Petrykivka folk painting tradition and the Internet

The competition’s initiators are the regional authorities and the Student Council of the Dnipropetrovsk Honchar National University. The project aims to cultivate respect for folk art among the younger generation and promote the Petrykivka painting tradition, but the most important of its objectives is to enable young people to implement their visions of a modern Petrykivka tradition and its characteristic features. “The Petrykivka tradition is nowadays more than just a handicraft or a kind of decorative ornamental folk painting; it is a well-known brand, too. Therefore, we have included in the competition’s main objectives supporting creative youths and cultivating respect for folk art,” the speaker of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council Yevhen Udod maintains. “The competition will give young people a chance to express their vision of the Petrykivka tradition as a handicraft and a kind of decorative ornamental art, to implement their designs using sketches of the Petrykivka patterns, and most importantly, they will be able to join the talented younger generation of painters who use this technique.”

Eligible participants of the online competition include all young people, not only students, as anyone aged 14 to 35 years is welcome to submit their works. The competition program includes three categories: sketch, graphics and completed design. The organizers explain that for the event’s purposes, a sketch is an image of a painted object, a graphics work allows for more creativity, with the contestants welcome to offer their own visions of the Petrykivka technique, while a completed design is an object that is covered with decorative painting or reflects Petrykivka motives in its design. Participants have to post their photographs and drawings on social networks, allowing every interested observer to give their assessment of the youths’ creative potential. They are free to choose materials and objects for painting as they saw fit, including but not limited to glass, wood, metal, cloth, clothes, kitchenware, household items and toys.

An expert jury, which includes Petrykivka master painters, art critics and cultural workers, will decide on the results, announcing the winners of the regional competition on May 19. The final exhibition of the participants’ works will be held on the same day as part of celebrating the International Day of Europe. There will be three winners in each category, all of whom will receive gifts and cash prizes. Each winner will get a free trip to Petrykivka, where the great painting tradition was born. However, the main prize will be a week-long trip to Paris, where UNESCO will hold a presentation of the Petrykivka folk art tradition. The competition’s initiators and organizers hope it will become a regular annual event, providing active creative youths with an opportunity to implement their visions of folk art and use modern approaches to the Petrykivka tradition.