Artists' Statement

…She follows in the style of the Old Masters, such as Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, producing portraits that often appear to be a step back in time. - Lisa Queen, North York Mirror, Toronto …She possesses a unique talent of creating life on the canvas. - Robin Brown, CBC Radio One, Toronto …In a sense, she’s a psychologist, unveiling a person’s personality through her work. She enjoys finding what makes them tick, believing she can tell a lot about a person by looking into their eyes . - Lorianna De Giorgio, Town Crier, Toronto

Veronica Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan is a leading figure in the contemporary revival of the classical tradition of fine art portraiture in Canada. As founder and president of the Portrait Society of Canada www.portraitsociety.ca Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan has helped promote the value of portraiture throughout the country for the last 15 years.

The Russian-born artist has won a number of awards for her skill and expertise in the field, including First place and People’s Choice Award winner from the International Portrait Competition in Toronto in 2002. Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan is represented by the GB Portrait Agency and Bohemiarte Gallery in Montreal. As well, she is a current member of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto.

Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan is a professional portrait artist. She follows in the footsteps of Old Masters, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael who believed in creating an accurate drawing of a subject as a means to capturing the beauty and character of that person.The important feature of her portraits is the vitality of the model, Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan says. Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan relishes in creating works of superior museum quality with archival permanence.

As a child, she knew that she would one day be an artist, and studied art and art history at Moscow’s Surikov Academy of Fine Arts and Moscow State University. Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan perfected her skills in Frankfurt, Germany working in the restoration field, copying the old masters works in European Museums and then in Larnaca, Cyprus where she studied Greek Orthodox iconography at the Agia Mina Monastery.

Toronto has been her home for the last 15 years. Her work has been exhibited in Europe and North America and is included in several museums and prestigious private and corporate collections throughout the world.

Her most recent Canadian exhibition includes the Celebrity Art Salon solo show at the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto in 2009, as well as shows at St. Mark's Coptic Museum in Toronto , at Imagine Art Gallery in Thornhill .

Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan has painted commissioned portraits of such esteemed people as famed baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, arts patron Sonja Bata, The Countess Von Wedel of Hanover of Germany and Famous Canadian Opera director Tom Diamond, electric violinist Dr. Draw and many others . Her art works are in the private collections of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario the Honourable David C. Onley.Her current projects include the portrait of famous pianist Nikolai Demidenko, New Age American metaphysician Lee Carroll and Canadian composer Laryssa Kuzmenko.

In 2005, Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan was one of the producers of the documentary movie The Miracle of the Portrait by the Portrait Society of Canada. Four years later, Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan had the honour to be featured on the 2009 Bravo! Series, Star Portraits. www.starportraits.ca

She was one of three artists asked to paint a portrait of Canadian soprano Measha Brueggergosman.Brueggergosman got to choose which of the three portraits she wished to keep. Without the slightest of hesitation, Brueggergosman selected the one by Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan.

Another welcomed opportunity came in March 2010 when Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan as part of the Portrait Society of Canada curated Canadian Olympic Athletes: A Dialogue in Art, an impressive exhibit that featured over 37 portraits of past and present Canadian Olympians at the John B. Aird Gallery in downtown Toronto. The show included Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan’s spectacular portraits of Olympians Simon Whitfield (triathlon) and Sasha Mehmedovic (Judo).

Since 1995, Kvassetskaia-Tsyglan has maintained her fine arts studio and school for gifted adolescents in the heart of Willowdale, north of Toronto. There, she inspires future artists to bring to life into each and every one of their works.