Petrikivka: ukrainian folk art in the modern village
Meet the artisans who embellish the walls of Ukrainian schools with authentic paintings
The academic year 2020/2021 will begin on September 1 — there is a high probability that students will return from distance learning to the school walls. And these walls (literally!) often wish for better.
This summer, the team of the UAmaze Art Organization — one of the active communities engaged in the preservation, revival, development, and popularization of folk crafts in Ukraine — decided to take the initiative into their own hands and help schools and kindergartens get a new face by painting walls and facades with Petrikivka, Ukrainian folk art.
Petrikivka: Ukrainian folk art in the village
"Currently, most educational institutions are undergoing renovation work. We are ready to decorate the walls both outside and inside by creating authentic Ukrainian paintings. This is the emphasis on love for Ukraine, which is always relevant and turns even an inconspicuous space into a colorful art project," the organization noted.
Who are UAMAZE?
UAmaze (Ukraine amazes) is a project aimed at popularizing the most colorful works of Ukrainian folk decorative art. For ten years now, the project team has been engaged in the development and dissemination of decorative art of Ukraine, namely Petrykivskyi and Samchykivskyi painting. They conduct online and offline master classes in folk art, teach adults and children in the School of Masters about these types of painting, develop and distribute modern souvenir products, support folk craftsmen, giving them the opportunity to teach and earn, engage in charitable social projects.
Petrikivka, Ukrainian folk art
What traditions are being revived?
The Petrykiv painting is familiar to all Ukrainians. Perhaps it is the most famous type of artistic folk painting in Ukraine and abroad. Not the least thanks to the art factory "Petrykivka painting" in the village of Petrykivka, which became known worldwide even in Soviet times. It was visited by numerous tourists, who certainly brought Petrykivka souvenirs with them.
In 2004, the factory "Petrykivka painting" stopped its work, and in 2011 it was completely destroyed. On December 5, 2013, during the 8th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in Baku (Azerbaijan), a decision was made to include the Petrykivka painting in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. About 600 experts from 95 countries of the world participated in the session's work. The painting became the first Ukrainian object to be awarded such a status. But this did not save the factory in Petrykivka; many craftsmen were left without work, and it became unprofitable for them to deal with Petrykivka alone, so they began to switch to other types of activities.
No, Petrykivka is not dead, and now the market presents a large selection of souvenir products using elements of this painting. Still, due to the lack of quality control in many cases, the artistic level of these products leaves much to be desired, thereby devaluing the direction in general. Plots and products often resemble stamping, they are not functional, and the neighboring shelves with really stamped Chinese souvenirs, the same in appearance, in no way add to their exclusivity and nullify all the efforts of artists.
It is worth telling about the Samchykivka painting separately. This type of traditional folk art of southeastern Volyn comes from the village of Samchyki, Khmelnytskyi region. In contrast to Petrykivka, in general, few people have heard of the Samchykivka painting, which is not inferior to Petrykivska in terms of color and authenticity. This is not surprising: just three years ago, when the activists from UAmaze became interested in it, this painting had only four masters, the youngest of whom was 47, and the oldest was 87 years old. These people taught at the local art school. Still, beyond that, there was no question of any development — young artists couldn't earn a living, and it was more profitable to become a tractor driver to feed the family. Samchykivka painting was literally on the verge of disappearing! Therefore, this direction of decorative folk art needed special attention.
In 2018, UAmaze had the idea to turn Samchyky into an art village to draw attention to this type of painting, support it and prevent it from disappearing.
Thanks to a Ukrainian Cultural Fund grant, this project was implemented — dozens of buildings in the village were painted, turning the village's houses into visiting cards with the works of artists.
