Glass Stars in the Ukrainian Sky

The French writer Didier Rance compares Andriy Bokotei’s works to a waltz of burning stars, a game with glass tears or fragments of laughter. Indeed, they are like mysterious worlds. It is no coincidence that Bokotei, who has been submitting his works to prestigious international exhibits and symposiums for the past twenty years, is considered among the most interesting artists working today. But this is not the point. Nurturing one’s talent is important, of course, but helping other talents to flourish is just as important and praiseworthy. In this respect, Andriy BOKOTEI, as rector of the Lviv Academy of Art, has a vast field of endeavors. Besides his administrative duties, he is responsible for organizing international symposiums on blown glass in Lviv and related projects, such as a museum of glass soon to be opened in that city, and many other projects described in the following interview.

Mr. Bokotei, the sixth symposium has ended. Isn’t it difficult to organize such large-scale projects in Ukraine today, what with the lack of adequate funds? The last symposium attracted 96 participants, artists from 16 countries. They had to be accommodated and provided with conditions to carry out their creative work.

Bokotei: It’s not too difficult these days because the mechanism has been well adjusted. At first these symposiums attracted just my friends; now artists are finding out about them even on the Internet and are coming to Ukraine. They send letters inviting us to visit their countries. That was how Si Si Ching came from Hong Kong. I hope she and all the other participants were satisfied with the event. Pere Ignacio Bisquerra and his son Gabriel were guests at the symposium this year. The elder Bisquerra is very well known; lately he’s been active in business. He has a factory in Majorca and his son has one in Grenada. One might say that he experienced his second youth in our country; his visit gave a boost to his spirits and he worked with pleasure, creating a very picturesque Spanish work — glass profiles of people.

Personally I took a keen interest in a Frenchwoman by the name of Catherine Sante, who sawed up an oak block and inserted glass sticks into the incisions. She admitted that she had seen something similar at a saw mill. When I looked at the block from a distance, from another exhibition hall, it seemed to shine and there was something mystical about it; an interesting concept.

It was very good for our artists and students to see all this. They were able to view not only finished works; they could also watch artists working the glass kilns. This was very useful for them.

How did you come by the idea of holding symposiums?

Bokotei: Back in 1988, three artists, two from Tver (Russia) and Tallinn (Estonia), and I were sent on a business trip to Novy Bor, not far from Prague. Bohemia is an internationally recognized producer of blown glass and at one time it hosted world symposiums. When we returned and shared our impressions with the Union of Soviet Artists, a decision was made to launch a similar project, although on a smaller scale, in Lviv. The preparations took a year, artists came from all the republics, even abroad: from the US, Czechoslovakia, Finland, and Hungary. At the time Jose Filip, President of the International Association for the History of Glass, declared, “You have succeeded in making this symposium an international event. Keep up the good job!” And so we have made this symposium into a traditional and truly international event. Our latest symposium assembled people from all over Europe, with each invited participant traditionally leaving one of his works as a gift to the city. So you can understand that a museum of glass in Lviv has long been needed. We hope that it will be opened soon in the vault of the Bandinelli Palace. It is now being renovated and once the renovations are completed, over 500 unique works of art will be put on display in an area measuring 260 m2. The glass museum will be part of the Lviv History Museum, and will have its own staff, security guards, and will pay for utility services. Unfortunately, the academy cannot afford this.

Would you list the artists who took part in the latest symposium?

Bokotei: A number of talented Ukrainian artisans presented a variety of interesting works, among them Oles Zvir, Andriy Petrovsky, who constantly tours the world with his exhibits, and Frants Cherniak, who is also well known abroad. There are a number of gifted young artists. We have an excellent school and beautiful traditions.

You once said that Ukraine has continued to hold this unique public event, whereas elsewhere in the world such cultural events are becoming a thing of the past.

Bokotei: I’ve told you about Novy Bor. They are no longer holding these symposiums. Everything has been privatized and private owners can seldom afford such projects. Only Americans can organize large conferences every year and in different cities. They have a big glass-blowing factory and a museum in Corning, which has a display of robots ranging from six meters tall to miniature ones. There are glass-blowing factories in many American cities, so the Glass Art Society (GAS) has a membership of 2,500. I am also a member. By the way, the compact electric kiln, which can be installed in a small workshop, was invented in the US in the 1960s. Long ago there was an idea to open a small store to sell blown glass on Ploshcha Rynok [Market Square] in Lviv and equip it with a kiln, so that customers could order custom-made pieces and actually watch the creative process. Too bad this project was never realized.

The same could have happened to the Lviv symposium, couldn’t it?

