An exhibition of the best diploma and term works was presented at the Chernivtsi Art Museum, with which the art college (one of the centers of Bukovyna national art restoration) closely collaborates. It was the Vyzhnytsia College where the young craftsmen and artists, not only from Bukovyna but from entire Ukraine, made their first steps in the profession. It is here where the very first and basic skills are obtained, which the students will be able to apply later.
The history of the respected establishment started in 1905, when the Territorial School of Carving, Turning and Metal Ornamenting, a Ukrainian-speaking art school, was opened in Vyzhnytsia, with the permission of the Ministry of Education of Austria-Hungary, and on the decision of Bukovyna Parliament. At that time the Bukovyna intellectuals invited the talented national craftsmen Mark Mehedyniuk and Vasyl Devdiuk to teach there. Later the famous hutsul carver Vasyl Shkribliak, after whom the college was named, joined them. Now the school includes departments of wood and metal artistic carving, artistic weaving and embroidering, garment modeling and designing, and others.
The authors of the works, teachers, representatives of public organizations, famous local historians and masters of applied decoration art visited the vernissage. By the way, the college teachers’ exhibit also took place in the hall of the museum.
According to Dmytro Kozubovsky, the college director and member of the Union of the Designers of Ukraine, the exhibit of the student art works showed that the authors are interested in the art restoration of the Bukovyna Carpathians beauty, and have a love for the nature of their native land. Each work reflects the emotional experience of the young craftsmen, showing how rich their inner world is.
Yaroslava Bohdan, the director of the Vyzhnytsia College Museum, who was also involved into organization of the exposition, said, “The works impress with their palette. They are inspired by the spirit of faith in the future, beauty of the native land and variety of Ukrainian national art.”
Inna Kitsul, the director of the Chernivtsi Art Museum noted that the exposition and the fund collection would not be complete without the exhibits, which represent the creativity of the founders and the alumni of this educational institution. Indeed, the visitors of the Bukovyna art “treasurer” can get to know the works of the Shkribliak and Mehedyniuk families, which take an honorable place in the exposition of the ornamental art of Bukovyna, located on the third floor of the museum.
Over 200 works by students were presented at the exhibition, with different shapes and techniques of the applied-decoration art, giving the visitors a chance to get to know all the specializations present in the college (metal, wood and leather carving, embroidery, weaving etc.). There were also decorative plates, axes, albums, flacks and other works. For the most part were decorated with traditional geometric ornaments, in which you can feel a close connection with ancient national trades. Embroidered and woven towels, tablecloths, napkins (combining past and present in jewelry making), as well as necklaces, earrings, bracelets were presented at the exhibit.
All the works are proof that the Vyzhnytsia college students are real professionals (for the entire history of the college some 200 graduates became National Union of Artists members and over 150 became members of the National Society of Craftsmen and the Union of Designers of Ukraine). Now the college is one of the centers of fine and decorative applied arts development in Bukovyna. It is an important part of the artistic and cultural development of Ukraine, a famous center where national traditions of the Bukovyna art are kept, developed and enriched.
