Tatiana L. Sougakova is a classically trained artist, who works in a non-representational, experimental style. She is interested in exploring different materials and techniques (translucent vinyl, fabrics, recycled materials) to make art that is visually versatile and encourages physical and emotional participation. She has always been drawn to making art which creates a sense of excitement and togetherness for people of any ages and backgrounds.
Tatiana Sougakova :” Colors and patterns are my ways of preserving the energy I sense while painting and of transmitting it through art to the viewers. I often paint while listening to classical music, so the brushstrokes assume the rhythm and flow of the music, they happen fast and very naturally. I almost never know what I am going to paint when I am in front of a blank canvas. The process is a bit magical like a discovery or an exploration.”
Biography:
Tatiana L. Sougakova is a Russian born American abstract artist, lives and works in New Jersey, USA.
In 1984 Tatiana L. Sougakova graduated from Restoration Arts College in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Fresco-secco painter degree. During that time she created murals for a college residence hall, a mural for a community college lobby in St. Petersburg, a stained glass piece for staircase windows in a community college, and executed stained glass imitation design for a cafe in St. Petersburg. She also interned briefly at State Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Upon graduation she worked for several years as a community center artist creating advertisements for upcoming events, making design concepts for community festivals, designing costumes and sets for community theater productions.
Later in 1991 she changed her occupation and received MA in Slavic languages from the University of St.Petersburg, Russia. In 1991 she moved to US and worked in the field of linguistics for almost two decades. Her Interest in art reemerged in the early 2000s, when she started painting again exploring vivid colors and organic shapes in the abstract expressionist style. Later she became interested in creating larger scale outdoor works, and experimenting with different materials such as clear vinyl, and translucent fabrics.
Tatiana has been exhibiting in USA since 2007, her works have been featured in juried and solo shows in galleries and alternative spaces. Owners of her art come from different walks of life: a physics professor, a classical guitar musician, a jazz guitar musician, a hypnotist, a guitar maker, clergymen, teachers, engineers, businessmen and doctors. They come from different parts of USA, and some foreign countries: Norway, Singapore, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, Latvia.
Exhibit history:
Education:
Fresco-secco painter
Restoration art college, St.Petersburg, Russia, 1984
MA in Slavic languages
University of St.Petersburg, Russia, 1991
OUTDOOR INSTALLATIONS, INTERACTIVE DEMONSTRATIONS
2019 "Symbols of Sun", mixed media installation. Barrows mansion, (Jersey City, NJ)
2019 "Bridges and Rivers", mixed media installation (Plainsboro, NJ)
2019 "Bridges and Rivers", mixed media installation, Figment NYC (Roosevelt Island, New York, NY)
2018 "The Chalk Flock", interactive/participatory street chalk art, Art Festival (Plainsboro, NJ)
2018 "Water and Ice", mixed media installation, Figment NYC (Governors Island, New York, NY)
2018 "If Streets Wore Jewelry", mixed media installation, Princeton University Communiversity festival (Princeton, NJ)
2017 "If Streets Wore Jewelry" outdoor installation of 4 panels with painted recycled CDs (in collaboration with
Eastern Connecticut University, Willimantic, CT)
2016 "Parade of Elsies" installation of 40+ painted silhouettes of cows (Plainsboro Art Festival)
2016 "Dog in a Sweater" painted dog sculpture for Dog Days of Summer (Boonton, NJ, USA)
2015 "Kaleidoscope of butterflies" installation of 200 colored butterflies on outside glass of the library
(Plainsboro Art Festival, NJ)
2014 "Ox in Pajamas" for Hopewell Stampede (Hopewell, NJ, USA)
2013 “If streets wore jewelry” installation of recycled components with over 100 no-repeat handmade patterns (Plainsboro Art Festival, NJ)
2012 “Art Laundry” installation and social experiment (Plainsboro Art Festival 2012)
2011 Abstract art speed painting demo (Plainsboro Art Festival, NJ)
SELECTED EXHIBITS from over 10 years of exhibiting history, and close to 100 exhibits in galleries and alternative spaces
"Et tu Art Brute" Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York City, NY)
Love Letters, LITM Gallery and Lounge (Jersey City, NJ, USA)
The Windham Project, Kerri Quirk Studio (Willimantic, CT, USA)
ArtJam Gallery (Princeton, NJ, USA)
Winter Blues, Raven Gallery (Jersey City, NJ, USA)
Beyond the Stampede, Capital Health Gallery (Pennington, NJ, USA)
Dog Days of Summer, Boonton Arts (Boonton, NJ, USA)
In Liquid annual auction (2014,2015) (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Lackawanna Flagship gallery JCAST (Jersey City, NJ, USA)
Installation at Gordon park JCAST week (Jersey City, NJ, USA)
In Liquid annual auction (Philadelphia, PA, USA)
Postmarked 2012 (Claremont, CA, USA)
Dragon Project for Tohoku Japan,Paris school of design (Paris, France)
PRESS :
The Woven Tale Press: Artist site review
Hartford Courant: Windham art project moves outdoors by Susanne Dunne
WW-P News: Art in West Windsor and Plainsboro
WW-P News: Artist’s Exploration Yields ‘Fabric of Life’ by Lynn Miller
The Cranbury Press: Abstract Art in Cranbury
WW-P News: On the Walls by Lynn Miller
Courier News: The eternal Feminine by Ralph J. Bellantoni
Warren Reporter: Washington’s August Friday Art Walk features native of Russia.