Celebrating
cultural diversity
Shrewsbury
art exhibitions from Britain and Russia
By Gwen Cox
In
January 2013, The Hive Art and Media Gallery in Shrewsbury will host an
exhibition with the beguiling title ‘Born in the USSR’, curated by Svetlana
Elantseva of the Art International Group. On show will be works of art created
by a group of artists currently resident in Shropshire, but originally from
countries which were previously part of the former Soviet Union. Svetlana
Elantseva and Tanya Hart were born in Russia; Tanya Golovatyuk, Maria
Golovatyuk, Larisa Butler and Lyuba Carpenter in Ukraine; Marina Hadorik in
Estonia.
Some of
these artists have formed a group which meets regularly in Shrewsbury to
explore working with different media. Under the name of ‘Influenced by Colour’,
they have now amassed a sizeable portfolio and have decided that it is time to
share their talents, to give the public an opportunity to see their work. They
are joined by Tanya Hart and Lyuba Carpenter who share their enthusiasm for art
and design.
The
artists’ experience of life in the USSR differs according to the length of time
they lived there. All of them, however, are interested in how the combination
of such different cultural conditioning affects the work that they produce.
This forms the basis of the exhibition.
Tanya
Golovatyuk notices how the brightness of Ukrainian art and craft influences her
colour choices; those in Western European art are often more muted. She also
likes to use Ukrainian iconography in her craft work: sunflowers, and ‘kalina’,
the bright red berries which make delicious jam. She says, ‘Ukraine is my homeland,
but, now that I have lived in England for 11 years, I am aware that influences
on my art have become mixed. It is since I have been in England that I have
begun to express myself through art; I have benefited here from the more
accepting attitude to amateur work, and feel free now to experiment with
different media and styles.’
Tanya’s
daughter, Maria, has been in the UK since she was 7 years old, and has,
consequently, felt far less influence from her Ukrainian roots. Her British
education has led her to produce works more in the traditions of Western Europe,
though she knows she has internalised a Ukrainian sensibility to bold colours
and form through constant exposure to these at home.
Svetlana Elantseva feels the pull of her Russian home very
strongly. For some time, she worked in Moscow producing propaganda art so
typical of the former Soviet regime, and continues to derive inspiration from
this and more ancient forms of Russian art. ‘Throughout
my life and travels, I always feel a connection to my home land. This informs
the pattern of my life and my art, through which I pay homage to my heritage,
my country and its ways of life.’
Lyuba Carpenter has created a highly successful fashion design business in
Shrewsbury. Having learned her craft in the Soviet Union, she brings to her
design the meticulous attention typical of Soviet workmanship. ‘USSR is and always will be the
place where I am from and who I am, but UK is my second home now .I‘ve happily
settled down here and I am grateful to this country for welcoming me, and for
giving me an opportunity to develop my skill and creativity.’
Tanya
Hart works with decoupage: ‘The art and
craft make me happier and work for me as an art
therapy.’ Tanya works now with furniture design among other things, and
incorporates the ideas and images of both her worlds into this. Larisa Butler
also stresses how well painting and drawing help her to relax; she and Tanya
work here as accountants.
The exhibition
opens on 14th January and runs until 1st February. The
Private View is from 18.00 to 21.00 on Friday 18th January, and will
feature, as well as art, music and poetry with a strong Soviet flavour.
AIG is also holding a subsequent
exhibition in February at the Hive Gallery, curated by Svetlana, this time
involving international artists who are members of the group. Entitled
‘Conversation Pieces’, it is the result of a cultural exchange between Russian
and British artists. Alexey Gilarov, Vasili Racov, Carla Boulton and Svetlana who
are exhibiting new paintings and drawings, holding a ‘conversation’ through art
which needs no translation.
Alexey and Vasili live in Moscow. They work on monumental interior paintings on facades, on
both public and private facilities, using mural, mosaic, fresco, stained-glass
and graffito techniques. Svetlana and
Carla are Shropshire based artists who work in different media : drawing, painting, collages,
ceramics , photographs and films.
The artists’ work is held in private collections in the USA, Canada,
Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Russia.
The
artists inhabit different continents and speak different tongues; this
exhibition allows them to have a dialogue using their artworks as a universal
language. This promotion of cultural diversity, it is hoped, will celebrate all
that is similar alongside all that is different. Their collaboration will continue
with exhibitions in Moscow.
