The artist / Violetta Chandler
A life shaped
by art.
A hand, a brush, a way of seeing.
Step into Violetta’s world, on and beyond the canvas.
Five generations of art
Tradition, light,
and a personal language.
Violetta Chandler grew up near Odessa, Ukraine, in a family of artists. Her father, Yakov Tsatskin, was her first teacher. In 1992, she graduated with honors from Odessa State Institute with a master’s degree in fine arts and teaching.
She moved to Sarasota, Florida, in 1995. Her paintings bring together Russian and French traditions of realism and impressionism, with vivid color and a close attention to the way light changes a place.
From thin glazes to textured impasto, her approach gives each subject its own presence. Portraits grow from conversation with the sitter; landscapes reflect the experience of observing a place.
Alongside her painting practice, she has taught at Ringling College of Art and Design and St. Petersburg College.
Explore the paintings ↗Work in progress
Before the
final brushstroke.
A sitter, an easel, and a painting taking shape. These moments offer a closer look at the conversation between life and canvas.
Life beside the canvas.
A sitter poses with a feathered mask beside her portrait in progress.
A portrait takes shape.
Violetta works from the sitter, building the portrait one brushstroke at a time.
Selected recognition
A practice that
travels.
Florence Biennale
Juried international exhibition · Florence, Italy
Florida Trust for Historic Preservation
2007 award · Plein Aire Cottage Artists
St. Petersburg Museum of History
Solo exhibition · St. Petersburg, Florida
Cornell Museum of Art
Exhibition · Delray Beach, Florida
Gulf Coast Museum of Art
Juried exhibition · Largo, Florida