Tatiana Rusanovska

Tatiana Rusanovska is a Ukrainian-Canadian artist, illustrator, and designer whose work is rooted in the flowers and folk traditions of her homeland. Born and raised in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, she began drawing as a child under the guidance of her grandmother, Taisia, who filled her garden and home with flowers and taught Tatiana to draw them in simple lines.

Tatiana continued her art education at the local Art School before studying at the College of Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv (now the Mykhaylo Boychuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative-Applied Arts and Design), where she developed her skills in classical painting and design and graduated with honours in 1993. Her artistic influences include Heorhiy Narbut, Kateryna Bilokur, Rachel Ruysch, Vincent van Gogh, Caravaggio, Katsushika Hokusai, and Hanna Sobachko.

Since 2003, Tatiana has lived and worked in Toronto as an illustrator and graphic designer, drawing inspiration from both her Ukrainian roots and the nature and landscapes of Canada. During the mid-2000s, her work was accepted into juried exhibitions in Ontario and the United States. In 2006, her illustration “Lady Spring,” from her Four Seasons series, won first place in the American Design Award Contest.

In 2007, Tatiana co-founded Altan Design, and in 2020 launched Ruta Textiles, a silk scarf project bringing her illustration and textile design together.

Tatiana works across monotype, watercolour, ink, and, more recently, linocut. Her detailed, colour-driven compositions are inspired mostly by flowers. Over the past year, linocut has become an increasingly important part of her practice, adding a new graphic approach to the nature-inspired subjects that run through much of her work.

Tatiana supports community and charitable initiatives through her art and design. She has donated original works to fundraising events, including Project Soniashnyk, which supports children in Ukraine, and volunteers her design and illustration skills to non-profit community projects.