About ME
I was born in Ukraine, back when it was still part of the Soviet Union, and came to the United States as a child. My father - himself a classically trained artist, - taught me how to draw at an early age, so I often relied on art to connect with people when I couldn't speak their language.
(I still have some of the sketches I drew of my friends back in the day)
I still love to draw on paper (as opposed to digitally), but nowadays it's mainly to amuse my own children :-)
Currently, I teach Introduction to 3D Modeling with Autodesk Maya at both Drexel and Kutztown Universities. I truly enjoy teaching - my students' patience and enthusiasm are genuinely inspiring, and I never know what I'm going to learn for myself in the process.
From 1/23 to 6/24, I have taught 3D Simulations and Effects at the University of the Arts. It was a fun class (basically, beginners' Houdini) and I was heartbroken when the University suddenly - and infamously! - closed down.
From 2002 to 2022, I worked for Spitz, Inc, a planetarium-building company based in Chadds Ford, PA. I was part of a small team of animators creating fulldome shows that were later played in planetaria across the world. Our clients' main focus was always education and scientific accuracy, so I ended up doing a lot of research, on random - yet fascinating! -subjects. One of my favorite assignments was finding out what the collision between Earth and an early planetoid may have looked like to someone standing on Earth's surface. (Spoiler: hot, messy and VERY brief!)
When not teaching, animating alien jellyfish or smashing planets together, I can usually be found hanging out with my family, reading, keeping up with the news about Ukraine and volunteering at one of our local Renaissance Faires.
I've already been a Pirate Queen and an Aristocratic Sorceress, but I have the most fun as Mama Yaga, the Slavic forest witch.