Kateryna Poltavska

Kateryna Poltavska about her creative path:

"I was born in 1983 in Starobeshev, Donetsk region. As a child, I attended an art club. At the age of 15, I entered the Donetsk Art School, received a profession as a ceramic artist. After that, I graduated from the Kharkiv Academy of Design and Arts as a restorer. About 10 years worked as a teacher at the Kharkiv Children's Art School No. 6. All this time I was engaged in oil painting. 

This was until February 24, 2022. Graphics, which used to be more of an aid to me, became the main one. I used to just make pencil sketches before I started painting. But now it is an independent technique for me. 

I work mainly with pencil and gel pen or gouache. I rediscovered this technique in evacuation when I left Kharkiv. All my oil painting materials stayed at home. The first time, after all, was not for creativity. But about a month later, I felt the need to somehow express all the pain, sorrow and horror that I felt. There was also a need to show our unity. I think it is necessary now. To remind ourselves who we are, where we are from, where we are going. This is what my compositions are about now. As for favorite artists, there are many. But most of all I love Gustav Klimt and that period in general. I fell in love with him in the first year of school and it remains with me. But following Klimt's course in a straight line seems to me to be too simple and a well-worn technique. I try to do something of my own, focusing only on its sophistication."

July 2024