Woolen beauty
Kyiv hosts an exhibit of handmade panels
Halyna Mykhailychenko, a master of gobelin tapestry and member of Ukraine’s Union of Artists, long ago solved for herself the question of how to decorate the ceiling and what to hang on the walls in the sitting room. In the course of her creative life she has made over 200 woolen carpets and wall panels. She keeps them at home, gives to her friends, and also displays at exhibits in Ukraine and abroad. The tenth exhibit of her works has recently been launched at the Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art. With early 30 woolen canvases on display, it will be open until March 2.
Despite the fact that Mykhailychenko has lived in Uzbekistan for many years, her works are about Ukraine: clusters of guelder rose berries, oak bark, and sunflowers. The master says that her hands recreate things upon which her eyes feast. She starts working on her next panel by selecting the color and thickness of the fiber and the size of the image — she chooses everything according to her mood, but by all means with good intentions.
“I fell in love with the technique of gobelin tapestry at first sight,” Mykhailychenko said. “I am a theater painter by profession. But my passion for weaving got the upper hand, and I have not been able to leave it for many years now. In this technique I like the painstaking and protracted process of creation. When I work with wool, I get rid of fatigue, lose track of time, and forget that I have been sitting there and weaving for hours on end. Everything starts from an idea, followed by a sketch, which is eventually transferred onto canvas. Color selection is the most interesting stage. I never follow standard schemes and ready-made patterns; I always choose tints and fiber following my heart.”
Maybe that is the reason why most of Mykhailychenko’s works are executed in light, non-gaudy, soft colors. The master primarily uses wool, but when she likes a particular sample of lurex, synthetic, or jute fibers, she works with them as well. The main thing for her is high quality. She believes that to achieve the desired result, one should do what one’s heart desires. Following this principle, Halyna has found admirers in many countries of the world and frequently made custom panels. Several dozens of her works are now kept at Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Culture, Fergana Art Museum, and in private collections and galleries in Holland, Russia, the USA, Israel, Italy, and Poland.
“The technique of gobelin tapestry is not complicated. One should just be an artist and find the right material to can convey one’s creative self,” Mykhailychenko continued. “Although I have worked in a theater for a long while, this experience had no impact on my passion for gobelin tapestry, choice of ideas, or search for admirers, because theater and tapestry are absolutely different things. Wall panels are perceived differently than a theatric performance — with less drama and suspense. When people look at them, their eyes are resting, their inner tension is relieved, and their troubles get pushed to the background, while the world around them seems so beautiful.”
The master is eager to experiment with gobelin colors and their seizes: she makes both small pictures and nearly 1.5-meter-large panels. Interestingly, it is much simpler for her to work on a large picture than on a small one. According to Mykhailychenko, the smaller the work is, the thinner and more qualitative the threads should be, and one should make more stitches and knots. So it appears that several times more time is spent on a tiny picture than on a large one.
When asked about her favorite work, Mykhailychenko said she could not identify one, adding that she has yet to create her best piece.
