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.

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.