Illustrators with Ink: Rebecca Volynsky

So, I’m pret­ty excit­ed about my new series, Illus­tra­tors with Ink. Tues­day’s tat­toos got a great response, and it’s fun to see all of the dif­fer­ent, per­ma­nent designs that peo­ple have on their skin. Today we’ll take a look at the tat­toos of artist Rebec­ca Volyn­sky.

Rebec­ca lives in Prov­i­dence, Rhode Island, where she’s both a prac­tic­ing artist and an expres­sive arts facil­i­ta­tor at PeaceLove Stu­dios. Her involve­ment with com­mu­ni­ty art orga­ni­za­tions began in high school, and she lat­er worked as a res­i­dent teach­ing artist at Prov­i­dence City Arts for Youth. These orga­ni­za­tions and activ­i­ties give peo­ple the oppor­tu­ni­ty to find their artis­tic voice.

Your name: Rebec­ca Volynsky
Web­site: www.rvolynsky.com
How many tat­toos do you have? 4 (Bird, flax seed flower petal, bow and arrow, and anchor.)
How old were you when you got your first tat­too? 19
Do you have a favorite? If so, which one and why? All of my tat­toos are per­son­al­ly mean­ing­ful, but the bow and arrow is a good reminder right now of how we have to strug­gle a lit­tle bit by pulling our­selves back in order to move for­ward in life.
Where did you get your work done? Good Faith Tat­too in Boston, MA and Redemp­tion Tat­too in Cam­bridge, MA.
Is there any mean­ing behind any of your tat­toos? I got the bird tat­too when I left col­lege after my first year in order to take time off and serve as an Ameri­Corps teach­ing artist. It was a huge change in my life that set the stage for every­thing I do now in com­mu­ni­ty art edu­ca­tion. The flax seed flower is the nation­al flower of Belarus, which is where my fam­i­ly is orig­i­nal­ly from. It’s a reminder of my grand­par­ents who still live there and why I work extreme­ly hard. The anchor is actu­al­ly in hon­or of my grand­fa­ther. He had a Sovi­et avi­a­tor anchor tat­too on his fore­arm that he got done when he flew fight­er planes in the Sovi­et army. He brought my fam­i­ly to this coun­try and was a strong leader, a qual­i­ty I try to car­ry with me.
Do you see a con­nec­tion between the type of tat­toos you have and your illus­tra­tive work?There are many sym­bol­ic ele­ments and details in my art­work that are inspired by Russ­ian byzan­tine icon paint­ings. I feel that there is a sim­i­lar style in my tat­too illus­tra­tions. I drew all of them, and see them as pieces of work that rep­re­sent pieces of my identity.

Rebec­ca has a myr­i­ad of influ­ences: Russ­ian folk art, Byzan­tine icon paint­ings, live­ly col­ors, organ­ic shapes, her expe­ri­ences as a teach­ing artist, and much more. She’s inspired by the beau­ti­ful things and the peo­ple that sur­round her every day. Look­ing at her tat­toos and work, you can see the cor­re­la­tion between the two: