Svetlana Pavlovna Marchykova was born in 1938 in the village of Zavitaya in Amur region.
In 1958 the artist graduated from the Vocational Art School, where she studied under I.F. Vetrov, A.I. Kuznetzov, A.D. Nebosklonov, D.N. Dedunik, and M.A. Bokov.