Moscow suburbs, 40 kilometers to the north of Moscow, Fedoskino village. Here, on the scenic banks of Uchi river, is located the oldest Russian center of lacquer miniature painting. Well over half of villagers of this and neighboring villages are in traditional craft. For 200 years now they have been passing through generations the professional secrets of making and painting of papier-mache wares, delicate caskets, cigar-cases and all-size chests. In the beginning of the 20th century there were a few painting factories around Moscow. A factory in Jostovo village was among them. At the border of the 19-20th centuries, this factory belonged to Zahar Timofeevich Burbyshev, whose granddaughter Nadezhda Strelkina (Burbysheva) is.

     She was born in Fedoskino village in the family of hereditary painters. In Russian language the name Nadezhda means "hope". Viktor Semenovich Burbyshev, a wonderful artist, gave his daughter this name, hoping she would continue their dynasty and glorify their name. Nadezhda has graduated Fedoskino miniature painting school. While her first works were of classic style, she has now almost devised her own style, which gently combines elements from both symbolism and art-nouveau. All works, which are now in factory's museum and being copied by other artists, are made of gold leaf, silver and nacre. Some of Nadezhda Strelkina's works are exhibited in Britain, France, Netherlands and America.

     In 1997 the artist received Crystal Bowl award for her "Musical Angels" series for an american company Bradford Exchange.
Works by N.V. Strelkina (Burbysheva) are exhibited in these books:

I. Krestovskaya N., 1995, MASTERPIECES OF RUSSIAN FOLK ART. LACQUERED MINIATURES. FEDOSKINO, INTERBOOK, Moscow:
1. "Scarlet flower" casket (1990, Fedoskino Factory Museum), #146 on page 84.
2. "Day and Night" box (1994 ), #170 on page 94.
3. "Pretty Lasses" box (1994 ), #171 on page 94.

II. Soloninkin N., Dmitriev B., 1995, FEDOSKINO LACQUER MINIATURE, Fedoskino factory of miniature art, Moscow:
1. Miniature "By the Well", page 29, # 40.
2. Miniature "Fortune-telling", page 12, # 8.

     Nadezhda Krestovskaya talks about Strelkina on page 14 of her introduction to Fedoskino Lacquer Miniatures: Nadezhda Strelkina (Burbysheva) evinces keen interest in old Russian costume in her lacquers. Her "see-through" painting on gold leaf captures the beauty of gold-embroidered boyar attire. Mrs. Strelkina must have inherited the knack of using gold and silver, which look prominent and simultaneously delicate. Her talent, allowing her to relay both happy and invigorating mood in her pictures, is utmost brilliant. You can feel vitality emanating from Nadezhda's works - a keenly depicted move, an expression that's just right. The eurhythmy of her masterpieces, the feel for proportions are most amazing.