A free bird is a happy bird, each of us has ‘wings’ we just need to spread them. The bird is a reminder for us all.
Julia Ilkiv (1987) was born and raised in the village of Skhidnytsia, Lviv region, Ukraine. She has been drawing since childhood, but started her professional career relatively recently, after moving to Vynnyky in 2020. She finished a course of academic drawing in ‘Creative’ design school in Lviv in 2014.
Julia Ilkiv uses a wide range of different techniques to create drawings and paintings but is best known for her very finely detailed pen drawings. Her work is dominated by graphic works, especially floral themes. Ilkiv started her professional career relatively recently, after moving to Vynnyky in 2020, where she visited the Vynnyky Art School and atelier of local artist Lev Levkiv. Her work was framed for her first solo exhibition when the war started and she had to flee with her family. Their journey ended in The Netherlands, in Helmond. Where she now lives and works as an artist. There she became one of the participating artists of Make Art Not War (www.makeart-notwar.com). In addition to this collaboration, she had her first exhibition in Eindhoven where she exhibited her black and white pen drawings. Currently she exhibits her work in the Pop-Up Julia Ilkiv & Co. Art Gallery in Helmond. She works intuitively, with small accurate pen-strokes, and knows how to convey her emotions onto paper.
Nature is my muse
