“Stone. Allegory”
A dozen of new sculptures appeared in Ternopil
An all-Ukrainian artistic open-air session “Stone. Allegory” has taken place in Ternopil. Sculptors from all over Ukraine worked on their compositions for a week in an outdoor workshop in “Topilche” Park. Such kind of an open-air session was last held in Ternopil over 30 years ago. Sculptures created during the last session now adorn the park named after Taras Shevchenko.
The experts note that the comparison of the sculptures from the previous open-air session and the current one shows the rapid development of techniques and artists’ skills.
“The sculptors who came from Kyiv show the high class of technique which is a new word in the art. Ukrainian sculpture preserved classical approach to artistic work. Therefore, our craftsmen are welcome guests in Turkey, Latvia, Italy, and other countries. We have moved away from abstraction promotion, school of sculptors in Ukraine has maintained the canonical aspects, and I am pleased that this is the great impetus for creative thinking. At our open-air session you can see allegory, but also a lot of things in the form of classical visualization,” said Oleksandr Smyk, Head of the Department of Culture at Ternopil City Council.
To make stone breathe with life a master needs grinders, cutters, brush, chisel, and other tools, as well as great skill. Working with stone is a painstaking process that results in individual and each time unique piece of art.
“While working on a sculpture you must dwell on every detail so that the material would be perfectly inscribed,” said Volodymyr Sholudko, who dedicated his composition to a well-known Ukrainian violinist, People’s Artist of Ukraine Bohodar Kotorovych, who died in 2009. The sculpture depicts a violin and three butterflies. The interesting story that became the basis of Sholudko’s spiritual composition was told by widow of late Kotorovych. “In 1999 Paganini’s violin was brought to Ukraine. Kotorovych performed Paganini’s classical pieces on it. When Kotorovych played this instrument, three butterflies appeared on stage and sat on it. The audience was amazed because no one could understand how butterflies could get into a closed music hall. By the way, the violin was guarded. I decided to depict this interesting story,” said Sholudko.
Of all 12 sculptures made during the open-air session, one remained unfinished. Unfortunately, one of the participants of this event – Hryhorii Kudlaienko, Associate Professor of Lviv National Academy of Arts, suddenly passed away.
