Born in Russia where she graduated from the Moscow State University. Irina Akimova has always enjoyed drawing and painting, for a long time it was just a hobby for her.

Irina arrived to the U.S. in the summer of 2001 and settled in Blacksburg, south-western Virginia. Here Irina started painting more and more — partly as a way to live through the cultural shock of moving to a new country, leaving behind her parents, friends, job, etc.

In May 2006, Irina received an M.S. degree in Mathematics from Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). The experience of being a science graduate student had an unexpected, though quite understandable in hindsight, effect of strengthening her desire to be a full-time artist.

Exhibition runs through August 30, 2009