An interview with our graduate, artist Alina Aparina

Hi everyone! Welcome to issue six of our #ourstudents series — interviews in which our students talk about themselves and their art.

For this issue we invited our graduate Alina Aparina, who makes work together with her son Luka. Alina paints the beginning and Luka finishes it.

How do you get a child interested in art?

At one point I was so obsessed with the idea of immersing my son in the world of art that I even put together a “museum game” guide, and through play we learned to look at paintings and talk about them. But that’s an overcomplicated route. I think it’s enough simply to make art yourself! Children usually imitate their parents. Don’t hide the canvas and brushes from your child — give them freedom to create and watch what comes of it.

And going to interesting exhibitions together — interactive ones, for example; children love those most of all.

Do you make work together?

We started drawing together when Luka was about two and a half. He made line drawings and I turned them into something more concrete. That’s how a joint work came about. Some of them worked, some not so much. Luka is five and a half now and we’ve swapped roles. Now I draw the beginning and he finishes it however he sees fit. To some extent it’s art therapy — we’re constantly learning to interact with each other and feeling out the boundaries.

Share an interesting thing your child has said about creativity or art, if there was one

Once, at a Gauguin exhibition, Luka and I went through every room. He got very tired and on the way out he blurted out in irritation: “Who bought Gauguin all that paint? Did he do nothing but paint?”

And Luka also has a slightly skewed view of the act of drawing itself. Whenever he’s offered a chance to draw at kindergarten or anywhere else, he says: “No thanks, I’m not working today!” and draws exclusively in my studio. Even though I rarely suggest he draw — more often he just follows me there.

Another funny line about art: “I wonder what music was playing in there?” (looking at Matisse’s “Dance”.)

How do you manage to fit it all in without burning out?

That’s the hardest subject for any creative mother. Sadly, I’m not one of those people who balance every area of life with ease. I had a burnout that lasted more than a year, when my child was still small and I was trying to get “everything” done. But looking back, I can say I came out of that state at exactly the moment I stopped separating art from motherhood and let my child into the territory of my practice, allowing him to leave his own mark on my creative path.