Olha Tkachenko

Decorativeness and storytelling are two things I admire. The masters of decorative arts create many miracles, their patterns painted, drawn, etched, embroidered, printed, and cut in metal.

I love creating hot batiks. I paint on fabric using a technique similar to traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs decoration. I cover light spots with hot melted wax and soak the fabric in the dye. I do this again and again, adding layers of wax and colors, going from light shades to the darkest ones until I get a pattern.

But making a pattern is not enough for me. I always want it to begin from a story, whether well-known or not-yet-written. In the latter case, the viewer can invent their own plot by looking at my work. The story can even be hidden in a statical thing such as a still life. But it is there for sure. Because life around us is a story - we should just see it through the whimsical patterns.

Kremenchuk School of Fine Arts, Ukraine
Interior Design and Decoration course, Kharkiv, Ukraine

"Wax and colors" batik art show, Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 2016

Exhibition of the Union of Christian Artists, Museum of National Household and Architecture, Lviv, Ukraine, 2013-2014

Member of Art Union “A-Three”, Exhibition “Sacral Labirints”,  Art Center “Alter- Ego”, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2013

Exhibition of the IFES Art Conference, Aix-en-Provence, France, 2013

Exhibition of Union of Christian Students “Verge of unity”, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2013

Exhibition of the Union of Christian Artist, Kyiv-Mogylyanska Academy, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2013