Artist’s abstract works on view this month at Weston Public Library

A self-described “outsider artist,” Irina Gorbman began painting as a hobby. Her oil on canvas work is abstract in nature, often circular, some with semi-precious stones worked into the surface.

She got sick after she and her husband moved to Seattle and she relied on her years of practicing Vipassana meditation and yoga, along with painting, to help her heal.

“I turned to art just for an experiment,” Gorbman said.

A selection of 14 of Gorbman’s works will be on display in a solo show titled, Precious Geometry, in the gallery at the Weston Public Library through August. She had previously shown her work there in 2024.

“I’m very excited to come back,” she said.

Gorbman came to the United States from the Soviet Union with her family in 1991, landing in Boston. She attended college, earning degrees in mechanical engineering and international relations. She later married and moved to Seattle for her husband’s job. In 2008, they returned to the Boston area, making their home in Dover.

Her friends urged her to show her paintings, so she applied to the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York, earning a spot in one of the biggest art shows in New York. Her paintings have also been shown in Boston International Fine Art Shows, The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art museum shop in Chicago, Agora & Colm Rowan galleries in New York and at fundraising galas for RIA (Ready-Inspire-Act) at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston Medical Center and Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Some of her paintings hang at Cabot House Furniture Gallery in Framingham, adding sophistication to their furniture displays. Her goal for the coming years is to work with interior designers.

“It’s all about making living and working space look more beautiful,” Gorbman said.

She has not had any formal artistic training, instead finding inspiration for her work from “inside.”

“My process of painting is a meditation. I don’t have preliminary sketches. I just take a canvas, I think about something and I paint from inside,” Gorbman said.

As an artist with an engineering background, she sees her paintings in terms of geometry and movement.

“There’s geometry between different colors and meditation. That is the element that makes my paintings what they are,” she said.

Moving around a light-filled studio above her garage, she points to an abstract painting she calls “Owl.” The two circles in the piece represent the owl’s eyes, or two spirals moving toward each other – “up and down, clockwise and in the opposite direction,” she said.

Often, people see things in her paintings she hadn’t intended.

“They [tell] me what they see. I realize sometimes I don’t see it and I definitely didn’t mean to paint it because it wasn’t the theme. When I step back, I look into the painting and if I see those elements, like faces, I know that the painting is alive,” she said.

Another painting that “feels really special,” to her is “Genesis.” She points to what she says might be a head, or something not from this earth. There is also a lake, reminiscent of Yellowstone National Park, and buildings that remind her of New York.

“There are so many elements that remind me of different things,” she said.

A particular favorite is an abstract painting she calls “Gem-In-I.” The painting reflects the ancient wisdom that “every person has a gem inside of them. According to the ancient tradition, our heart is a gem,” she said.

“Basically, this painting is an invitation to pause, to see, to smile. It gives the feeling of calmness and wiseness,” she said.

She hopes people will stop by and experience something new.

“It’s all about experiences. Every person gets their own things [from the paintings]. My hope is to balance energies to give people a feeling of happiness to uplift them because we live in a high-paced environment. We need a place to calm down and to sense ourselves. If it makes them feel better, that is great. If it makes them feel more balanced, that is great; if they want to talk, perfect,” she said.

A closing ceremony for the exhibit will be held 1 to 3 p.m., Aug. 30. Private viewings of her wok can be scheduled via email at [email protected] or by calling 508-494-9772. Her work can also be seen online at igorbman.com.

“[Art] is very personal. My trademark is art that heals. So, I say I create art that heals,” Gorbman said.