Sculptural symposium in Tiachiv
2018
On 10-30 September, the second sculptural symposium took place in Tiachiv.
The organizer of the event was the City Council and Mayor Ivan Kovach. The coordinator, as well as the participant of the project, is a sculptor Bohdan Korzh.
The idea of the symposium was quite simple: to create relaxing areas with the contemporary park sculptures in the city. To implement this idea, the city provided all the necessary materials and conditions. At the same time sculptors, fascinated by such a mission, were to create. Today one can see the results of the first plein air held in 2011 – these are sculptures that adorn the Poshtova Square in Tiachiv.
The stone for the plein air was brought from the Novoselytsia quarry near Tiachiv. The stone is solid and hard to work on, with a peculiar crimson shade, perfectly suitable for sculptures of common shapes.
The theme of the plein air was not chosen in advance, therefore each participant had the opportunity to decide independently what exactly he wanted to depict and what character to choose for the future sculpture. Bohdan Korzh from Uzhhorod chose his theme thank to a fossilized shell he’d found on the surface of polished marble. Thus, his sculpture is titled “Time”. There is, on the one side, a spiral, which is a continuation of the structure of the shell and symbolizes the past, and the front side – present.
One more Uzhhorod citizen Mykhailo Khodanych imagined this stone block as a hippopotamus, and since there are no hippos in Transcarpathia, Mykhailo decided to create a “Cat”. And now this stone cat will watch all the Tiachiv cats, which, according to Mykhailo, are quite numerous there.
“Athlete” – the name of the sculpture of Ivan Demian from the Transcarpathian village Veliatyno. His work attracts with archaism, tension and athletic forms.
Michael Peter represented Tiachiv and for the first time, he was working with stone. He said he was afraid of a circular saw, but within three weeks, he mastered it and created the sculpture “Beekeeping”, as this topic was very close to him.
Andrii Detsko from Lviv – one of the most experienced sculptors, said that he was walking around the block for three days until he saw what he wanted to make. He called his sculpture “Mysterious Variations”.
Maryna Tovkach, a native of Zaporizhzhia, who has been living in Lviv for a long time, presented a sculpture “Sport”. In an abstract form, she combined team competition and game.
For Volodymyr Kindrachuk from Ivano-Frankivsk, the stone shape resembled the outlines of a hugging couple. Thus he created the work “Embrace”, where two figures were intertwined in love.
Another representative of Ivano-Frankivsk Bohdan Hladkyi performed a sculpture “Archangels” in the decorative monumental art, depicting two archangels – Gabriel and Michael, a peacemaker, God’s messenger and archistrategist. The sculptor said that in this difficult time these archangels protect Tiachiv and Ukraine. A sculptor from Kamianets-Podilskyi Serhii Klapetura made a decorative sculpture “Dog”. Its height was no more than half a meter, but it excited the local children who, while playing, were climbing on the dog’s back.
All the sculptors agreed that such symposiums contribute to a powerful sharing of experiences between the participants since there are numerous techniques of stone processing, approaches to work and sense of form. Moreover, important is the work with a variety of tools. The second factor is an understanding of a sculptor’s level with regard to others as well as what knowledge and experience he lacks. No less important is the very work with a stone block since not everyone has the opportunity to work in his studio with such massive volumes.
Well, Tiachiv can be symbolically called the sculptural capital of Transcarpathia and we hope for the further development and continuation of such sculptural symposiums.
Text: Oleksandr Nikitchuk
Photo: Nataliia Pavlyk
© Art & Culture Foundation Brovdi Art
