Olivia Sklyarova

When I was a kid I hated looking at art. I never understood the point. One day, when I was fifteen my family took me to a Russian Art Exhibition at the Guggenheim, and everything changed. I found myself fixed at the Isaac Asimov painting The Ninth Wave. It was monumental and hypnotizing. I couldn’t forget it. This painting has long since been my favorite, for the size and the technique but more so for what it symbolized. It was a pivotal turning point in my life, when I realized how important art was to me. The next time I had that feeling was at a moment was at a relatively insignificant time. When I began studying interior design it was with the thought that I like art and I might as well make money. I didn’t like it, I practically hated it. But I decided to stay and to stick it out. What else could I do? A year into the program I was in a critique with a fellow student. Usually I was quiet, never said anything. But this time the teacher forced me to speak. Suddenly I was blurting out ideas and talking about circulation and the experience of people. I surprised myself and as the teacher dismissed me I thought for the first time that I could do design, that I could like design. Design is now something that I can’t imagine my life without, it is a constant challenge that I am more than willing to take.