Irina Velkova was born in 1970 in Belostok in the former USSR and despite living under a government known for suppressing creativity, Velkova devoted herself to self-expression even as a child. When she was young, Velkova was involved in many visual and performance arts – she danced, played music, painted, and sculpted, and did all well, but her interests quickly gravitated to painting and drawing. She earned a number of regional and all-USSR juried children’s shows and exhibitions these areas and by the age of eleven, she had her first solo exhibition; deemed a child prodigy, Velkova was invited to put on an exhibition entitled “People on My Street” at the City Pioneer Center.

This show included her first attempts at using oils paints (she had previously used watercolor); from this point onward, Velkova dedicated herself to oil-on-canvas paintings, leaving watercolor, pastels, sculpting clay, and other media behind. She developed her natural talents quickly and at fourteen years old she began her formal training at the City Art College in Kiev, Ukraine. At twenty, she continued her education at the National Academy of Fine Arts, graduating with valedictory honors in 1998. Since her graduation, Velkova has participated in a number of exhibitions and award shows; among the honors she has received are the second place and special accommodations titles for the highest degree of professionalism at the juried exhibition “Contemporary Portrait” (Odessa, Ukraine, 2002) and first place honors at “Land of Our Fathers,” a juried exhibition (Kiev, Ukraine, 2005). Velkova continues to exhibit her remarkable artwork extensively in Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, France, and Poland.