Also, within the project's framework, more than 100 workshops and courses from Samchykivka were held for children and adults. Three of the four masters-keepers of traditions were involved in the project, from whom the revival of the Samchykivka painting began. The next step was a campaign to popularize the Samchykivka painting among art institutions of the country and promote the village as a tourist attraction where you can have a great time with the whole family — visit the beautiful village and its sights, talk to the residents, touch the charming local painting and even learn to reproduce it. Systematic art tours to Samchyky for children and adults, which count hundreds of positive reviews, resulted from this campaign. And the number of artisans from Samchykivka increased from 4 to 70 in Ukraine.
"Our goal," the organizers share, "is to make the number of Samchykivka artists bigger, and this art to be mastered by as many adults and children as possible in different cities."
UAmaze believes that folk painting can be stylish and modern
Iryna Chyrkova, leader and chief executive of the UAMAZE artistic initiative: "A few years ago, when I decided to do simple and understandable things that change people's lives for the better and solve social problems, almost every second person told me: "Cultural heritage? Are you serious? This is Sharovarshchyna (a term with usually a negative connotation meaning a way of representing Ukrainian culture and identity with the help of pseudo-folk peasant and Cossack clothes, elements of everyday life — ed.) Why do you need it!? Social entrepreneurship? But there is no money there, only difficulties!". A lot has changed over the years. Samchykivka painting is coming to life; it has more than 70 followers, although four years ago, there were only 3 able-bodied masters in the whole country. The village of Samchyki blossomed and turned into an open-air museum, which is visited by Ukrainian and foreign tourists. A whole army of masters has work and motivation to do what they love.
On the shelves of Duty-Free, which offered us cooperation, there are souvenirs you are not ashamed to give to friends and partners: silk scarves, bright diaries, unusual gift sets, and toys.
I always say to everyone – get involved! Support Ukrainian artisans, and give art a chance to survive; your gifts to partners with high-quality folk paintings will really impress them. You'll hear, "Wow! Impeccably! Marvelous! Ukrainian is cool!".
Would you like to hear "Wow!" from your child when they see their school after the holidays?
The basis of many folk paintings, along with the plot, is the harmony of colors tested over the centuries. Everyone knows that color plays an important role in a person's life. It makes our world diverse and orients in the surrounding space, informs, prompts, and controls. The potential possibilities of color are so great that the interest of researchers in its study only increases yearly.
Take, for example, color therapy, which psychologists widely use — the purposeful influence of color on a person's well-being, physiology, and activation of organs and systems by color. Colors can help to relax, relieve stress, and raise mood and tone. Even the above-mentioned pitiful green "soviet" walls were an attempt to apply the laws of color therapy; it has long been known that the green color encourages calm but, at the same time, fruitful work. And it is not his fault that, over time, it began to disgust whole generations of schoolchildren.
To enable colors to combine with wisdom and experience is the goal of the creativity of every folk artisan. To enable artisans to share their talents generously is the goal of the UAmaze initiative.
But it's not only about souvenirs. The masters of the Art Initiative have vast experience in painting large surfaces. This is the already mentioned village of Samchyki, the painting of the children's ward in the Kyiv cancer center, the center for children with disabilities in Bila Tserkva, the charity project "Art in every home" with the proposal to decorate the object with a painting, suggested by the people of Kyiv for decoration, for example, the entrance door of the house, a wall in the entrance or elevator, even a bench in your favorite park, painting the dining room of a home for the elderly, updating the playground near the Park of Eternal Glory.
The project team was invited to paint the facade of the state theater studio at the address of Kyiv, Velika Vasylkivska 76B, Kyiv printing house "Gama-Print," houses of children's creativity.
This year, the masters of UAmaze offer to order painting not only school administrations. Public spaces, hubs, administrations, heads of offices and enterprises, and private patrons can join the initiative.
Throughout the summer, artists are open to proposals.
Activists will direct the funds for their work to the development of national paintings in Ukraine.
You can contact the Art Initiative team via Facebook, write a letter to [email protected] or call 099-421-48-65 and 063-216-50-86.
You can see more works of Ukrainian UAmaze artists on the website: https://b24-pk6ist.bitrix24site.ua
