BIOGRAPHY
Yarina Lachowicz at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) with husband Andrew.
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral Parish in North Melbourne, received a bequest from the late Paul and Maria Ciupak, the painting titled “Thousand Years of Christianity in Ukraine” painted by their daughter Yarina Lachowicz.
Resurrection of Christ which is located in the crypt of Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral.
YARINA (IRENE) LACHOWICZ.
Yarina was born in Ukraine and in 1949 arrived with her parents in Australia. She studied for the Interior Design Diploma at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and between 1963 and 1967 she worked with the Interior Design Branch of the Victorian Public Service.
In 1970 Yarina joined the Malvern Artist Society where she attended painting classes and regularly exhibited at the Society’s group exhibitions.
From 1971 to 1984 she attended painting classes of the known Australian artist Dorothy Baker.
In 1977/78 Yarina attended life classes at the Swinburn College in Melbourne.
In 1979 she studied life drawings at the Malvern Artist society.
In 1986 she obtained the Degree of Bachelor of Fine Art (Painting) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
Yarina is a member of the Victorian Artist Society and exhibited at numerous group shows of the Society as well as other art shows receiving a number of prizes and honorable mentions:
1975 – Royal Melbourne Show Art Exhibition: - First Prize.
1977 – Herald Art Show. Her painting was selected by the well known art critic Alan McCulloch and reviewed in the Melbourne Herald as follows:
“Catalogue No. 394 – Yarina Lachowicz. – I have selected this painting because obviously the artist is fully in control of what she is doing. The key element is the rhythm which generates a movement that continues across the whole of the picture surface. There is a well organised balance of cool and warm colours and the work is kept on a single flat plain thus producing a unified composition. – Alan McCulloch.”
1977 – The Royal Overseas League 7th Annual Art show: - Second Prize.
1978 – The Hawaiian Bi-Centenary Paint Out. Her painting was selected by a committee of Australian critics and artists and sent to Hawaii to be exhibited as part of the Australian/Hawaiian Bi-Centenary Exhibition.
1981 – The Royal Overseas League 11th Annual Art Exhibition: - Fist Prize.
1881 – Bendigo Easter Fair Show: - Highly commended.
1981 – Xavier Art Show: - First Prize.
1986 – Loyola College Art Show: - Highly commended.
1999 – Loyola College Art Show: - First Prize.
Yarina receiving First Prize at Loyola College 1992
In 1981 Yarina held a two women exhibition at the AMP Square in Melbourne. In February 1992 Yarina held a one woman exhibition at the same venue on the theme of “Figures as Metaphors.”:
“It is the human figure that visually embodies all our values and feelings. Placing the figures in situations and giving them expressions is not enough to portray these attributes and an artist has to escape into the limitless possibilities of abstractness, - but then the figures become metaphors.”
The exhibition contained 61 oils on canvas and 12 etchings and lino cuts.
In July 1992 Yarina held a one woman exhibition at the Haven Gallery on the theme of “Figures in Life.”:
“Nowhere except in the human figure is the full range of our emotions contained. But their visualisation is limited to the figure’s physical constraints. If one wants to go beyond, one has to dissect the figure and then reconstruct it again with an artist’s intuition. Only then, I believe, will the figure represent life.”
The exhibition contained 27 oils on canvas.
In 1997 Yarina held a one woman exhibition at the AMP Square on the theme of “This Fragile Bond.”
“It is a fragile bond which keeps individuals and communities together. I believe that this bond is composed of the full range of human emotions which constantly either threaten to fragment our environment or assure us of continued existence. This exhibition is my attempt to visually portray this fragile bond.”
The exhibition contained 30 oils on canvas.
In December 1998 Yarina exhibited at the National Gallery of Victoria as part of the “Ukraine Echoes 1948 to 1998” exhibition.
Currently Yarina is doing work on commission and continues to participate at selected exhibitions. Her paintings are in private collections in Australia, Canada, USA and Austria.