Irina Verhgradskaya is a recognized puppeter from Novosibirsk. Her "little world" won the hearts of many people around the world, and her collection includes more than 1,500 works from historical characters to genre scenes.

Everything goes from childhood: once, when Irina was small, her mother gave her a sewn doll. The girl immediately fell in love with her new girlfriend and called her Lyudka. Of course, the doll needed clothes and furniture, so Irina slowly learned to sew, knit, come up with more and more new things and stories for games.
Life made Irina forget about dolls. Grown-up Irina learned to be a commodity expert and got a job in a bookstore. But once, at the very beginning of Perestroika, the woman wanted to make a special gift for her children then. That is how two Fathers Frost with Snegurochka (granddaugter of Father Frost) (so the kids didn't fight), and then two clowns, two pirates appeared... After a while one of the Novosibirsk museums invited Irina to have her personal exhibition, which lasted more than six months. After such a success, the artist realized that she had found her vocation.

Today, it takes Irina 10-14 days to make a doll. In some cases, she draws sketches of her works to get a complete, thoughtful story. The body of dolls is made of baked plastic and artificial silk, which is grounded and primed beforehand. Faces and details are drawn with the help of oil paints.

For 30 years of creativity, Irina has made lot of dolls, very different ones. The artist admits that her main motivator in creativity is that dolls give knowledge to children. Thus, only one collection on the history of the costume has about 500 works. But most of Irina's lessons are of a different kind. These are the subjects I would like to pay special attention to today.

The series "My Dear Senior People" appeared because of deep love and compassion for difficult, often lonely life of elderly people. In Irina`s miniatures, senior people are engaged in daily activities: they go shopping, meet a postman, read books, watch TV, work in a garden, look agter their grandchildren. Each scene is like a shot from life. But when you look at them you get an unbearable pain somewhere in his chest, and your eyes are full of tears...

"In Nursing Homes. Volunteers Came"

"On the Veranda"

"Foundling"

"The Happiest Day"

"At the Window"

"Dance, Timofeevna!"

"Favorite show" and "At the Crossing"

"At the Shop"

"In Nursing Homes. Autumn"

"Sons! What`s the Time, Sons!"

"Enjoy your Steam!" and "Dear Son! I am well..."

"Vicomte de Bragelone"

Right Photo: "At the Station. Mommy's here!"

"Rio Rita"

"Fan" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street"

"Before the Holiday"

"In Nursing Homes. Cavalier"