Photos: Supplied.
Co-authoring a paper on Discernible Orientation for Tortuosity During Oxidative Precipitation of Fe(II) in Porous Media might not be a usual undertaking for an artist, but it’s all in a day’s work for award-winning sculptor and artist Dr. Ekaterina (Katia) Strounina.
Katia, who lives in Redland Bay, is a specialist Postdoctoral Research Fellow, but it will be examples of her artistic creativity on display at the Royal Queensland Art Society Windswept exhibition in Brisbane this April.
Growing up in a scientific centre near Moscow, where most of the population of 20,000 (including her family) were scientists, Katia’s career as a scientist was almost predestined. But even as a child, she loved drawing – mainly horses, despite living in a non-rural region.
“All of my school books were covered with horse drawings. I went to after-school art classes, but still life, flowers in vases, weren’t very interesting for a 10-year-old, so I didn’t do much painting – but sculpture gave me a lot,” she says.
“The tactile aspect of sculpture is wonderful, but it took me some time to really get into it; it takes up a lot of space and is very messy. Then I discovered polymer clay; it’s a neat medium and you can make smaller pieces that are easier to store.”
Her sculptures of dogs characteristically catch the animal in that exquisite moment between tension and movement, bringing into play her scientist’s focus and sensitivity to detail.
“Anatomically, they have to be right, but catching the movement, it’s a hard job with a solid form. I feel it as if it’s part of me, a living thing that has to be caught at the right moment, to get that slight movement but show that it’s a little bit out of balance,” she says.
Bronze is her favourite medium but the expense and complex processes are deterrents; creating a wax model, then a one-off mould and the actual casting of the bronze means that Katia’s bronzes are usually made as commissioned pieces. Drawing in pen and ink, with its satisfyingly organic tactility, is another genre close to her heart.
Katia’s paintings and drawings embrace memories of European interiors and streets and the Australian nature that she loves.
“Some people find landscapes boring, but I find any bit of grass or tree fascinating. I love being out in nature but I still take occasional courses in a style that I’m not familiar with. It forces me to paint things that I normally wouldn’t do and to expand my horizons. It enriches my normal practice with a different point of view and different methods.”
Katia also runs her own oil painting lessons and sculpture workshops in the Redland Coast Art Society. Her work is enhanced by the scientific understanding of chemical composition and reactions, structure, and the behaviour of various media.
“It definitely helps to understand the best standards for technical quality and longevity and what’s happening when the paint comes out of the tube – or not!”
See Windswept from March 28 to May 1, 2025, at RQAS, 162 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane.
