The Backroom Gallery in the Hope Arts Gallery is excited to be presenting a new show in July by the talented artist Mila Koveshnikova. Titled Just My Love, it will be Mila’s second solo exhibit since arriving in our town and she is gaining a wide audience of people who respond to her paintings.
She is originally from the Ukraine and the rugged, wild, unmanicured landscapes here have touched her deeply. She says it was as if the pictures from the fairy tales she read as a child came to her in reality. In Hope she can walk through those forests and immerse herself in the greens and blues she loves.
Oils were Mila’s first medium, but water colour and acrylics are both used extensively when she paints now. Her mathematical brain lends itself to new technologies, and her interests range from gardens, to books, to outer space. The freedom to paint what she loves, in the way she loves to paint, has helped her adjust to this new country and way of life.
She is making up for the years of painting she missed when she worked as an engineer for over 20 years, and a ceramic tile designer for 12. In her words, “Canada is a country where the talent of every person can bloom.”
Mila describes her style as impressionistic realism and she prefers a softer quiet voice. With this quiet voice she seems to be telling us that we have everything we need to be happy, we just need to worry about preserving the beauty around us.
When asked about her studio she laughed and replied that space is overrated. In her tiny space, everything is close at hand.
Just My Love opened on Canada Day and runs until July 28 in the Backroom Gallery of the Hope Arts Gallery, 340 Fort St. The gallery is run by the Hope and District Community Arts Council and staffed by volunteers. It is open from Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and masks are required.
READ MORE: Hope Arts Gallery “Retrospective 12” show is open
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