Vera Kisseleva

The vast, enticing Canadian landscape and, more generally, nature’s dazzling colors serve as painter Vera Kisseleva’s primary inspirations. A native of Russia now based in rural Ontario, Vera has always been drawn to “the great outdoors” and she has her fill, living amongst endless corn and wheat fields, along with parks and lakes, where she and her family spend much time hiking, cycling, and kayaking—all of which constantly fuel her artistic inspiration. Indeed, it’s no exaggeration to say that she “lives her art.”

Vera studied fine arts and applied arts in college and worked for years as a graphic designer and commercial artist. Moving to Canada, though, and rediscovering nature’s vibrancy on such an immense scale drew her to painting, which she immediately saw as the ideal means for conveying the visual splendour of her new home.

Vera’s work, while influenced by Impressionism, combines a universalist appreciation of the landscape as artistic subject with more local, immediate concerns. From one piece to the next, though, what emerges is her individual perspective—her singular eye—capturing her response to this all-encompassing environment rather than simply recording her surroundings with mechanical precision. Nature’s essence, so to speak, is not only how it looks—its visual imprint, the spaces it fills (or leaves empty)—but its dynamics: the infinite ways it changes and renders every moment both absolutely unique and utterly familiar. Vera’s work emerges from such moments, ultimately celebrating and expanding them.