Check Out Mila Sketch’s Story

My name is Mila Sketch, and I am a professional visual multi-faceted artist based in Austin, TX.

I was born in a sleepy fish town on the Barents Sea in Murmansk, where Russia is boarding Finland and Norway.

My father was a chef on the Russian Geological Ship, and my mother was a hydrologist. When I was five years old, my father read me the Diary of a Genius by Salvador Dali before bed. I was so impressed by it and determined ever since to become an artist. I even attempted to write my diary a few years later but ended up drawing endless pages of sketches.

My parents hated the idea of me becoming an artist and insisted I pursue an education in the gymnasium. I secretly took exams at the local art school. The acceptance letter came in the mail, to my mother’s surprise. Fighting my parent’s protest against my art career continued for a decade after that. As an outcome, I continued to study art and also went to a gymnasium. Later I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism, with a minor in PR and marketing.

I traveled the world to learn more about life, myself, and create in the various surroundings. I worked in graphic and pointillism style on paper for many years, mastering the ability to express my ideas through details, forming my style. I had my first international solo exhibition in the Galleria Pall Mall in London, UK, in 2010, with all the original drawings sold out at the show opening.

Though it was a great success, I felt like I needed to travel more and experiment with new mediums. My inspiration for the correlation between urban and nature seem to always stay with me.

Academical art studies helped me find my style; however, I learned way more by visiting nature sites, art museums, splendid art galleries around the globe – seeing those original artworks up close.

My parents continued to believe my art career would be a failure. Still, I was able to find a job in a creative field in an animation studio and later on as a graphic designer. I made an excellent salary, lived in my place nearby, yet something was missing. I continued to paint, and in 2014 got invited to participate in the art show in Bash Contemporary Gallery in San Fransisco.

I reconnected with Julia during that trip, a person I’ve met in Russia when we both were 18. We fell in love from the first sight, after seeing each other again as adults on a different continent.

After a very long year of a very long-distance relationship, Julia asked me to move to the US. We decided to pick a new city none of us ever been to before. Austin was a natural fit. Fueled by love and excitement, I was able to focus on my art full time.

Six years have passed since then. I’ve installed over 40 murals, had several solo exhibitions, digital projects, including Augmented Reality ones, got to collaborate with some fantastic people and companies.

I am proudly calling Austin home. It’s a very welcoming place for artists. I am honored to be awarded Best of Austin visual artist 2021 twice this year by the Austin Monthly and the Austin Chronicle readers.

I have already mentioned an ongoing challenge of fighting my parent’s protests against me being a full-time artist. It has changed over the last few years, and they were able to accept my life choices, including my marriage to a woman. I should mention that in Russia, same-sex relationships are forbidden and not accepted socially, and my parents were not an exception to that. So stubborn belief in yourself can change the world. 

I love what I do; I can’t live without creating art. Most of my paintings, especially in pointillistic style, take over one hundred hours to make.

I hope my detailed, often graphic style is recognizable. I work with a set of symbols and colors that people can relate to despite their age, cultural background, or the language they speak.

My artworks are created as a riddle that needs to be solved by the viewer.

I fill every detail with a meaning that completes the final creation. My paintings are holding a message, as every artist has something to say.

My art style is the language I communicate to the world, and luckily, many people respond. I am deeply touched when my art has an emotional response. It’s like someone is hugging you back after you spread your hands wide open, or like when a person responded in your language in a foreign country.

I want to show my understanding of beauty and conflict in the world. Often, this desire becomes so strong that I have to grab my ink pen and for hours work on the new sketches that later are developed in the finished artworks.

From pointillism to steampunk, I explore many different techniques on various mediums, from paper to substantial concrete walls.

My murals can be seen in Austin Bergstrom International Airport, Austin Chamber of Commerce, Austin Parks Foundation, Austin Downtown Alliance, and many other prominent local places.

My fine artworks can be viewed and purchased at the West Chelsea Contemporary Art Gallery representing me in Texas.

During this interview, I am working in Oaxaca Art Residency on the new paintings that will be exhibiting in Austin pretty soon.

In August, I am collaborating with the Dell Children Hospital Art of Giving program. The isolation that has come with this pandemic has been rough; this program allows to bring the Arts to children, and raise funds for the hospital.

In September 2021, I am traveling to Angers, France, to create a mural in a frame of our sister city’s annual Austin Days Festival.

Many projects were put on the back burner due to the pandemic, including international art festivals. I am set to attend the famous Upfest in Bristol, the UK as a participating artist this spring.