This is dedicated to artists who donated 100% of their paintings for the «Art for Life» charity exhibition.
We want to thank each artist for their willingness to help and for their beautiful, inspiring paintings.
A big thank you to Cliff Brooks and John Mc Macken, and all the local artists at The Engine Room Gallery, who donated 87 paintings to our exhibition. A huge thank you for the help and advice they gave us!
We are extremely grateful to the artists from Ukraine who sent their works specifically for this exhibition.
Also at the exhibition you saw the paintings of Ukrainian artists who were forced to move to Northern Ireland due to the russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as those who have lived here for a long time.
Here are some stories of the artists who allowed us to tell about them:
Alisa Tikhonova, 11 years old
Alisa came to Northern Ireland 1.5 years ago after the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia. At home in Kyiv she was attending Art school, and now she continues classes with the teacher Tamara Shevchuk online. “Everyone should do something that they can, wherever they are, for the sake of bringing the Victory of Ukraine closer!” – says Alisa. “And I’m glad that I can too!”
Bohdana Balai
Bohdana Balai likes to travel and take pictures, and then reproduce it on canvas with paints.
She studied to be an interior designer, so her creative soul wants to create paintings, because art is her calling
She has been living in Northern Ireland for a year now, this country inspires her with its beauty. She is from picturesque Ukraine, from the Volyn region, which is famous for its nature!
Special thanks to Bohdana Balai for the beautiful videos and photos from the opening night of the exhibition.
Instagram: @bbb_art_art
Daria Antonova , 11 years old
Daria was born in 2012, in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. Daria started drawing when she was five years old. Daria’s mother was always encouraging her daughter and praising for the funny drawings. The best birthday gifts for Daria’s grandparents were her drawings.Daria learned to draw by special books containing various sketches. She learned to copy drawings of nature, beautiful buildings, human faces, human bodies, animals and birds.
Karina Petrova
Karina Petrova (b. 1983, Ukraine) lives and works in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.
She lives surrounded by nature, and in nature she finds the greatest source of inspiration to create art that “evokes positive emotions in people”.
Her characters are various and unique, embedded into the landscape that flows through and around them.
They are the inventions of her imagination, but they are also visions of a world in harmony.
For Karina, the act of creation is a healing process which unlocks access to her imagination allowing her to make candid yet surreal compositions.
Instagram: @petrovakarinaart
Kateryna Zaichyk
Kateryna Zaichyk is Ukrainian. She has been living in Northern Ireland for 10 years. She is an artist and a designer, so that is why you can see different styles of painting.
She believes that art can also save lives, so she donated all her paintings up for sale. Since February 24, 2022, she has been taking an active part as a volunteer in the Ukrainians in Northern Ireland community group. She is very grateful to the local residents of Northern Ireland for their incredible help and support during this difficult time for Ukraine and Ukrainians.
Instagram: garden_sketch_interior
Facebook: Interior & Garden Sketch
Mahmood Babalola
Website: https://babalolamahmood.com
Instagram: @b.mahmoodart
Maria Hetmanova
Maria is an amateur artist that was born in Kyiv, Ukraine. As long as she can remembers myself she has been drawing and she probably started with drawing wallpapers as a child. But this is not just a hobby for her, but rather a life necessity. It gives her strength and hope.
She draws with paints and a pencil and especially like to make portraits of people and animals.
She can make one to order according to the photo.
Facebook: @mariyanika777
Mariia Kukailo
Maria Kukailo, is an artist from Kyiv, Ukraine, she is 20 years old. Since childhood, she has been surrounded by various types of art. She played the piano for 7 years, from the age of 5 she attended an art studio, and she was engaged in ballroom dancing for 12 years. She also studied graphic design in college for 4 years. Her dream is to become an artist and a photographer. She sees her future in art and she does her best to make it happen.
She graduated college with a degree in graphic design and now has an associate’s degree in graphic design. She is currently studying in the 3rd year ( part-time ) at the Kyiv University towards the bachelor’s degree, and at the moment she lives in Northern Ireland. Here she has chosen the full-time college course at the Faculty of Art and Design. She learns drawing by reproducing nature and experimenting with different techniques. In addition, she researchs the history of art, studying the works of prominent figures, artists and their creativity.
She likes photography. She likes to photograph nature, cities and people the most.
In addition, she participates in art competitions and exhibitions. This gives her the opportunity to show her work and get useful advice and criticism from professionals. Her dream is to make her vocation her life’s work.
Instagram: @kklmsh
Nadia Heart
Nadia Heart was born and raised in Kyiv. In 2016 she graduated from Kyiv National University of Technology and Design, with the specialty Master of Arts.
Nadia works in analog graphics in the “lineart” technique, using materials of archival quality in her works.
After the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, Nadia remained in her hometown, starting to work on the area of cultural and historical memory. In addition to active artistic activity, she also delivers lectures in Art and conducts creative workshops.
Her works are in private collections around the world.
The work “Hate” was created during the pandemic as a reaction to the situation at that time. It is partly a self-portrait, and partly a collective image of different people with the same perception of the situation.
The work was created in archival ink on Arches brand museum-quality paper. This is a French brand that has existed for more than 500 years, and with which Napoleon III, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Pablo Picasso once worked.
Instagram: @nadia.heart
Natalia Mukhina
Natalya Mukhina was born and raised in Ukraine, in Odessa. She has moved with her son to the UK in 2022 because of the war in Ukraine. Since childhood, she has always been drawing, selling her paintings all over the world and participating in exhibitions. She also decorates walls with her paintings and has regular customers. Last year, her painting was bought by the Lord Mayor of Belfast. She believes in goodness and justice.
