New Exhibition from The Gallery of Young People's Art Works Celje
In the mid September 2008, the City Museum in Dzerdzinsk, Belarusian city some 40 kilometres from the capital Minsk, hosted an exhibition of awarded art works of the authors aged up to 20 years from the international competition of The World of Art magazine and our gallery, within the traditional Festival of Straw. The exhibition of awarded authors from 50 countries on the theme The Horse was chosen by the administration centre of the Dzerdzinsk Region, as the theme was close to the theme of the festival, which presents a century-long tradition of remodelling straw into products. The Republic of Belarus produces around 7 million tons of wheat and straw has been used for practical purposes for centuries now (thatching, heat isolation, strewing ...) and for manufacturing of furniture items and ornaments. A horse, a man's companion in this production, is highly esteemed in the mentality of the Belarusian farmer as his assistant. Mihailo Lišanin, the founder of The World of Art magazine, the international competition and the gallery, received an important recognition for his cooperation with art institutions of the region, a Letter of Acknowledgment of the Regional administration centre and of the Department of culture of Dzerdzinsk, as well as a big horse from straw. On the occasion he was asked to impart an award to one of the exhibitors at the festival, the Kaligorski Pedagogical Institute for original pictures from straw, on behalf of the Gallery. The mayor's proxy Aleksander Čagan opened the exhibition and imparted the recognition. The guests at the opening were among others Svetlana Baranok from the Department of Culture of the Minsk region, Natalija Sinjukovič, head of the Departure of Culture of Dzerdzinsk, Olga Černenko, director of the City museum and Natalija Ermolovič, director of the Art centre Velikoe selo. There were a lot of artists, among others the renowned Belarusian illustrator Pavel Tatarnikov, Leonid Gromov, graphic artist Pavel Zablockij and Aleksandar Paškijevič. At the same time there was an exhibition of small statues by the renowned local ceramist Andrej Metelski, who combines baked clay, straw and other materials. The cultural programme offered the music group Pilgrams, conducted by Margarite Martinjuk, who played on wooden musical instruments, such as violins, drums, flutes, made by Andrej Martinjuk.
