Larisa Stevenson

​"For me, making art is like breathing, a necessity of life and obviously painful when absent. It's part of my nature. I began when I was a little Russian kid growing up in Kazakhstan, encouraged by my father who was a painter and wood carver. In that place and time of the Soviet Union, it was expected of young girls to learn and practice some sort of practical craft. He encourage my knitting or sewing to be done creatively and useful to my art, as in doll making. He taught me to express myself through different mediums of art, whether it was painting, ice skating or doll making. My father pushed me beyond the ordinary and instilled a Jove of art classics that very much remains today.”
 
“I discovered clay as an adult. After sculpting my first face, I was hooked for life. Clay responded to every movement of my hands. It is a three dimensional form that molds, mutates and renews itself into a tangible lifeform. Although I also have done painting and doll making, clay became my absolute favorite medium. As my sculpting skills grew, I was able to express movement and emotions in my clay creations, whether portraits, figure, or animals. I love to sculpt them all.”
 
"Art is part of my nature. I know it is part of my destiny."
 
Larisa exhibits at the Aloft Gallery in Sonora. She also a member of the Blue Line Art Gallery in Sacramento and the Mother Lode Art Association. She shares her studio in Murphys, California with a very independent black cat named Yvette.

​https://www.larisastevenson.com/