limited to occasional weekend painting.

After getting laid off from my job in December 2008 I remembered that I am an artist and need to do what I love. Dollmaking includes all the aspects of art that I love: sculpting, painting and designing. And the most exciting part of this genre is the artist’s unlimited ability to create a person, a character, and bring it to life. The next milestone in my artistic growth was joining NIADA: I became a member of a dollmaking community with high standards. NIADA is an extremely important part of my artistic growth.

Most of my works depict children. I feel emotionally attached to children and they are always a source of my inspiration. I begin each doll by sculpting a head. When I begin I have a very rough idea and as I work, the head tells me what it wants to be. Capturing a character is the most challenging and most rewarding part of the process. I make dolls because I love them like a mother loves her children.