Tatyana, is the older daughter from a very talented family of Palekh artists, which include her late mother, Raisa, her father, Aleksey, and her sister, Vera. Smirnova was born in 1960 in the Siberian city of Kemerovo. She studied miniature under the famous Palekh artist V. I. Golov at Palekh Art School and graduated in 1981. Since 1994, she has actively participated in shows in the U.S., including special shows at museums in San Diego, Memphis and Brooklyn. Her creative works are in private collections throughout the world. Two pictures of her works are in the book "Russian Lacquer, Legends and Fairy Tales", Vol 2 (by Lucy Maxym) and some of her works are in the Palekh museum. T. Smirnova paints both fairy tales and religious themes for her miniature paintings. "I do not copy other paintings," she says, "all my boxes are original. But sometimes the people order from me portraits which I do with pleasure." Smirnova has mastered a difficult technique called "otborka" where strokes of thick and heavy egg tempera paint are drawn in a special way creating the illusion of smoothness of colors (as in oil painting). She is also a pioneer in finding new directions for Palekh art. For example, one of Smirnova's innovations is using mother-of-pearl in Palekh pieces. Because of the thickness and richness of egg tempera paint it is very hard to show the iridescence of mother-of-pearl, but Smirnova does this with smashing success. Tatyana is an ambitious artist with strong skills. We were fortunate to host a show of Smirnova at our gallery and she brought with her some stunning works using her new mother-of-pearl techniques. Tatyana lives a quiet life in the village Palekh and spends most of her time painting. She has three daughters. The older one, Kseniya, is 19 now, and will graduate Palekh art school next year.