Slava Shults
"I love stories in books and on canvases"
Slava Shults is an artist from Dnipro, Ukraine, who was born in 1992 and currently lives and works in Kharkiv. Since 2015, she has been actively involved in illustration. She works with both Ukrainian and foreign publishers. From 2015 to the present, more than 15 books with illustrations by S. Shults have been published in Ukrainian and foreign languages.
The first published project was a diploma project for a Bachelor's degree; the author's book - game Tashenka and the Cactus was published in Kharkiv. Tashenka and the Cactus was included in the list of the most beautiful books in the world by Stiftung Buchkunst according to the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. The book was presented at several international competitions and exhibitions, such as the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the Best Book Design from all over the Word in Leipzig, etc.
Slava Shults - the author of illustrations for the first Ukrainian edition of The Old Man and the Sea by E. Hemingway.
She was twice awarded the state prize for illustrations to such books as:
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The 30 Poems About Love and a Railway by Serhiy Zhadan
At the moment, she is actively engaged in independent artistic work using graphic and painting techniques in the genre of figurative art.
Her works are in private collections in the USA, China, Portugal, Ukraine, Germany, Israel, France, Spain, Norway, Great Britain and Estonia.
"Most of my work is aimed at revealing human emotions, thoughts, and states. Both in illustration and in independent artistic activity, feelings - their search and reflection - are important to me.
I often work with self-portrait, because this is the most understandable object for me to observe. In choosing projects for illustration, an essential moment for me is to see myself in the book, to experience the emotions that I will ultimately reflect.
By illustrating other people's thoughts, I find my own"
Education
2007 – 2011
Dnipropetrovsk Regional Theatre and Art College
Major in "Easel painting"
2011 – 2017
Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts
Master's Degree
Major in "Book graphics".
Professional qualification: Artist-graphic, teacher, researcher
Work experience
since 2015
Illustrator of books for children and adults. Collaboration with Ukrainian and foreign publishers
2018 – 2021
Drawing, Painting and Composition Teacher in China, Shenyang / Xing Chen Art Studio
Awards
2016
The book Tashenka and the Cactus entered the Stiftung Buchkunst collection - the most beautiful books in the world / Frankfurt Book Fair
2021
Mykhailo Deregus State Prize for a series of illustrations for The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway / State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education
2023
Mykhailo Deregus State Prize for a series of illustrations for The 30 Poems About Love and a Railway by Serhiy Zhadan / State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education
Periodicals
2016
MIGRATE / South Africa
2019
Main exhibitions
2016
Exhibition-competition of illustrations for European fairy tales. (2nd place for illustrations for Hansel and Gretel by brothers Grimm) / Nuremberg House, German-Ukrainian Center of Culture and Education, Kharkiv
2021
2022
2024
2025
All-Ukrainian Exhibition of Graphics / Kharkiv, Ukraine
Group exhibition Unbreakable Ukrainians / Zittau, Germany / Galerie Broken Art
Group exhibition ARS ANTROPO / Kyiv, Ukraine
Exhibition Intonations / Republic of Garden, Lviv, Ukraine