As a child living in Moldova, Kseniya Tuchinskaya would climb onto a stool next to her mother Tanya’s drafting table and mimic her illustrating children’s books. She dreamed of following in her artist mother’s footsteps.
Now 10 and living in San Francisco’s Richmond District, Kseniya is fulfilling her fantasy as a recognized, published artist.
Last year she beat out several hundred emigre kids to win second prize in the 1995-96 Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society poster-calendar contest, titled, “What America Means to Me.”
The National Resource Network for Child and Family Mental Health Services spotted Kseniya’s painting on the HIAS calendar and adapted it for the cover of its annual report and other print materials. The report was distributed to members of Congress and most federal and state agencies working in the areas of child welfare, special education, juvenile justice and mental health.
In addition, her work is part of a show of HIAS poster-calendar winners titled, “America, My New Home — A Child’s View,” at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum Gallery in New York
Rendered in bright temperas, Kseniya and five other children stand under an American-flag umbrella. One child is Mexican, another is Asian, another is black. In the background are the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco.
“I’m the one with the braid holding the umbrella,” said Kseniya, whose family moved here three years ago.
Tanya Tuchinskaya learned about the contest through a social worker at the S.F.-based Jewish Family and Children’s Services and told her daughter about it. Kseniya immediately set to work.
“She was so excited. She started to dream about kids together from all around, all races,” Tuchinskaya said. “It’s funny. She began early as an artist. Three or so. She has a real passion for painting.”
Nonetheless, Kseniya said, “It took about a day just to think up the idea. I started thinking about all the different people from all over the world in America. That America is like a big umbrella that keeps the rain out and has room for all people, not just Americans.
“That’s what I tried to put in my drawing. Because I really like it here.”
Concerned for their daughter’s safety, Kseniya’s mother and father, Alexander Tuchinskaya, moved from Moldova in 1993 following a number of anti-Semitic threats.
Within three months of arriving, Kseniya learned English and later began attending Kittredge School, a San Francisco private institution where she is now a fifth-grader.
Art and reading are her favorite subjects. She loves fresh berries and bananas, which she can get “anytime here, but not in Russia.” And photography is her newest passion.
After receiving a $75 U.S. savings bond from HIAS and a $500 check from the National Resource Network for Child and Family Mental Health Services, Kseniya bought a Canon camera and banked the rest.
“I was so excited” about winning and being published, Kseniya said. “I was stunned by the $500. I didn’t think it was worth so much,” especially since she feels drawing people isn’t her forte.
“I like doing animals best,” she said. “Sometimes I make up my own or do cats in different colors. I don’t really like to draw things the way they are. It’s just my style.”