Solutions from Ukraine: Ternopil team sheds light on repressed Ukrainian artists through anti-stress coloring page

The Ternopil team consisting of artist Marichka Yurchak, connoisseur Yulia Tsvigun and co-founder of the "Sumna Vivtsia" [Sad Sheep – ed.] publishing house Roman Vorobyov set out to discuss Ukrainian art through an anti–stress painting session.

ShoTam tells the story of the creation of "Ukrainian drawing."

What is the problem?

Unfortunately, repressed Ukrainian artists are currently more famous abroad than in Ukraine.

What is the solution?

The Ternopil team decided to spread the word about Ukrainian art through anti–stress painting. "Ukrainian painting" instantly evokes the images of 18 paintings and the life stories of their creators.

How does it work?

"Ukrainian drawing" is a unique edition and the first in Ukraine, where 18 Ukrainian artists have been collected. Eighteen coloring pages and pictures for these coloring pages," says Roman Vorobyov, co-founder of the "Sumna Vivtsia" publishing house.

Five years ago, Roman and his partner founded a publishing house with the original name "Sumna Vivtsia."

"At first, we had a slogan: it's normal to be sad. And a sheep, because a sheep is a cute, shaggy animal," the man says.

The publishing house started by printing postcards and flyers, and then it began creating drawings. This is how "World Drawing" and "Serious drawing" appeared with the works of world-famous artists, as well as "Cats' drawing".

And then Roman and the female artists got fired up with the idea of promoting Ukrainian artists. In particular, artists who were persecuted by the Soviet authorities and whose work was destroyed.

"People like Mr. Murashko or Mr. Boichuk, Sonia Delaunay, are currently more famous abroad than in Ukraine, unfortunately," – Roman Vorobyov, co-founder of the "Sumna Vivtsia" publishing house.

This is how the cartoon tells the story of Mykhailo Boychuk, the founder of Boychukism, whom the Soviets shot.

"Together with most of his students and his wife, they were arrested in 1937 after returning from trips to Europe, where they visited their art exhibitions in France, Italy, and Germany. But they were shot six months later in prison for "terrorist counter-revolutionary activities, "says the co-founder of the "Sumna Vivtsia" publishing house.

There is also a painting of Oleksandr Murashko, who was killed by agents of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage of the USSR in 1919. In addition, the book contains the works of Ukrainian artists that the world knows about but most Ukrainians need to learn about.

Such as the Ukrainian Maria Bashkyrtseva – one of the first women in the world whose works were exhibited in the Louvre. Or the oldest Ukrainian painting by an unknown author.

"This is a portrait of Saints Peter and Paul of the 12th century. And I really liked it, particularly because of its antiquity and authenticity," comments Roman Vorobyov.

Each picture from the book can be painted by hand, a powerful anti-stress.

"It is made so that you can absorb this information in this therapeutic process, in this coloring, in this calming," – Roman Vorobyov, co-founder of the "Sumna Vivtsia" publishing house.

Ukrainians liked this therapy because 9,000 copies were sold since the beginning of the great invasion. Now Roman, together with the artists, is preparing the second volume, which will contain not only paintings.

"There will be a mosaic panel, "Boriviter," which was depicted on one of the walls in Mariupol. This panel was destroyed due to the bombing by the Russians. And, accordingly, it has already been lost, so we decided to add it to the next volume," the man says.

Roman dreams that every Ukrainian knows his own history and art. After all, the Russian aggression showed that understanding the past is vital.

For reference:

It should be noted that the photo of the Rubryka correspondent was presented at a photo exhibition about humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.

Rubryka also reported that a Ukrainian artist creates paper models of buildings destroyed by the Russians.