Official Profile
Elena Vladimirovna Orlova graduated from the Ivan Fedorov Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute.
She holds the honorary title of Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation.
Her teaching experience in higher education institutions amounts to 15 years.
She was the initiator and direct participant in the creation of the Children’s Art Gallery in Volgograd — the first institution in Russia to receive the official status of a state children’s museum. Information about the gallery was included in the international catalogue of children’s museums published in Japan in 1998. Until 2010, she served as Director of the Volgograd Regional Children’s Art Gallery.
From 2010 to 2016, she was Director of the I. I. Mashkov Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts.
Member of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation (1995).
Member of the International Association of Art — AIAP UNESCO.
She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including international exhibitions in the USA (1999), Poland (1997), and France (2017); all-Union and all-Russian exhibitions, including the exhibition of artist-teachers in Yalta (1997); regional exhibitions, including “The Big Volga” (Nizhny Novgorod, 1998; Volgograd, 2000); and regional-level exhibitions.
She has held solo exhibitions in Belgium (Liège, 1998), Volgograd (1994, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2015, 2017), France (Dijon, 2005), and Bulgaria (Balchik, 2026). She participated in the international project “Artists of Three Rivers: Russia, USA, Ghana” (Russia, 1999; USA, 2001). Laureate of the 1st and 2nd International Biennale of Contemporary Art “Dialogue: Color and Line” (2004, 2006).
She has been awarded:
- the Medal of the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, II degree, for achievements in the field of culture and art,
- the medal “Elite of the Women’s Business Community”,
- the honorary badge of the Volgograd Region Administration “Care for Childhood”,
- the honorary badge “Best People of Russia”,
- the honorary badge of the Volgograd Region Administration “Keeper of Traditions”.
She has repeatedly won all-Russian and regional competitions, including “Best Manager”, “Best Organization”, “Director of the Year”, and “Woman Director”.
For more than ten years, she headed the Department of Decorative and Applied Arts at the Volgograd Institute of Art and Culture. She holds the academic title of Associate Professor. As a Professor, she taught painting at the Institute of Art Education of Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University.
She actively collaborates with Volgograd theatres — the New Experimental Theatre, the Theatre for Young Audiences, the Youth Theatre, and the Puppet Theatre — as a scenographer and costume designer, and as an illustrator with the children’s magazine “Prostokvasha”.
She has more than fifty students who have received Grand Prix awards and gold medals in international children’s art competitions.
In 2014, she served as a jury member at the All-Russian and International Youth Delphic Games.
She has been the organizer and director of international children’s art projects and internships for children from Volgograd (Russia), Dijon (France), and Hengelo (the Netherlands).
