A THOUSAND WORDS

ARTIST FEATURE — SASHA CHETYRKINA

By Kathy Fox

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and these thousand words began in 2010 at the A.D.O.P.T. Pet Shelter in Naperville, Illinois. Animals Deserving of Proper Treatment is a private, no-kill, non-profit animal shelter that continues to rescue cats and dogs. After the passing of my 10-year-old Maltese, Beamer, I decided to volunteer at A.D.O.P.T. because my sister-in-law, Lisa, for years had actively been involved with Snooty Giggles Dog Rescue in Thompson’s Station, Tennessee. I thought it would be a good way to soothe my aching heart and love on some fur babies. I had always had a special place in my heart for all the rescued dogs Lisa brought when she visited and thought now was the perfect time to get involved locally.

Little did I know an energetic white ball of fluff would touch my life, by a chance encounter, and I will never forget the day I met this dog named Sparky. He had been in quarantine at the animal shelter and was transferred to A.D.O.P.T., where he had to be quarantined for another two weeks. Needless to say, at our first meeting he was bouncing off the walls because he had just come out of quarantine.

When I walked by his room, he kept jumping up and down, like a spring that was wound very tight. He was a 10-pound Maltese, approximately three years old, that had been found wandering the streets in Aurora, a neighboring city, wearing a pink sweater. “Odd for a male dog,” I thought. Typically white dogs get adopted quickly so I didn’t think much about him and went about my dog-walking duties.

A few days later, I checked in on Sparky to learn he had adoption paperwork in place. Of course, I was happy he was being adopted, but sad at the same time because I knew this would be the last time I would see him. To my surprise, Sparky was still there on my next visit to A.D.O.P.T. as the adoption had fallen through. One of the volunteers asked if I wanted to take Sparky for a walk, and I knew if I did the rest would be history.

Fast forward 13 years, when I had to say goodbye to my best friend and companion Mr. Sparkles. At 16 years of age, Sparky had enjoyed a wonderful life and lived his last ten years as a southerner in Franklin, Tennessee, enjoying the sun instead of snow. As many of you would attest, losing a pet is devastating, and they are forever missed. The moral of this story you may think is to adopt and save the life of a rescue animal, which I strongly encourage you to do, but it is one about how everyday chance encounters can change your life.

A few weeks after I said my goodbyes to Sparky, I happened to see a post on the Nextdoor app showing stunning artwork of dogs and cats by an artist who was doing commission art. The work was remarkable and so true to life, the fine details were astounding. What was even more remarkable was the artist was 13-year-old Alexandra Chetyrkina aka Sasha. I was flabbergasted that a 7th grader could produce such life-like art, mainly because I have ZERO artistic ability.

I reached out to Sasha’s mom to discuss featuring her talented daughter and was graciously welcomed into their Brentwood home. Sasha went to work immediately drawing the dog in the photo I sent as I observed her steady progress during the next few weeks.

Sasha explained, “I am going to use watercolor pencils for the base of the entire dog along with oil-based pencils for the details and top layers.” She began by drawing the eyes and nose of the dog and then worked on the fur around them and on the head. Afterward, she continued down towards the neck and collar filling in the fur. Finally, proceeding down the dog’s body layering the colors to create depth and capture the fine details in the photos. It was magical to see my Sparky brought back to life from this chance encounter.

The young artist began her journey when she was five taking art classes at the Sarratt Art Studios at Vanderbilt. During the pandemic, she continued to develop her art style and in 2022 Sasha started watching time-lapse YouTube videos which inspired her to move to a hyperrealism style using wax and oil-based pencils to create her art pieces. At the Cheekwood Summer Art Camp in 2022, her instructor, Kelsey Hoffman, noticed Sasha’s gifted abilities. To this day Sasha continues to work with Hoffman, as her painting teacher, to fine-tune her artistic skills.

In the third grade, Sasha was awarded first place from the Brentwood Library for her art (left) and has continued to win accolades. She won first place in May and October 2023 for Excellence in Art presented by Tennessee Magazine (above and below). In January 2024, the Tennessee Art Education Association awarded her first place for a painting (not shown), and also first place for the dog drawing above.

The 2024 Middle Tennessee Scholastic Art Awards awarded Sasha Silver Key (top) and two honorable mentions also in January. One of the honorable mentions, shown above, has special meaning because the painting is of Sasha and her brother, who has been her inspiration. Finally, her cat drawing (right) won first place in February’s Tennessee Magazine 10-14 age group.

ADOPT • DONATE • VOLUNTEER

If you are looking for a fur baby, please consider adopting from one of the local shelters and rescues. Millions of dogs and cats enter shelters each year, and sadly, more than one million are euthanized by no fault of their own. If you are not currently looking to adopt, but would like to help animals in need, volunteering your time or making a monetary dotation would be greatly appreciated by the local area shelters and rescues! A few to consider:

A Freedom Journey Inc.

Maury County Animal Services

Proverbs 12:10 Animal Rescue

Snooty Giggles Dog Rescue

Williamson County Animal Center

When Sasha is not drawing or taking art lessons, she is busy on a competitive swim team, plays the clarinet for the school band, plays the piano, and takes voice lessons. Follow Sasha on Instagram at @sashacarandache and reach out via DM to commission art. You can also check out her work at the April Art Crawl in Downtown Franklin.