A teddy bear festival to be held in Kyiv

A fairly unusual event will be held on December 13 through 15 at the Mystetsky Arsenal. The “Kyiv TeddyLand” festival will offer a chance to see how diverse these toys can be, learn their history, buy them or learn how to make teddy bears. More than 120 Ukrainian and foreign artists will present their artworks made in a variety of genres and techniques. Plush and knitted, textile and wooden, toy and interior, teddy bears will fill the gallery. This year’s exhibition’s main theme is the legendary bears such as Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, Olympic Bear, Umka, Gummy bears, Baloo, Mikhail Potapych, or Pudsey... Let us recall that the first book about the adventures of a teddy bear was written in 1907 by Alice Scott, a US author. The teddy bear literature totals about 400 books written by different authors all over the world over years. One of the most famous of them is English author Alexander Milne’s Winnie the Pooh cycle of stories, first published in 1926. The first song about teddy bears, “The Teddy Bear Two Step,” appeared in the US in 1909, with more than 80 songs joining it since. The first teddy bear cartoon was filmed in 1909, Walt Disney entered the field in 1924, while the first Winnie the Pooh film was made in 1975, telling the story of this international children’s favorite. The organisers told The Day that one of the Mystetsky Arsenal’s rooms would be turned into the Doll Space, according to the name of exhibition prepared by Parsuna, the capital’s best puppet gallery. Only there, one will be able to take a look into the studio of a real puppet master, artist, and animator Oleh Pedan. The Old Secrets Closet will be filled with touching stories told by old toys, including museum exhibits, home pets from grandparents’ childhood, and abandoned teddy bears, dolls, toy soldiers, and toy cars, found in the most unexpected places and lovingly restored. The identification center will function on December 14, offering best experts and restorers’ help in establishing the origin and age of one’s toys. Fans of folk dolls will be welcome to the cozy Ethnic Corner, where one will be able to take a closer look of traditional folk dolls made by leading craftswomen and see modern toys featuring details of Ukrainian folk costumes. The Kyiv TeddyLand’s program will include several charity events as well.