Peace Hope Ukraine

Katya Belaia-Selzer

Artist, and painting conservator-restorer. Originally from Ukraine, she has also been a Refugee Sponsor.

Katya Belaia-Selzer’s studio provides museum-standard paintings, frames and decorative arts conservation services for historic houses, as well as heritage and private collections. Katya was the assistant to the paintings conservation adviser for the National Trust from 2017 to 2020. She has experience of managing complex conservation projects for the National Trust, including the restoration of the Petworth Beauties by Michael Dahl for their display at the Tate’s “Baroque: Power & Illusion” exhibition, which also attracted a series of public lectures.

Belaia-Selzer’s studio’s core team is comprised of highly trained painting conservators, who specialize in old masterworks, frames and miniatures. With a wealth of experience the studio can offer impartial and confidential advice and practical solutions for the conservation of individual paintings, as well as for whole collections. The secure studio is situated in Buckinghamshire and is equipped to carry out structural work on both canvas and panel paintings, as well as technical and art historical research. Katya is also the founder of the UA-UK Cultural Heritage Initiative - which promotes collaboration between Ukrainian and British conservators and museum professionals. To date the initiative has brought 15 paintings, textiles and stone conservators, including students, to the UK for training and career development.

Courtauld Institute of Art (2007-2010)

Founder of the UA-UK Cultural Heritage Initiative

Olena Haiduk

Olena became a refugee and is originally from Dnipro, Ukraine.

Olena has been painting for over 10 years. Due to the war in Ukraine, she moved to the UK in 2022 where she continued her creative work and took part in the international competition Golden Time, becoming a laureate in the nomination "painting" and "sculpture". Her work Doll Deya, the image of a Ukrainian girl, won first place and was highly appreciated by the jury. In 2023, Olena received an invitation to participate in the international talent festival Golden Time Talent, which will be held on 8 July in London.

Her works are in private collections in Ukraine, Great Britain and Europe.

A statement from the artist in her own words:

“All works presented at the exhibition were painted in England. The main themes of my painting are landscapes and flowers. I have always been fascinated by the beauty of nature. The small landscape "Anxious time" reflects my inner state and the time in which the whole world lives now. But through the dark, gloomy clouds the sun peeps through and this gives hope for a brighter future.

Another landscape "Ukrainian pain" is a picture of the ongoing tragedy of the Ukrainian people in many cities and villages, when people die, houses explode, and nature perishes.”

Anna Kopach

Anna became a refugee, and is originally from Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

Anna is experienced as an illustrator working with animation companies. She chooses her work for its creative opportunities and devotes her free time to applied art. She works in digital mediums as well as in acrylic and watercolour. One of her hobbies is painting watercolour cards! Since the outbreak of war, she has moved to UK and appreciates every coming day. Her hope is to inspire warmth and happiness through her paintings and touch the hearts of those who see her work.

Anna Li

Anna became a refugee, and is originally from Odessa, Ukraine.

Anna got her Master’s in Art & Graphic Design from the Uman State University in 2018. She has been exhibiting her work internationally in numerous Solo and Group Exhibitions

A statement from the artist in her own words:

“My art practice is led by my life experience of being a disabled person in Ukraine. By shedding light on the lives of persons with health issues, I want to bring disabled people into the art world from which we’ve always been excluded.

Using tools and strategies related to oil painting, digital media and commercial photography, I strive to explore the role of stereotypes in the perception of the beauty and sexuality of people with disability. I am looking for the boundaries beyond which we start to be sexually attractive to each other. By creating a conflict between imperfection and attractiveness, I focus on the flaws of the bodies, but place them in an erotic context through angles, colours and environment.

I work with oil painting and photography. Working with a photographer, I act as a model using my own body as a medium to express my idea.”

Oleh Stryzhevskyi

Oleh Stryzhevskyi is an artist and painting conservator- restorer. Stryzhevskyi also became a Refugee, and is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Oleh holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation and Restoration of Easel and Monumental Paintings from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in Kyiv, Ukraine. He has shown his work in numerous Ukrainian and international exhibitions. He has worked as a conservator-restorer in Poland and China, as well as working as an expert on the export and import of works of art and objects of cultural interest for the Kiev Regional Department of Culture. In 2017 he became a Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. His own works include drawings as well as oil and acrylics. In the UK, he worked for The Perry Lithgow Partnership as an art restorer of monumental paintings at Boughton House.

