Tatyana Riabukhina, who uses the name Tanya Ray for her artwork, is a visual artist in Mashpee, working primarily in watercolor and mixed media, as well as oils, acrylics and graphic arts.
Originally from the Urals, Russia, she grew up in a family that loved music and ballet, and from an early age was immersed in a rich artistic environment that shaped her sensitivity to atmosphere, rhythm, and form.
She began drawing in early childhood and completed formal training at a children’s art school during her teenage years. She later earned a professional Master’s-level degree in Architecture and worked for many years as an architect, painting primarily during vacations and in her free time, focusing on drawing and watercolor.
Over the years, her dedication to watercolor led to participation in group exhibitions in Germany, Italy, and Russia. During the economic challenges of the 1990s, she sold her watercolors to visitors — and some of those works may now be in homes around the world.
Four years ago, she moved to the United States, a significant turning point in her artistic journey.
Ms. Riabukhina’s art practice explores memory, transformation, and the dialogue between nature and human presence. The exhibition, Ms. Riabukhina said, “reflects my personal journey: the importance of traveling, exploring the world and oneself—sailing rivers and oceans, meeting people and nature—while also needing lighthouses to guide us. We are all little boats, sometimes sailing, sometimes drifting
in the quiet sea.”
Inspired by the coastal environment of New England—its boats, harbors, weather and light—as well as by personal narratives and inner states, her work bridges the external and internal, the visible and the felt. She approaches landscape as a psychological space and the human figure as a terrain shaped by time and experience.
She has been a winner at a New England Watercolor Society show and also an award recipient at a juried Exhibition at Falmouth Art Center, where she regularly exhibits her work.
