Oregon Coast Waves - 2.1

Artist making her mark in Toledo
eta Bakhtina has travelled around the world and
painted murals in many major cities, including
Amsterdam, Rome, Budapest and in every place
that she has lived. Now, she is ready to make her impact in
Lincoln County.
Last fall, Bakhtina settled in the little town of Toledo, where
she is a resident artist at The Crow’s Nest Gallery, owned
by Janet Runger. While some people may wonder how such
a world traveler ended up in the rural town of Toledo, she
had always dreamed of moving to the Oregon coast but didn’t
think it would be possible.
“It seemed strangely unattainable to move to the coast,”
Bakhtina said. “I’m not sure why it seemed unreasonable.” But
the coast came calling in the form of an old friend.
Bakhtina was friends with Runger’s son when they all lived in
Colorado in the late ’90s, and they all have remained friends
ever since. Runger had recently moved her gallery to a larger
building in downtown Toledo and invited Bakhtina to join.
She jumped at the chance.
“We’ve been told we are a good pair,” Bakhtina said of Runger.
“We have a good connection, and we get inspiration from each
other. There are a million benefits in working there.”
Besides her work as a muralist, Bakhtina is a surrealist painter
and children’s book illustrator.
At first glance, Bakhtina’s paintings are dark, mysterious
and dramatic. But a closer look reveals colorful details that
are joyful and whimsical. Creating art has always been in her
blood.
Originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, Bakhtina said her
initial love for art came from reading a lot of children’s books.
“I grew up in a literary family. My mother’s father was a writer
and publisher of books,” she said.
Her parents had friends who were interpreters and brought
her children’s books from all over the world. “In Russia during
that time — the ’80s — we didn’t have a lot of TV. I spent a lot
of time reading, so my passion for illustration came from being
exposed to so much creativity.”
No one else in her family pursued art. Her mother is a doctor,
and most of the other women in her family went into medicine.
She felt a similar draw toward helping people.
“I wanted to go into a humanitarian career — whether it was
medicine or activism. I always had the need to help the woes of
the world. I struggled for a really long time because I struggled
to do something else,” she said.
But Bakhtina was also inclined toward art. “In school, all the
kids asked me to do illustrations for their projects,” she said. “I
was always the artistic, creative one. In Russia there was a lot of
art taught in school, and I did a lot of art at home.”
Veta Bakhtina (above) continues work on her latest oil painting at The Crow’s Nest Gallery in Toledo. An illustration by Bakhtina, right, is next to
a coordinating assemblage piece by Crow’s Nest Gallery owner Janet Runger. (Photo by Susan Schuytema)
BY SUSAN SCHUYTEMA | PHOTOS JEREMY BURKE & SUSAN SCHUYTEMA CONTINUED ON PAGE 38
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