Meet the Artist

Julia Volodina

The Odyssey Begins

Julia Volodina was born in Saratov, a college city in the heart of Russia, in 1968. She was raised in a small Soviet family, where her parents supported her interest in art. Her grandmother has preserved all of Julia’s artworks since she was three years old. In 1991, Julia graduated from the Art College of Saratov and subsequently moved to the turbulent Moscow of the 1990s. The hyperinflation and upheaval resulting from the transition from socialism to wild capitalism compelled Julia to paint portraits on the renowned Arbat Street in Moscow, where she competed with more than 100 male Russian artists striving to make a living as street artists. In 1993, Julia left Russia.

A Decade in Spain

From 1993 to 2005, Julia painted portraits using various mediums, including charcoal, pastels, watercolor, oil, and acrylic in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca. She participated many local exhibitions and art fairs in different Spanish cities. From 2000 to 2005 she ran an art gallery in downtown of Palma de Mallorca called Julia Volodina.

An American Adventure

In 2005, she moved to Brattleboro, Vermont, together with her American husband and daughter. The family purchased the Ely Culbertson House, which quickly became an Airbnb business known as an artsy home filled with original works of Julia’s art.

In 2025, Julia relocated to San Diego, where she embarked on a new chapter of her life. Her love for painting animals, particularly horses led her to the Olaf Wieghorst Museum, where she occasionally paints in the museum’s botanical garden.