"For as long as I can remember, I have been drawing everywhere. I wanted to study fashion design, but I became a railway engineer.

On the shore

From childhood, Ima Naroditskaya was passionate about ballet, sports, literature, and attended a painting studio and then a drama studio where marionette puppets were the actors.

Her parents thought the profession should be a serious one, so Ima graduated from the Railway Transport Institute.

While working in her profession, Ima read an advertisement for an animation course. There were several hundred applicants, but she was accepted. She began her creative work as an animator at Alexander Tatarsky's famous Pilot studio.

"Of course, "Pilot" infected me with the energy of movement and that's why my puppets have so many flying, balancing, strange creatures in them. A subconscious desire to 'screen' a story, a poem, a song, was realised in the puppet".

After taking Tatiana Baeva's masterclass, the artist took up puppetry professionally.

Angel

Information sheet:

• In 2000, Ima Naroditskaya became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists and the Association of Puppet Artists at the UIC.
• He has won numerous professional competitions in Russia, USA, Japan and Germany.
• In 2001, Ima was accepted into the prestigious NIADA (Puppet Artists Institute of America), an international organisation.
• In 2006 she was awarded the title of "Mega Star" at the 2nd International Puppet Show in Moscow.
• Annually participates in NIADA exhibitions and collaborates with the Puppet Collection Studio Club.
• Ima's doll is on the cover of the book 'Old traditions, new ideas' published by NIADA.

Balance

Summer rain

Wind

The images of the artist's characters are inspired by film characters, literary characters, music, nature and travel impressions. The author conveys her thoughts and attitudes to her surroundings in the language of her puppets.

Ima's work ranges from laconic, transparent symbols to verbose, lovely, no less elegant compositions, every detail of which is itself a work of art in miniature.

Her puppet characters are a wonderful combination of poignant imagery, irony and grotesque expressiveness without being caricatured or cartoonish, lyrical and funny at the same time.

Breeze

Ima is a true artist who makes no compromises when creating her dolls. Her work is always gorgeous and a work of high art.

Ima creates one-of-a-kind dolls, each one a little story with its own subtle philosophy.

Merry Christmas

Ima Naroditskaya's works are in private collections in Russia and many other countries around the world.

Material prepared Ekaterina Moskalenko