Puhlyk-Belen Magdalyna

Honoured Artist of Ukraine. Laureate of the Regional Prize named after Y. Bokshai and A. Erdeli. Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1977).

She was born in Nevytske village of Uzhhorod district, Transcarpathian region. As she herself recalls, she has been painting and sculpting since her early childhood. In 1969 – 1973, she was studying at the Uzhhorod School of Applied Arts. Her teachers were L. Averkiieva, A. Dunchak, A. Bachynska, V. Berets, and V. Svyda. She was lucky to learn from the classics of the Transcarpathian school of painting such as Fedir Manailo, Gabriel Gluck, Mykola Medvetskyi. In 1977, Mahdalyna passed a course of pedagogy at the Lviv Academy of Arts. She worked at the Transcarpathian Art and Production Complex in the workshops monumental and applied arts. At that time, she made a lot of sketches for the design of sanatoriums, factories, hotels, sports complexes in Transcarpathia, Lviv regions, Ternopil and Kyiv. She also made books design, co-operating with the publishing house "Karpaty" in Uzhhorod. She devoted several years to her pedagogical work at the Uzhhorod College of Applied Arts, teaching the basics of composition, drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, and modelling.

All the artist's works are impressive: folk motifs in ceramics, paintings, watercolours, graphics, decorative and monumental painting, tapestries, embroidery, women's jewellery. A special place is taken by the sculpture of small forms. According to the author, "... the element of folklore, the expressiveness of the plot, freedom of emotions – the distinctive features of miniature plastics… This kind of art is magnificent not in size, but in content."

The artist always interested in the topic of women's fate: "My women - in ceramics, on canvas, created with oil and watercolours, and above all in archaic sculptures, are special. But this is my revelation: "Keeper of Mankind", and "Keeper’s Flesh", and "Eternity of The Genus" and "Madonna from Archaic"… Everything is images, symbols. And the symbols are life."

The master founded the school of ceramics in Transcarpathia. Among the works created by her distinctive is a unique series of ceramic works with philosophical comprehension of the first principle of humanity: "Cosmogony of the Mankind."

A lot of films are shot about Mahdalyna Puhlyk-Belen: "Filmstrip of the USSR" (Moscow, 1975), "Famous Ukrainians" (Kyiv, 2006), short film "Ukraine-21" and "Picturesque Ukraine" (O. Dovzhenko film studio, Kyiv, 1980); "To Know the Universe" (Uzhhorod, 2006).

Participant in numerous exhibitions: regional since 1972, all-Ukrainian and foreign ones - since 1973. The artist held 25 solo exhibitions. In 2003 and 2005, her works took part in the International Biennale of Ceramics in Buenos Aires.

The works of the author replenished the funds of numerous museums in Ukraine, Argentina, Georgia, Canada, the USA, and countries of Western Europe. They are also in the private collections of numerous countries of the world.