GRASS VALLEY, Calif., October 6, 2026 – This month, Penn Valley Artist Yatska Sokuleva will present her first art exhibition in Nevada County, “Five States of Confidence” at Avanguardia Wines Tasting Room in downtown Grass Valley.
Sokuleva will showcase five new and original large-scale paintings, inspired by anime and manga aesthetics during the art exhibition. The community is invited to an opening reception from 5 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24 in the tasting room at 163 Mill Street.
“I feel like the arts and wine really go together,” said Gary Wright, Sales Associate for Avanguardia Wines. “We show art from time to time here in the tasting room and people seem to love it. People come and hang out and have a little wine and enjoy some art. That’s what we’re all about,” he said.
Owned by Rob and Marilyn Chrisman, Avanguardia Wines features a rotating collection of wine blends made from rare and unusual Italian and other European grape varieties. Over the years they have attracted a loyal following of wine lovers who also appreciate music, poetry and art. Marilyn Chrisman is an artist who regularly supports local artists.
While art shows are nothing new for the tasting room, Sokuleva’s show is a departure from the landscapes and cityscapes typically hung on the walls.
“This is an unusual combination – Anime-style paintings and a wine tasting room,” said Sokuleva.
Her five paintings in vivid colors titled, “Calm,” “Assertion,” “Directness,” “Interest” and “Recollection” portray women in five states, “while a sense of inner confidence remains present throughout the series,” she explained.
“I would like to express, through them, female confidence. This is the main theme of my upcoming exhibition,” said Sokuleva. The art teacher and comic book author-illustrator described the paintings as “bright and optimistic with stylized manga and cartoon aesthetics.”
Anime is a style of hand-drawn and computer animation originating in Japan usually featuring colorful graphics, vibrant characters and detailed settings. Manga typically refers to Japanese comics.
“Anime and manga are closely connected and the two often share similar visual aesthetics and storytelling traditions,” said Sokuleva.
The term manga translates loosely to “spontaneous free drawing” and dates back centuries in Japanese woodblocks, she explained. Today, manga has become a global phenomenon in comics and graphic novels, according to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.
This month’s show came together as if by fate when Sokuleva and her husband spotted a poster hanging in the window at the tasting room while standing in line to buy tickets to see the film, The Odyssey playing at the adjacent Del Oro Theatre.
“It was completely unexpected for us. The line was so long and we ended up in front of the window of the tasting room,” said Sokuleva.
She emailed Avanguardia Wines Owner Marilyn Chrisman and learned the venue needed an artist that worked in the anime style who could pull together a solo exhibition of five large paintings fairly quickly.
“I was surprised and thought this is something amazing,” said Sokuleva. She eagerly signed up for the challenge and got to work creating.
An artist life
An artist with a diverse creative background, Sokuleva says all of her work is very different – from abstraction, minimalism and conceptual art to comics.
In 2024, she published her two-volume autobiographical comic series, “From Dating to Wedding,” based on her personal dating experiences in California.
“I enjoy constantly trying something new, so I have never tried to find one style and stay with it forever,” said Sokuleva.
Sokuleva remembers the first time she saw the scale and energy of Jackson Pollock’s “Autumn Rhythm (Number 30).” The 1950 abstract expressionist painting stopped her in her tracks as if she was struck by a bolt of lightning.
“His painting amazed me and I just stopped,” she remembers. “He opened for me the world of modern art,” said Sokuleva.
The truth and humor of comic artist Will Eisner had a similar effect on her and led to the exploration of different genres and styles, including her own comics.
“He has my heart,” said Sokuleva.
It was Eisner that led her to realize that she could use her own life experiences, feelings, observations and even funny and painful memories to inspire her illustrations. His work excited and revolutionized the way she thought about the possibilities of her own art.
“I thought, ‘I can do this, too,’” she said.
A family of artists in Kalmykia
She grew up surrounded by a family of artists in Kalmykia, a republic in Southern Russia. It’s a land where the wild steppe becomes a field of millions of red and multicolored tulips each spring. Upon moving to Northern California’s landscape, she fell in love with its sunshine and dry climate that reminded her of the beauty of home.
Her grandmother, Pelageya Emchegirova, was the first professional female artist in Kalmykia known for her painting, drawing, traditional dance and making national costumes according to Kalmyk traditions. Her costumes are now held in the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve. Her twin brother, a jewelry artist and younger sister continue to live in Elista.
Her father, Ochir Kikeev, was a well-known painter and public figure in Kalmykia regularly appearing in local media, magazines and television broadcasts throughout the Soviet Union.
For Sokuleva, drawing, inventing things and constantly making things by hand was and remains a natural and everyday part of life.
“It was just very natural for me, drawing from childhood,” Sokuleva said.
After 16 years of music education, she graduated from a conservatory with a degree in piano and went on to study her true passion, graduating with honors from an animation college in Moscow.
To this day, several of Sokuleva’s works from a series of portraits of her father are periodically exhibited at the N.N. Palmov National Museum in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, as part of memorial exhibitions dedicated to his life and work.
It wasn’t until much later that she realized how unique her upbringing was and the gifts of artistic expression instilled by her family.
“My father taught me since I was a child that it’s very important for artists to find their own artistic language. I’m still processing, this does not stop,” Sokuleva said.
She moved to the United States in 2011 where she began teaching art in 2015. Since 2022, she has lived in Lake Wildwood with her husband, Dima, where she continues her work as an artist.
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