AS
I was born and raised in Siberia, and much of my childhood was spent in the local history museum of Novosibirsk, where my mother worked. Surrounded by artifacts, traditional costumes, and photographs dedicated to Siberian shamanism, I grew up with the sense that the forest is never empty — that entering it means stepping into a space shared with visible and invisible presences. Stories of the blacksmith brothers, sons of the god of fire, shaped my imagination early on. In shamanic cosmology, the blacksmith is a figure of transformation: someone who works within the element of fire and guides matter through states of becoming.
This mythology continues to resonate in my work as a glassblower. Working with hot glass places me inside the same elemental threshold — the territory of fire, heat, and constant metamorphosis. I am drawn to the moment when the solid softens, becomes fluid, receptive, and then returns to a new form. This process is never only technical; it is a dialogue between my intention and the material’s own laws, a rhythm of control and surrender. In my hands, glass responds and resists, changing shape while shaping my decisions in return.
Alongside glass, I stay committed to traditional oil painting. Painting allows me to expand the themes embodied in glass with greater depth and clarity. What appears in glass as a fleeting instant of transformation becomes, in painting, a slower and more reflective language — another way of tracing the thresholds between the visible and the unseen.
The foundations of my practice remain rooted in the landscapes and worldviews of my childhood: the Siberian forests, shamanic cosmologies, and the respect for forces that are felt rather than named. Through both glass and painting, I explore the meeting point between the material and the metaphysical, where form emerges from encounter and where the presence of the “unseen” becomes momentarily tangible.
My work invites the viewer into this space of tension and wonder — into the intimate dialogue between human gesture and elemental force that lies at the heart of my practice
Alisa Volkova
Photo by Olga Kravchenko
