The winners of the "Silver Easel" special prize in the "Velykyi Pereviz" art residency
2017
The last ten days of summer 2017, the participants of the All-Ukrainian Student Contest in Painting "Silver Easel" Anastasiia Mitikova and Petro Hrytsiuk spent in Poltava region with all the conditions for creativity and imagination.
It should be reminded that they (the third laureate – Oleksii Omelchenko, unfortunately, could not come) received a special prize from the official partner of the contest – the art residency "Velykyi Pereviz", which provided a ten-day stay in the creative atmosphere by Tamara and Oleksandr Babak.
During their stay in Poltava, young artists managed to visit the estate of writer Mykola Hohol, the Saviour-Transfiguration Church of Sorochyntsi village, built in baroque style, and the famous Sorochynska fair. They also visited the studio of the famous Ukrainian artist Oleksandr Babak, had the opportunity to observe how the artist works, communicate with him, receive valuable advice. Petro Hrytsiuk remembers the days of his stay at the art residency as a time full of light, colours, and inspiration: "We were provided with all the materials for work and favourable conditions – just enjoy and create! The subject was free. I wrote a series of abstractions in which I expressed my emotions, especially the impression of nature that surrounded us: we lived on a hill with a view of the river, mountains and nearby villages. I was also struck by the church in Sorochyntsi village – there is a very good wooden iconostasis. Unlike Petro, Anastasiia Mitikova worked in an academic style. She has not fewer impressions and tells: "I am still under the impression of the journey. I am very grateful to the founders of the art-residency "Velykyi Pereviz" Yurii Oslamovskyi, Tamara and Oleksandr Babak for the invitation. I am delighted with those wonderful landscapes and historical places of Poltava, which we could see and visit. During my stay in the residency, I created 6 landscapes. I really like to draw from nature, so this time I decided to use the nature of Velykyi Pereviz village as a basis for writing the works."
The weather contributed to creativity, so they worked not only in the studio, but also went to the plein airs. During their stay at the art residency, young talents used all the canvases they received and continued to create on paper. Each of them left one work to the co-founder of "Velykyi Pereviz" Yurii Oslamovskyi.
During lunch and dinner time, guests of the residency communicated with the Babak spouses, shared new impressions and adopted the experience of colleagues in the brush, talked about life and creative search. The curator of the project Tamara Babak is pleased with how Poltava was perceived by young artists: "The "Silver Easel" participants who came to our residency are good and bright children. They were able to relax and wrote wonderful canvases. It's doubly pleasant that they wanted to work, they were interested in everything! These young people are not indifferent, creative, hardworking and talented."
It should be reminded, registration for the Open Student Contest in Painting "Silver Easel" goes on. To get information about the terms of registration is available on the contest website: https://molbert.brovdi.art/2017-2.
Text: Kseniia Shokina
Photos provided by the participants