Ahneta Shashkova

Ahneta Shashkova is an artist and conservator- restorer. Shashkova became a refugee, and is originally from Dnipro, Ukraine.

Ahneta received her Master’s degree in Fine Art, Decorative Art, Conservation and Restoration at National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine. Ahneta is a certified master of Petrykivka painting.

In 2013, the Petrykivka painting was included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Her postgraduate studies were interrupted by the war in Ukraine.

She has numerous publications on art, and exhibited her work in Ukraine and abroad at international exhibitions. She is a co-owner and teacher of the Stryzhevsky and Shashkova Art school in, Kyiv, Ukraine. In the UK, she worked for The Perry Lithgow Partnership as an art restorer of monumental paintings at Boughton House. Ahneta is a Queen Elizabeth ScholarshipTrust Apprentice at Katya Belaia-Selzer Studio.

Olga Boiko

Olga Boiko is an artist and conservator- restorer. Boiko became a refugee, and is originally from Cherkasy, Ukraine.

Olga got her Master’s degree in Fine Art, Decorative Art, Conservation and Restoration at National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine

Olga’s work has been shown regularly at annual exhibitions, including: "Youth artistic palette" in the city of Cherkasy; "Tail-Art" 2020 - a fundraising exhibition for the animal shelter in Cherkasy; and the Ukrainian exhibitions "To the Day of the Artist of Ukraine" and "Christmas".

She also contributed work "A4, ballpoint pen", to the "Borders of reality" international exhibition NORDART in 2021, Budelsdorf, Germany.

Galyna Rudyk

Galyna Rudyk is an amateur artist and poet. Galyna is from Donetsk, Ukraine.

Now 48, she started painting from a very young age. She has donated more than 100 drawings to the Chernobyl Relief Foundation in the UK to raise money for Chernobyl children and refugees. She has also been writing poems in 3 languages since 1994. She likes to copy icons. She paints now more rainbow mandalas - which have the meaning of peace.

Anatoly Cherny

Anatoly Cherny is an artist and sculptor. Anatoly became a refugee, and is originally from Kyiv, Ukraine.

Anatoly graduated from the Academy of Arts in Kiev and AVU in Prague in the studio of Karel Neprash. The artist's works are exhibited in many countries around the world.

Artists presented by INFO ART FRONTIER UA CIC

Info Art Frontier UA is a Community Interest Company. It promotes Ukrainian culture and history in the UK. They showcase contemporary and historic Ukrainian art and music and incorporate educational elements to tell the long and complex story of Ukrainian history.

Email Info Art Frontier to get in touch.

Ruslan Ganyszchak

Ruslan is a serviceman of the 92nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Documentary photographer of the war.

Artur Orlyonov

Artur is a modern Ukrainian battle painter and the chief artist of the studio of Ukrainian Battle Painting. Artur Orlyonov's works are diverse in subject matter: depictions of events from the history of Rus and Ukraine, religious themes, landscapes, portraits of historical and religious figures.

Historical paintings by Artur Orlyonov are dedicated to historical figures and events, as well as their contribution to the formation of the European identity of Ukrainians and their influence on the development of European culture.

Roman Bonchuk

Roman is a contemporary artist, Bonchuk works in the styles of impressionism, realism, surrealism, and abstractionism. Using a variety of materials including: oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink, pastel, gouache, tempera, etc. He loves experiments!

The artist often refers to recognized masterpieces of world art in his own works. He also uses satire and irony to convey all the absurdity of current circumstances.

Victor Kasyanchyk

Victor is a young talented painter and tattoo artist. He works in different styles and is very eager to continue developing his style. Though still young, he is already gaining experience; a lover of detail, he focuses a great deal on the meaning he puts into his art.

Natalia Bilyk

Natalia's art reflects the life of nature and objects, passed through the prism of the artist's vision as well as her personal perceptions and feelings. Bilyk's paintings are full of rich colours and emotions. Over 900 of her paintings have already been shown at 20 solo exhibitions around the world.

Mariya Shub

Mariya is an artist and ceramicist who has also worked as a production designer and art director in film, animation and theatre industry. For many years she has been running the art courses in schools and summer camps for adults, family groups and children of all ages, experimenting with collages, murals, acrylics, water colours, mosaics and ceramics.