Taisiya’s relationship to art began early and has stayed constant through major changes in her life. She was born and raised in Moscow, where she attended a general school and then, later, the Academy of Watercolor and Fine Arts of Sergey Andriaka. There, she trained in watercolor, pencil, composition, and art history, earning a degree as a “minor artist.” 

Even with her formal training, art was a deeply personal habit for Taisiya rather than just a subject she studied. “For the past ten years, I painted every day no matter what, often without a specific image in my head.” 

Her move to a boarding school in Lausanne, Switzerland, in grade 9 changed her relationship with art. School in Switzerland had been planned for Taisiya before the war with Ukraine started, but the war gave her move new urgency. What followed was not just a change in schools, but a break in continuity. She describes a year-long period in which she stopped drawing entirely. “I completely lost any motivation.” 

The combination of displacement, constant news, and what she calls “cultural dissonance” reshaped her life and her artistic output. “The home that was my home was transforming.” Art, once part of her daily routine, disappeared from her life for a while.

When she arrived at Leysin American School in grade 10, her return to art was gradual. Her artwork began to appear in the school buildings, with her paintings displayed in the library and faculty offices. She chose LAS in part because of the art facilities, specifically the studio space in the Belle Époque building, which gave her both the privacy and the structure to rebuild her practice.

She does not plan her compositions or gather references. “It all comes from my head,” she said, “I never look outside of myself for inspiration.” She describes her process as highly visual, mentally picturing forms before translating them onto paper.

Art has become important to her during periods of stress. In her first semester of grade 12, while managing IB deadlines and multiple international university applications, she turned to the art room. “Art is a very relaxing and soothing process. I would just be in the moment.” The repetition of drawing, often alone in a quiet space, became a way for her to manage her stress.

Her IB exhibition marked a shift in her process. Titled “Consequences of War,” the project was built deliberately over two years. Every piece contributes to the same central idea, while avoiding literal depictions of war. “You wouldn’t think that it is about war,” she said. Instead, she builds meaning through juxtaposition and symbolism.

Some pieces focus on a shared human vulnerability. She includes portraits that illustrate the indiscriminate nature of loss. “No matter your gender or your age, we all are equal.” Other pieces expand into broader cultural and structural themes, including the possibility of rebuilding. Her introduction of architectural blueprints reflects both a technical challenge and a conceptual shift. “The war is a time period,” she said, describing her belief that reconstruction is still possible.

This idea connects directly to her decision to pursue architecture. She began seriously considering architecture after a conversation with her mother, when she was encouraged to reconcile her passion for art with the realities of financial stability. “The thing I like the most, which is art, is unsustainable as a career.”

Architecture combines her interest in art and math with a tangible way to impact the world around her. She sees architecture as a way to respond to the aftermath of war. “Architecture can reconstruct things that were broken.”

During a summer program at Parsons School of Design in New York, she worked with architectural drawing and blueprints under professional guidance. “After completing the course, I decided that, yes, this was something that I liked.” These technical elements began to appear in her artwork, blending her process with a new precision.

Taisiya is drawn to 19th and 20th century styles, particularly classicism and Baroque influences, shaped by her education in Russian art history. She is not as interested in modern abstraction, and prefers work that highlights technical skill and historical continuity. This preference carries into her architectural ambitions, where she imagines rebuilding in ways that preserve aesthetic depth.

Her work has also been shaped by her life in Switzerland. Moving from Moscow to international schools in Switzerland required a social adjustment that paralleled her artistic one. She talked about difficulty adapting to new social norms while continuing to value the loyalty of her friends from home. As she became more open and adaptable, her art shifted as well. “My personality reflects my art, not my art reflects my personality.” 

Taisiya’s recent work reflects both her artistic training and the experiences that shaped her move from Moscow to Switzerland, particularly the impact of the war and her interest in reconstruction through architecture.