A LITTLE more than a year ago, Katia Kulomza and her family were sheltering in basements and cellars for days at a time as bombs and rockets battered the city of Sumy in north-east Ukraine and Russian and Ukrainian forces fought a deadly two-month battle in the streets.

Eventually the invaders were forced to withdraw leaving devastation all around, but by then 26-year-old Katia, a teacher with master’s degree in English, had made a heart-breaking decision to leave Ukraine and travel alone to seek refuge in the UK.

“All my plans for the future ended when the war started.

“All my friends felt the same. It was the uncertainty of sitting in a cellar waiting for the worst and being helpless to do anything about it. We all decided to leave.

“My friends went to Switzerland, Germany, Poland and Ireland to start new lives. I chose England because I could speak the language, but I had no idea what the future might hold.”

It certainly didn’t include moving to West Somerset and realising her potential as a talented and original painter with a first major exhibition in Watchet next week. “I did painting at home just as a hobby,” Katia says. “But a new and a beautiful landscape to explore has made me take it much more seriously.”

Her work - mainly featuring landscapes and flowers - will be on display at the Mayfly Studios, Swain Street, Watchet, from September 12-19 from 11am to 4pm.

“I like bright colours, especially red, high contrasts and highlighting things. Painting is relaxing but it’s stimulating too, particularly when you’re out in countryside which is so different to that in Ukraine.”

Gallery owner Nick Cotton, who has been showcasing new and promising artists and craftspeople in the Mayfly Studios this summer, said: “Katia’s pictures are a vibrant, exciting and original take on our local landscape from someone who has just discovered it.

“I am very pleased to be able to give her the opportunity to display her work and her exhibition shouldn’t be missed.”

Katia remembers that her parents were distressed by her decision but understood why she made it. “They have to stay in Ukraine - my father can’t leave the country because, at 56, he could still be called up for military service.

“I keep in touch and recently went back for a month. Things were very bad and every day there were air-raid alerts but now people just accept it and get on with their lives as best they can.”

Katia arrived in the UK in June last year after a 20-hour harrowing journey through countless checkpoints to Poland, and a flight to Bristol, before settling with her sponsoring family, Graham and Kate Kennedy, in Watchet.

Apart from painting, Katia now has a busy life as official interpreter for the West Somerset Welcome Hub, of which Kate Kennedy is manager, and teaching English to students in person and online.

“There are over 100 Ukrainian refugees in the area and many of the older people have problems speaking English and find it difficult to adapt to a different lifestyle,” Katia says. “We help with everything from helping students taking exams in English to taking people to see their doctors.”

“Despite the problems, everyone is very grateful that people here have been so welcoming and are sharing their homes with them.”

Katia says she hasn’t yet felt able to paint the world she left behind in Ukraine. She thinks art is a way of expressing emotions. “Crisis can make people do better things and express things in art that they can’t cope with otherwise.

“Perhaps that’s how it works for me - I try to make something beautiful.”

 Sponsorships are still needed for Ukrainian families in the UK. If you can help please contact Kate Kennedy on 07964 059296.