Indianapolis Art Center – Blog

One could chat with Art Center instructor, Irina Smulevitch, for hours and still not know all the adversity she’s overcome to become the successful artist and instructor she is today.

Throughout her life, Irina has been uprooted, always struggling to say goodbye to people and places she has grown accustomed to. Art is her way to cope, not only with saying goodbye, but with making a connection in a new home. It was advice given to her by a good friend Barbara, who said, “it’s not only the people who make a town yours, but also the places.” She advised Irina to paint different places of whatever new town she moves to as a way to “feel ownership of the city.”

Irina’s work currently on exhibit at the Art Center features watercolor paintings inspired by photographs on old postcards of places that no longer exist. She wanted to give new life to these extinct places that many people once loved, to share her experience of keeping the past alive as a way to deal with saying goodbye.

A Dream Denied

Irina was born in Odessa, a town south of the former Soviet Union during a time when political affiliation meant opportunity…and freedom. Her talent in art was encouraged from a very young age (her earliest memories are of drawing buildings in the sand on the beach with her grandfather) and her childhood dream was to be an artist.

But without protection and promotion from the Communist party, it was a long road ahead. Irina caught her first glimpse of the changing world outside of Russia in the form of The Beatles. For Irina, The Beatles were an example of freedom of expression. Although she could not understand a word without a dictionary, she felt inspired to internally question the rules and restrictions she lived under on daily basis. And another passion, for reading, gave her that huge imaginary world where you can escape from reality and be truly yourself.

At the age of 17, Irina accepted work at a local rug factory, spending long days drawing  and painting in watercolor miniature replicas of the large rugs that they offered at the factory. Although she was doing a task she loved (drawing), there was little room for freedom of expression. Artists were expected to create in the style of the traditional Russian artists of the past. 

After one year working at the rug factory, she was thrilled to be accepted to the Textile Academy in Moscow. Through her six years studying art and technologies, and despite consistent rejection and disapproval from select professors who were members of the Communist party, she graduated summa cum laude in 1989 and began to work in the fashion industry.

Things were looking up and she opened her own business. On a personal front, she met her husband and soon married. But it wasn’t long before her world was thrown upside down.

Leaving Home

Less than a year after they were married, Irina’s husband was offered a job in Dallas, Texas. For Irina, this was one of the most challenging times in her life. She was forced to leave all possessions behind. She didn’t speak a word of English.

But soon she started to learn the basics of the English language, reading books and taking classes at a community college. Her husband took a job in Long Island, New York and before long they had a son, Jacob, and Irina spent her days taking care of him, reading, and exploring the city. When they moved again, this time to Frederick, Maryland, Irina was painting again and for the first time since coming to America, she felt like herself.

Her work was shown in the Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in New York and she was selected for a solo show at Frederick Community College in Maryland. She began working at the college teaching watercolor, drawing, and fundamentals of design. Her dream of supporting herself financially as an artist was again becoming a reality.

The Frederick, Maryland community embraced Irina. A documentary of her, titled “Russian Artist in America” was broadcast in Russia. It was the first time Irina’s mother (still living in Russia), was able to see her daughter’s success. Irina continued to participate in shows in the Frederick area as well as D.C. and Baltimore.

Leaving Home Again

In the summer of 2008, Irina’s husband was offered a more advanced job in Indianapolis. Once again, she was about to be uprooted. But this time, when it came time to survey their new city, her husband, knowing it would take Irina some time to warm up to the idea of moving, took her first to where she would be able to make a connection. He took her to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. After visiting the museum, Irina decided that moving to Indianapolis may not be such a bad thing after all.

Home is Where the Art Is

Before returning to Maryland to pack her things, Irina visited Broad Ripple. She was immediately charmed by the district and leafed through the Broad Ripple Gazette on the plane ride home. She saw a small ad for the Indianapolis Art Center and made a mental note.

Immediately after her family moved into their new home, Irina searched the Internet for the Indianapolis Art Center. Here she has found a new home, teaching a variety of classes including watercolor painting and drawing for future painters. Irina credits the Art Center for her quick adjustment to her new community. “Art is my natural person and my true self,” she said.

Her involvement at the Art Center provides Irina with a place to work, teach, and be inspired. But perhaps the most valuable thing Irina feels she’s gained is friendship. Her students and colleagues have become trusted friends.

At this point, Irina can only imagine what her future will hold, but one thing is for sure: there will be art.

Registration for Fall Classes, including Irina’s classes in watercolor and drawing for future painters, is going on now at www.IndplsArtCenter.org/Fall10.