Olga & her husband Hanan Milner
Olga was born in St Petersburg in 1961, a member of one of the most prominent families of artists. Her paternal grandfather, Professor Oreshnikov, was Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg from 1953-1978. He was also one of the leading artistic figures in the city and a member of the Soviet Academy. Olga’s maternal grandfather was Roman Kotlarevsky, a renowned composer and professor of composition at the Conservatory of Music. Her parents and close relatives are all either painters, art historians or practising musicians.
Olga’s artistic talents emerged very early in her childhood and were nurtured by her family. Her early work was exhibited in the Composer’s House and in the Academy of Science when she was 10 and 12 years old. She became a student at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated with an MA degree in Fine Arts in 1987. Her work was seen in several exhibitions in St Petersburg in the following 3 years and she started work as an illustrator of children’s books. This experience allowed her to draw upon her love of fables, legends, religious stories and folklore and combine these sources with her inner self and her work as an artist.
In 1990, Olga married and emigrated to Israel where she works under her new name Tamar Or. She works in oil, acrylic, tempera, watercolour and gouache in a unique style. Her paintings are humorous, symbolic and serious in content, meticulously executed and with a fresh and dreamlike quality.
An exhibition of her work was held at the Tennessee State Museum in the USA from June to September 1998. Following on from the success of this exhibition Olga has also held shows in Washington DC and Des Moines, Iowa (in November 2003). She and her husband Hanan Milner both exhibited at the New York ART Expo in February 2004.
They are currently planning to build a new home in
the Israeli countryside which will incorporate a large purpose built
studio for them both.
'A Feast of Fruit' original oil on canvas
