About Elena
My childhood in Russia was defined by neutral color fantasies, fairy tale dreams, winter wonderlands, and a hindering idea that I need to predetermine my future at the tender age of 6. As a child I was surrounded by greatness. I grew up in the studios of two artists M.BIryukov (1926-1995), my stepfather and Godfather, and N.Gladkih (1927-1995), my uncle. Spending summers by the sea watching my uncle painting with all shades of blue and green, or being in the studio alongside my stepfather shaped me to a great extent. We differ significantly in our art as they magnified the beauty of the real world, and I often paint the unmanifested reality.
My art is about experiencing Oneness Multiple lines, shades, tones, shapes, and spaces join in a dance to create a painting the same way as various people create a shared experience, and numerous situations create a happening. “There are multiple ones but only one Oneness,” said Paramahamsa Nithyananda, an enlightened Master from the South of India.
Painting and living Oneness is what I strive to do. I often start with an art meditation listening to the line moving across the paper. I try to hear what it wants to express and then to surrender to the direction it takes me. Listening to the Line is much more important for me than guiding it because art is my way to understand life better.
For years I wondered who I was as an artist and if I have the right to call myself by that name. Even now I feel vulnerable when I stand in front of my audience in this capacity. I met my creative destiny while surrounded by vibrant ineffable colors of India. In 2008 I trekked the Himalayan mountains where I stood above the clouds in complete awe of the place and the creation. A shock wave went through my body. I am now one step closer to realizing who I am and what I am doing here on Earth.
I couldn’t let go of the bliss. Exploring India became my new normal. The music, the food, the colors, the spirit was almost addictive. It was a virtuous circle. As I went deeper into myself, I felt the craving to come back again and again.
During my travels, I discovered the navigation map of the Creative Spirit, Vedic Art. It’s like the compass we have in our mind to find the way to the chamber of peace in our heart. Then, when you dip your brush in light, space and bliss, you get a chance to glimpse into eternity.
Suddenly, it was revealed to me – why we are the way we are, why art is the way it is. Tapping into that energy keeps my creative river flowing. It excites me, and entices me every day.
In 2013 I became a certified Vedic Art Instructor which defined my true purpose. My identity as an artist is to help others experience the state of Oneness and their highest potential, the concepts I explore at length in my book “Art Completes. Exercises to Develop Your Individual Vision, Self-Expression & Artistic Skill.”
I became an ardent arts advocate, a world-class coach, and an author or the art teaching method with the experience spanning the US, Russia, and India through a quest for finding a solutions for my own life as it often happens.
Art has been my go-to solution and a healing tool for many years.
It started when I moved to the US from Russia at the age of 33 and had to figure out how to adapt to this new, fascinating life. I felt I needed to become comfortable with starting all over in a way. Interestingly enough, when I moved to the US, I had a Master Degree, teaching experience of many years and even the experience of building a six-figure business but I thought no one was interested in anything from my past. I felt I was starting from scratch.
Intuitively I started drawing and painting daily. Art seemed like a perfect tool to make my inner game stronger for all my new beginnings. I did not have that skill developed fully at that time even though I grew up in a family of two Russian Master artists M.Biryukov (1926-1995) and N.Gladkih (1927-1995). Surrounded by so many brilliant people I grew up thinking that I had nothing special about me. I also learned that I was responsible for everything. This thought gave me strength that came handy many times.
After several years of different life and work experiences and even more education in the US, I arrived at another life-changing event of my life. My daughter was diagnosed with APD (auditory processing disorder). So I dropped all my plans of becoming a wellness coach with my new degree as a holistic nutritionist and a Master Herbalist. All my efforts went to the one goal of helping my daughter heal. I simply felt that there was no other way for me to proceed with my own life but to find a solution for her. When I was listening to the doctors, special ed teachers telling me about things she would not be able to do as a result of this disability, my heart was paining, and I refused to believe it. Her brain was so young! “Surely, there must be a way,” I thought.Every year at the sessions with IEP specialists I would hear that my daughter is doing “too much”: dance, art, music, yoga, swimming, and tennis. One teacher told me that she should not be in an orchestra because “kids like her need quiet time to learn words to catch up with others." I knew these kinds of thoughts come from ignorance. I understood one thing very clearly. The fact that someone has a degree does not mean they are good at what they do. However, it does not mean that great teachers do not exist. So I found the best ones for her. The amazing ones. The ones who helped her heal, who helped her brain to build more neuro-connections. It would make her learning disability redundant.
By the time my Alice, had a 4.0 GPA in a great art high school in NYC, released her EP ”Walls & Roads”, wrote a book about her own journey "How To Be The Popular Kid." I had an arts school named after my step and Godfather M.Biryukov, Biryukov Academy, traveled through India’s most sacred places from Varanasi to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Turvinamalai, participated in the world largest spiritual gathering called Kumbh Mela, became an artist.
I often heard that our troubles are our blessings. It can’t be more accurate for me; I would not change a single thing. Moreover, throughout it all, I kept seeking, drawing, painting.
The constant search for life solutions with the help of art and spirituality finally brought me to the mission of my life. I noticed that teaching art was easy and effective when I used the combination of spiritual truths with knowledge of the art technique. I became an Acharya (a teacher) for the most transformative mind science on the planet, the science of completion. I saw terrific results with my students due to the rich knowledge I was sharing. The new art course was born. The course makes the inner game strong and gives terrific art skills to every single person, no exceptions.
I started carefully organizing and combining the material for the first edition of "Art Completes" book and I called it “Art Completes You. Transformation through art and the science of completion” book. This book teaches art by giving personal artistic freedom, technique, and liberating the creative expression while building a strong inner game. “I’m possible; I am not a final product” becomes the mantra for people who do the exercises from the “Art Completes You” book. Right now the course based on Art Completes You Book is freely available to anyone on Facebook. Please join the class here and experience the freedom from your self-doubt and self-judgment while making awesome art.
