The Golden Tile award brought to Kyiv

The French city of Roumazieres-Loubert recently hosted a festival of ceramics, sculpture, and pottery. This year the organizers invited participants to fantasize on the circus theme. Ukraine was represented by the noted masters Marko Halenko and Ivan Bobkov whose works are in private collections, museums, and art galleries in Ukraine and many other countries. They also adorn various public and private interiors, estates, and parks.

More than 100 artists from Spain, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and Ukraine took part in the festival. Our masters impressed the jury and the festival organizers with their originality, professionalism, and compositional technique, and won the highest awards. For his work entitled Harlequin, Halenko, a member of the National Artists Union of Ukraine, who has participated in more than 30 regional and international exhibits and competitions, was awarded the Golden Tile, the festival’s most prestigious award. Bobkov, a teacher at the Republican Art School, won the Grand Prix for his Clown on a Lion. What made their task especially difficult was that they had to create their works in three days.

“We were amazed by the large number of professionals, and the great organization allowed us to work on a high level. We had to work under the close scrutiny of numerous visitors. And you know what? Their interest didn’t bother me. It inspired me to make Harlequin,” says Halenko.

In addition to sweeping the awards at the French festival, the Ukrainian participants had an opportunity to make new friends. Their best friends were artists from Spain. They watched the world soccer championships on television and shared in each other’s excitement. The festival ended with the awards ceremony, a festive buffet, and a concert during which the mayor of Roumazieres-Loubert personally congratulated Halenko and Bobkov on their victory.

After the official end of the festival the Ukrainian masters were in no hurry to return home. They were captivated by the warm and friendly attitude of the populace and the beautiful area, and happily accepted an invitation to spend another 10 days in France.