If the brushstrokes and subtle colors that characterize the works of Ukrainian painter Kateryna Bortsova are the flesh and blood exterior of her art, her education is the spine holding them into place. Bortsova adheres to a classic school of thought. She often laments the ways that modern life has allowed traditional academic rigor in fine arts to be overshadowed by instant gratification and short attention spans. For Bortsova, to create well is to create with careful precision.

Bortsova graduated from Ukraine’s Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts with her bachelors degree in 2007 and obtained her Masters degree from Kharkov National Pedagogical University shortly thereafter. Today, she is back at the academy working on post-graduate studies–for her, academic learning is a lifelong process...

Read on in I, Enheduanna Issue 3: In Our Hands, available here.