Check Out Yana Slutskaya’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Yana Slutskaya.

Hi Yana, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
My name is Yana Slutskaya, I am a professional artist, fine art photographer, and graphic designer. I was born and raised in Russia. I moved to the US two decades ago and have been calling it my second home ever since.

Growing up I was always drawn to painting, crafting, and theater! Besides many different after-school activities, such as music, gymnastic, and ballet classes, my favorite thing was painting at the local art studio. I always knew I would become an artist. I went to Moscow State Academic Art College and graduated with a BA in Fine Arts with a focus on Painting and Theatrical Design. I have traveled and lived in different countries throughout my life before I finally settled in Clayton, NC.

I am truly blessed to have my passion for art turned into a business, and now I am the proud owner of “Yana Slutskaya Art Studio”.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My son was born in 2008. Within a few weeks of his birth, he developed quadriplegia due to a condition that caused a spinal cord injury and that changed our lives forever. The first several years I “lived” at the hospitals with my son, he had many years of multiple surgeries and rehabilitation both in clinics and at home. He continues physical therapy on a daily basis. It has been extremely difficult and challenging to be an artist when my obvious priority is to be a loving parent and caregiver of my wonderful son.

For many years, I couldn’t touch my paintbrushes while being so overwhelmed and living the lifestyle of a full-time caregiver/provider of my brilliant and bright boy. My son brings great joy and happiness in so many ways and he has the most amazing personality and abilities far beyond his physical limitations. Thanks to the support and help from my incredible Mom, I was fortunate to continue to follow my passion and start creating again!

I know that everything in life happens for a reason, and I know that the challenges I am facing every day are making me a stronger person and deeper thinker as an artist. My paintings are an emotional gateway for me. I believe that we are all part of one wonderful universe, and my desire to create and share the beauty I see gives me energy and fulfillment. I think even when you are not able to paint or produce art, inside you always remain an artist.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I consider myself an avid photographer and a painter. When I am looking through my camera lens I often think about a subject matter as an artist, while as I hold the paintbrush I tend to think and feel emotions as if I have captured it with my camera. I am especially drawn to the still life genre as a photographer. The artworks by European painters of the Golden Age of the 17th century inspire me the most. Among these, some of my favorites are Giovanna Garzoni (Italian), Francisco de Zurbarán(Spain), Ambrosius Bosschaert (Dutch) who became absolute masters of still life during that era and captured an amazing wonder of nature from exotic flowers, food, and other everyday subject matter.

I find it especially satisfying to create my own still life paintings with my camera as I would have if I was painting it. There is so much visually rich celebration for your eyes and fulfillment to my soul. What I find quite intriguing and interesting is that still life paintings created centuries ago carry so much symbolism and hidden meanings behind the objects that are directly related to human fragility and brevity of human life. I am fascinated to observe that people throughout the centuries continue to value the same beautiful things and creative cuisine that we admire on the canvases of the old masters. With my still-life photography series, I explore and create new still-life impressions as a way to appreciate the common, yet wonderful things we enjoy every day.

Besides being a photographer, I am also a painter and I love color! The world is made of millions of shades of color. In my paintings, I tend to use extra bold and brilliant colors to intensify that initial internal feeling I have. Color is a driving power and emotional element for me. Often, I find that nature is so vibrant and fascinating that it’s hard to take it all in. I love how colors give me the power to create any spectrum of emotion and a deep range of feelings in my art. I find great passion in creating fantasy pieces, abstracts, dramatic nature scenes, and figurative compositions.

I enjoy being active as an artist by sharing my art in pop-up shows as well as various art gallery showings and exhibitions. I also find these to be a great way to make new connections, exchange and develop new ideas with other artistic minds.

As an artist, I seek to create, enrich, and share the experience of visual arts with the local community and art lovers around the world.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
The challenging time of Covid-19 affected almost everyone I know and caused many to reevaluate aspects of their lives. Ironically for me, it was a catalyst that helped me to expand my level of creativity, while working from my home base studio and helped me grow as a business owner. This included a new commitment to creating an infrastructure that would propel my art into a proactive and viable business. I realized that it was important to be creative and take initiative to adjust to the new life circumstances that we all faced in some way or another.

Along with growing my business in several ways, one of the new amazing projects that I am very proud of was born – “Let’s Talk Art with Yana Slutskaya”. It is a collaborative effort and video production series about artists, inspirational people, unique destinations, and colorful cultural events. The idea of producing “Let’s Talk Art” came to life with the desire to create a supportive environment and platform to help visual artists by being recognized and giving them an opportunity to express their thoughts and challenges during Covid-19.

The first episode of this show was filmed during the lock-down period and covered issues and challenges of an artistic community during a time of uncertainty. This project would not have come to life without the talents of the amazing video producer David Richards as well as the many amazing artists and supporters of art and culture that we met during the filming of the series. Being a co-producer and host of the show has been an eye-opening and enriching experience for me and definitely has helped me grow as an artist as well as given me new experiences I never imagined.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: YanaSlutskaya.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/artstudio.ys
• Facebook: Facebook@YSArtStudio
• Youtube: youtube.com/letstalkart