Bokotei: Yes, if they hadn’t saved the kiln and Lviv’s ceramics and sculpture factory. Lately this factory has been falling into decay. An experimental production team used to work there, financed by the Union of Artists and the Art Fund of the USSR. Artists from all the former Soviet republics would visit and work for two weeks with the team experts on a voluntary basis. Some objets d’art are still there. Students could watch the process. Those artists had traveled the world and had access to the latest information. We are happy that we were able to save the kiln. The regional administration allocated the symposium organizers UAH 50,000 and we channeled the money into repairing the kiln. We also received money from the ministries of culture, and family and youth.

So saving this kiln should be regarded as a culturally significant event.

Bokotei: Yes, and not just for Lviv, but for the whole country. There are no more factories like this left in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. There are industrial enterprises in Berezhany and Slavuta, but they specialize only in design-oriented products. Our ceramic and sculpture factory belongs to the Union of Artists of Ukraine and in the past, glass creations were produced in limited quantities, with every sample approved by an art council made up of renowned artists. Practically every product made in this factory had artistic value. Many of us were very unhappy when it became obvious that the factory was falling apart and that rescuing it would be difficult.

Many people helped save the factory in general and the kiln in particular. Thank God, not all of the masters had quit, so we have enough skilled manpower to resume production, although now we have to produce consumer goods to survive.

Yes, goods that are no match for foreign products.

Bokotei: You have to know the difference between goods that are made according to serial designs (small vases, water and wineglasses) and works of art. I might as well point out that we make only original creations produced by the artists during the symposiums. There was little art in blown glass before the 1960s, as it was generally believed that art existed only in paintings and prints. Design did exist, but it was then known as decorative and applied art. Today, unique works by noted artists are drifting away from both design and applied art. Now you can find glass compositions that speak for themselves. If such things are included in interior design, they instantly stand out and attract everybody’s attention.

I would like to stress that we are keeping pace with the world in terms of high visual art, because every work depends on the individual author, his talent and dedication. But we are lagging way behind in terms of design-based products because of our backward technology. Our factory in Berezhany makes quality products, but they are not particularly original. Elsewhere in the world, particularly Italy, Sweden, and Finland, design has become so subtle that we’ll have to work very hard to catch up with them. They practice unique forms, unique plasticity, and unique pureness of glass.

Do you know how glass is made? Or rather, how we do it? We make it the same way our grandfathers and great-grandfathers did. We take quartz sand, soda, potash, chalk, and some chemicals (potassium, sodium) that make glass transparent and clear. A worker clad in boots shovels all this into a tub and stirs it, and the mixture then “cooks,” hissing and spitting. No technological cleanliness is required. One look at a European product and a domestic one shows which item was made where. They also use quartz sand and soda, but the granulated charge is placed in neat barrels of various sizes. Everything is carefully proportioned and computerized. The individual has little to do with the production process. Top-quality designs are out of the question here until we reach their technological level. However, attempts are already being made to discard the obsolete technique.

Is technology a prerequisite?

Bokotei: Not for me personally. An artist who works with glass must have a perfect knowledge of the technology; moreover, he must have a unique education and be different from others. He must be a powerful energy source. A strong-willed man makes a good artist, because his works always convey clear-cut messages.

Isn’t that rather mystical?

There is always a mystical touch to true art. It’s a genuine and rejuvenating mysticism. I always bring my works to the studio and spend a long time communicating with them. I have to feel them as part of my spirit, something that is alive, breathing, and transferring its energy to me.

The birth of glass may be compared to a chamber orchestra. I have an idea and I share it with other artisans, we have a rehearsal of sorts and then work on it together. I enjoy this creative process even more than the end result, an image frozen in glass. The same is true of other artists, from what I know. By the way, the hypothetical mass that we work with unites artists. All of us glass artists are like a family. There is no difference between a respectable European and a respectable Ukrainian artist.

Except that living here is harder.

Bokotei: To work a shift in a glass-blowing workshop, an artist must pay 500 hryvnias, including the fee to the production team, and the cost of glass and electricity. And so young academy graduates get hired as team members and work on their creative projects during lunch time or after hours. In Germany it costs $500, ten times more, so German artists are happy to visit Ukraine, because they can work here free of charge, provided they leave their work in the city.

We dream of opening an art gallery at the academy, so that both students and faculty can work and have their works displayed. We already have the premises and the renovations are nearing completion. You know, every group of students has one or two especially talented individuals. Not all of them always become real artists, but one is willing and happy to assist them, help them mold their creative individualities. Such people usually have more problems and obstacles in their lives. They may be approached by a dubious agent who will praise his talent, give him money, and promise a great future. Unwittingly, this artist begins working for him. It’s a widespread phenomenon today. That is how talent is squandered and a lot of gifted people are destroyed.

We live in the age of business.

Bokotei: I think that times and eras have seldom helped artists. Actually, who says that an artist’s life has to be pleasant? Fortunately, there have been creative personalities throughout history who could never be tempted by money or other illusory benefits. They lived in misery, on bread and water, but they had a burning creative spirit. Only these kinds of individuals go down in history.