Polina comes from Yaroslavl, an ancient Russian city famous for it’s beautiful ornate churches. Born in 1985 into a family of jewellers, she developed an early interest in art. She arrived in New Zealand at the age of 10, settling in Wellington with her mother. She attended Wellington East Girl’s College, where she received the “best design award” upon her graduation.

In 2003, Polina took a year off studies, which was spent on a personal series of oil paintings titled Paperdoll. Some of these have appeared later that year at the “Word” exhibition in Thistle Hall and “Nervous Doll Dancing”, a play featured at Batts theatre.

Polina expected to become a professional musician, studying violin from the age of seven. However, she chose to pursue her interests in art instead, completing Massey University’s Visual Communication Design degree in 2007 with honours and a major in illustration. During the course of her studies, Polina has been successful in obtaining live client jobs. In her last year at Massey, she won first prize in the national BJ Ball design competition, creating a promotional piece for a new sustainable paper stock. There is an article on Polina and her winning entry in issue 92 of Pro design magazine. Her major project adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s “A Tell-Tale Heart” has been chosen as one of the few works to be entered by Massey into the 2008 Best design awards. It has also been chosen by gold medal winners, Service Digital printers to be entered into a print competition later this year.

Polina is especially interested in portraying gesture, movement and expression. She enjoys combining analogue and digital means to produce fresh and unique effects. Polina is skilled with a variety of first had techniques, from watercolour to mixed media, always keen to try out new things. She loves creating interesting work with multi-layered meanings for older audience, but also enjoys creating attractive illustrations for children. Although Polina has developed a distinctive painterly style, she likes to keep her mind open. Having picked up some graphic design and 2d animation experience along the way, Polina has recently been trying her hand at textile design.

"I’m always open to new experiences. Learning is living."

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Updated: August 21, 2009 Website by Molloy Design