Shop: Nataly Mukhina | Saatchi Art https://www.saatchiart.com/muhina
Email: Natali93089@gmail.com
Oleksandr Lyhosherst is a resident of Horenka village in the Kyiv region. A member of Territorial Defence Forces, a volunteer, an artist and a patriot, creates original and unique artworks in his free time. In this way, he tries to cheer up the military and realizes his creative potential as a professional artist. Previously, Oleksandr`s paintings have been displayed at the exhibitions, he worked as a craftsman at the manufacture and decoration of the fireplaces, and also have painted up a church.
After the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, his creative activity developed in the new form and meaning. The idea arose to create flags, which he makes on the basis of any unnecessary fabric. The artist paints on the canvas with acrylic paints and then sends it to the front. The artist’s collection includes half a hundred of flags with various designs: emblems of troops, patriotic inscriptions, symbols, elements of Petrykiv painting and pagan culture. Bright and deeply meaningful flags support the fighting spirit of the military and add to the mood in the fight against the enemy. It is also a strong talisman.
Facebook: Саша Лихошерст (Lykhosherst Sasha)
Patricia Sloan
Patricia isan artist from Newcastle inspired by her local area and beyond. She works mainly in Acrylics, oils, including water based oils. She paints coastal scenes, The Mournes area and also outdoor sketching and painting based on her travels.
Email address: psloan29@me.com
Facebook: Patricia Sloan
Sofiya Myronova
Sofiya is 16 years old and she is from Dnipro in Ukraine but has lived in Northern Ireland almost her whole life. The recent war has put a lot of pressure on her and her family and she has enjoyed creating art pieces in relation to her culture and traditions. Her art piece is of a bunch of sunflowers, which are one of Ukraine’s national and most popular flowers, which have been very meaningful to me. She created her piece with coloured pencil on black paper to create depth and meaning within the piece. She has been making art as long as she can remember and she is hoping to pursue a career within art in the future.
Teafairy CreativeImages Ireland
Full Name: Éilís Caitríona Peover
The Tea Fairy Ireland enjoys making connections.
Tea & a chat can mean a lot to some people.
As a visual storyteller, The Tea Fairy has been fascinated with photos & postcards since she was young.
She is on a creative journey with an aim to create conceptual images from her, “Bucket List,” to encourage others to travel & connect. Photos can evoke a sense of nostalgia.
Some of her influences include Irish mythology, Klimt, Tim Burton, Van Gogh & Gerry Coe.
The Tea Fairy exhibits from time to time and sells online.
She sold at Pop Up Markets until March 2020.
She is interested in collaborative creative work, community work & taking commissions.
She aims to be environmentally friendly with packaging.
Website:
www.creativeimagesIreland.wordpress.com
Online shops:
http://www.shopinireland.ie/store/tea-fairy-Ireland
http://www.etsy.co.uk/shop/TheTeaFairyIreland
Socials:
Instagram: @teafairyeire
Facebook: An Sióg Tae
Viktoria Perikash
Viktoria is a self taught artist from Kyiv, Ukraine, who likes experimenting with different materials and techniques.
Her artist path started in the Engine Room Gallery that became her second home in Northern Ireland and a place where she was able to feel safe and got inspired after she arrived from Ukraine.
She likes shiny things so in this exhibition you can find a few of her works decorated with glitter.
Yelyzaveta (Liza) Churilkina
Yelyzaveta (Liza) Churilkina, is a multidisciplinary artist with an endless passion for transforming visual ideas into vibrant art. Liza was born in Kyiv and is now based in Dublin since 2022.
“Moving to a new country is a huge challenge for anyone. It has been really interesting to observe my own personal growth in such a short period of time. The new environments and the wonderful experiences have helped me discover more of who I am and where I belong in the world.
It brings me tremendous joy to notice the finer details in our everyday, mundane life. I try to approach my artworks with a deep desire to tell unique stories, as well as transforming the spaces where my art finds itself.”
Liza’s recent art works are about reflecting on traditional Ukrainian ideas, cultural elements and personal stories, and how they can be visually channeled through a modern view.
Five ears of wheat, Acrylic, canvas on the cardboard – Yelyzaveta (Liza) Churilkina
The Soviet Union’s «collectivisation» policy in the mid-1920s stripped people of land ownership and targeted those resisting collective farms. This transformed farm workers into serfs. The “Law on Five Ears of Grain”, a precursor to the Holodomor (Great Ukrainian Famine, 1932-1933), permitted on-the-spot execution and property confiscation for stealing collective farm property, like stray ears of corn. Amnesty was forbidden. Unparalleled in history, this law virtually prohibited food disposal. Ukrainians faced an impossible situation: ambitious grain confiscation plans led to starvation, and attempts to avoid it risked execution or total food confiscation.
Instagram: @eliz.art.land
Yulia is originally from Ukraine but for the last 13 years she has been living in Northern Ireland.
Art has always been part of her since she was young.
She creates each painting with a great positive energy and big love for the world.
She hopes you can feel it through her paintings.
Her goal is creating art which embraces the magic in each of us and brings a piece of inspiration into your room, your family and your life.
She loves working with different colour combinations, different mediums and techniques, gold and silver leaf and texture, constantly trying something new and unique.
She is inspired by the beautiful country she lives in, her children, even a smile from a stranger…
Her best time is spent painting, her meditation and her love! She truly can’t live without it!
Sending you loads of peace and love.
Facebook: Yulia Pristupa
