Anastasia was born and raised in a remote Siberian town in Russia, obtained her university degree in English linguistics and literature in Prague, Czech Republic, and is now residing in Bordeaux.

Having only moved to France a few months ago, she is thus capable of sharing her way of looking at things as a newcomer delighted by the beauty of the wine capital of the world. It is, however, not local wine that charmed her most – it is Bordeaux’s art galleries and museums.

What brought you to Bordeaux?

My husband – quite literally. We met in Prague, Czech Republic, where I had been living for a number of years at the time, and was finishing my studies. Call it a modern classic love story: we met through one of the expat groups on Facebook, fell in love, started dating, and decided to get married not long after! It was at that point that my then husband-to-be brought up the subject of moving to France, which is something we eventually did.

How do you like Bordeaux so far?

Bordeaux is a magnificent city! Climate, scenery, architecture, people – I love every aspect of it! At first it was emotionally hard to get completely uprooted, to start over in a new location where I didn’t know anybody, but it all turned out to be worth it, as it seems, and I don’t regret having made the decision to relocate.

Are you studying or working at the moment?

I am working part-time teaching languages (English and Russian) at the moment. This way I get to do what I really love doing professionally, and I still have plenty of time to discover the gems of Bordeaux, to meet interesting people, and to dedicate myself to my hobbies. Talking about the latter, as of recently, I have started my own amateur blog on art and artists called Approachable Art, where I publish interviews with creative professionals (painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, dancers, etc.).

How did you first conceive the idea of starting your blog, and why did you choose to write about art?

To be honest with you, it happened quite accidentally. Even though I have always had some sort of inclination towards appreciation of beauty, I never received formal training in art as such (well, it’s not completely true – I did graduate from a music school where I learnt how to play the piano). That, however, has never prevented me from being curious about the world of art, so I’ve always loved visiting art exhibitions, going to various concerts, and being a regular theatre goer. My interest happened to suddenly escalate after my first visit to the Museum of Fine Arts located in Bordeaux, and I started toying with the idea of not only learning about art more, but also spreading my interest among as many enthusiastic art lovers as possible. This is how Approachable Art appeared.

Why Approachable Art?

Not being a professional art connoisseur myself, I would like to demonstrate that art is something that can be enjoyed by everybody, anybody in fact. Once you embrace your curiosity to APPROACH art, you will see that you are ABLE to do so – just as I did.

In my blog I don’t employ complicated art terms, present art as something elitist that is there to appreciate for a small group of art experts, or take on the task of educating my audience on art history, philosophy or other academic disciplines. What I do, though, is take my blog’s readers on a journey across artistic disciplines and styles of the works that I personally find interesting and inspiring. Or perhaps perplexing and puzzling.

You can check out Anastasia’s blog, ‘Approachable Art’ here: approachable-art.blog / @ana_keats