In 2014, Irina Makovskaya graduated SPCC as a Medical Sonographer and worked at a local hospital: Novant Health Matthews Medical Center. For three years, she volunteered as an EMT at Mint Hill Volunteer Fire Department. 

     For as long as she can remember, art was her passion and all the “unrelated to art” experiences helped Irina to develop her own understanding of human behavior and values. 

    Irina graduated Children’s School of Art in 2000, where she learned the basics of drawing and painting, and has been working on mastering her skills and reflecting through art, her philosophy. Irina's work attempts to provoke. "I don’t want viewers to look at my works and say: “Awe, how cute!” I want them to battle, to think, to wonder. I carefully choose my project; think about message I want to send to the public. I look for models and stage the photographs I use to draw from. Sometimes the ideas come to me in my dreams, and I sketch them." Portraits have always been Irina's passion. She can’t help noticing details, and that’s why landscapes overwhelm her. These details are often the only element that deems the painting surrealistic.