Elena Shevchenko Blooms Where She is Planted

Elena (pronounced ye-LEH-na in her native Russian language) was introduced to me by our Art School Director Noelle Fournier. With her family, Elena came to the states from Russia nine years ago. She talked about how much she loved her garden at her home in Russia. When I visited Elena at her home studio in Medway, from the moment I stepped into her studio at the back of her house I was enchanted by her current gardens. Her studio is open on three sides to the outdoors via large windows and showcases the fruits of Elena’s labor in her garden — a beautiful yard with many trees, flowers, birds and scurrying animals. No matter the continent, all of theseforms of life are the inspiration and subject matter for her artistic creations

Elena Uses All Different Media

Elena started her weaving in Russia and continues to weave in the states. Because weaving is time intensive and she has a daughter at home, Elena finds it difficult to have long stretches of time for weaving. Fortunately, Elena works seamlessly with many mediums and often combines different media in one piece. Among the art I saw were watercolor paintings, soft pastel drawings, wool painting, wet wool felting, needle felting, and painting with coffee. Sometimes Elena adds beads, silk fibers, and or embroidery to her works. She also makes felted lampshades made from wool fibers with a wet felting technique, and most adorable felt animals. Flowers, animals and birds are clearly her objects of inspiration.

A Teacher at Heart

Although Elena told me she considers herself more of a teacher than an artist, her endless creativity in artmaking amazed me. Elena explained that when she is making art, she is always thinking “how am I going to teach this?” She thinks of different and better ways to teach and inspire her students to find their own passion. Elena teaches kids in her home studio where she prefers very small classes (4-5) so she can give her students (children mostly) a lot of individual attention.