Svetlana, or Sveta, Kurbatskaya was born in 1968 and studied at the Repin Academy of Art in St.Petersburg, Russia. She received her art degree in portraiture and landscape painting from this prestigious institution in 1997. Marriage to the artist, Sergei Kurbatsky, has complemented both careers as they share a full-time working studio.
      The sights and sounds of her childhood in the south of Russia, her experience during the late Soviet period as an active member of the Artist's Union, and the new freedom in Russia have a profound effect on the art of Kurbatskaya.
      Landscapes, still lifes and portraits are all part of the artist's repertoire which have been recently exhibited not only in the U.S., but in the years 2002-2008 her paintings have been on show in St.Petersburg in commercial galleries, at the Union of Artists Anniversary Exhibit in the summer, as well as in the Celebration Show for the 300-year of that city's founding.
      Mrs. Kurbatskaya regularly exhibits with the Union of Russian Artists and she is also doing graduate work at the Academy of Arts. Kurbatskaya's painting has recently taken her to Florence and other parts of Italy. Her work is held privately in collections in the U.S. and Europe.