My mother and father both studied at same art collage in St. Petersburg, named after Russian painter, writer and philosopher Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich.

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My mother loved poetry, craft, and art. She excelled at the art of painting in the style of the old Masters, particularly through landscapes and animals, but mainly the human form in large classical-style paintings. Her greatest goal was to achieve perfection in painting the complexion of her subjects' skin, working with oils and preparing the canvases in the old Master’s way. Her passion for craft, making clothing and furniture, led her to construct the frames for her own work. She also worked in the university hand-crafting all the posters to a large scale throughout the 1980's and 1990's.

 

My father used to be an art teacher in Moscow and is still responsible for restoring Russian icon art and churches, along with other important state artefacts, including traditional Russian miniature lacquered boxes and matryoshka dolls. He studied art in Khabarovsk and later in Sholokhov University to become an Art teacher. My Father's passion for religion inspired him to work with churches and monasteries across Russia. He often travelled far to undertake the skilled task of restoring murals, mainly depictions of the apostles, up to 1.5m tall. Often these iconic pieces of art were damaged and restoration included the intricate task of restoring the gold leaf, which requires a high level of skill, patience and dedication. In Moscow and St. Petersburg he was responsible for the restoration of classical icons from the 15th- 19th century in the technical, old traditional style. Not long after retirement, he was honoured to be asked to work on President Vladimir Putin's monastery - a very large restoration project in which he was responsible for restoring the most damaged parts of the ceiling paintings where he had to recreate the apostles.