The Artists, from left, Paola, Carla, Svetlana
Svetlana Elantseva
I am Russian. I worked as a member of a team of artists producing communist Soviet-style art until the advent of Perestroika.
In England I finished a BTEC in Fine Art, and an introduction to Art Therapies at Shrewsbury College of Art and Technology, then a Foundation Degree in Creative Art for Employment at Staffordshire University. I am now a student on the BA Hons Entrepreneurship for the Creative and Cultural Industries, Fine Art course at Staffordshire University.
My paintings no matter what the subject content or the intended message are instantly recognisable as being in the Russian style, through the colours and the way they are used together. Throughout my life and travels I have always felt a connection to my homeland. This develops my way and my art, where I pay homage to my heritage, my country and its ways of life.
Carla Boulton
I am English, born near Birmingham in the gaudy late sixties. Brought up in a family of business people and farmers, I was encouraged to make a living, do something I love and never give up. I have always worked in the creative industries from drawing images to be printed on fabric in the early eighties to designing books in the nineties, I have also continuously studied art gaining various qualifications along the way.
Now, with a large family and unfaltering interest in the new, I split my time between my graphic design business, making art with children in an infant school, drawing and studying for an additional career.
Paola Alessandri-Gray
I am Italian, with a degree in architecture and a string of other qualifications, ranging from nutritional therapy, to horticulture, to health promotion, teaching, motivational interviewing and others. I have inherited a passion for photography from my father and grandfather. My second artistic love is printmaking.
I lead a double life as a serious public servant and a committed artist. I have been cycling for over 40 years, singing choral music for over 30, living in England for 20 and practicing yoga for 10.
