Svetlana Orinko is an award-winning artist based in Christchurch, New Zealand.Drawing on her Ukrainian roots and her classical training, Svetlana makes work that holds the discipline of traditional technique alongside the freedom of contemporary experimentation.
Svetlana Orinko has spent more than thirty years in New Zealand building a reputation as one of the country's leading painters in watercolour and oil, and as a sought-after tutor. Her work has found audiences and galleries here and overseas.
Her ten-year classical training in the "Old Masters" tradition was exacting, with twenty watercolours and sixty sketches due every week, and it gave her a command of her materials that still underpins everything she makes. In 1992 she immigrated to rural Canterbury with her young family, painting part-time while her children grew and becoming known for her florals, landscapes, portraits and closely observed compositions.Today she works from her home studio in Fendalton, Christchurch.
Her subjects range widely, and her paintings are sensitive, lyrical and atmospheric, carried by a deep understanding of form, composition and colour. There is a layering of two cultures in them: the rigour of her Ukrainian training, and the light and landscape of the country she chose. More than thirty years in, she is still testing what a painting can do.
Watercolour Award & Peoples Choice Award - Ashburton - 2021
Gordon Harris Watercolour Award - 2021
Distinction Award, Artarama - 2020
People Choice Award, Ashburton - 2019
Dental Award & People Choice Award Winner, Darfield Artweek - 2018
Kath von Tunzelman Memorial Watercolour Award - 2015
Lysaght Watt Peoples Choice Award “Self-portrait” - 2015
Most Innovative Painting Award, Splash - 2015
Peoples Choice Award Winner, Chch Art Show - 2014
Finalist World Watercolour Competition - France, 2014
Finalist Salon International 2014 Art Award San Antonio, USA, 2013 - 2009
Watercolour NZ Supreme Award - 2013
Art2die4 Award - Ashburton, 2013
West Melton Art Exhibition, 2nd place - 2013
Peoples Choice Award Art in a Garden, 2nd place - 2012
West Melton Art Exhibition, 2nd place - 2010
Finalist North Shore City Art Award - 2010
North Otago Art Society Merit Award - 2009
“Pratique des Arts” HS Aquarelle - Watercolour issue
France, Oct/November
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International Artist Magazine - issue 109 June/July Artsy Shark
Featured Artist article April
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Colour in Your Life Featured Artist - AprilI 2015 - 2014
