City of Craftsmen

A "musical band" of plaster frogs, frozen in a dynamic performance, still lifes carved from wood, intricate straw details – the works by Lepel educators could not fail to impress with their originality and diversity. Once again, the exhibition "City of Masters-2013" gathered lovers of decorative and applied arts at the district centre for children and youth.
22 educators from educational institutions of the city and district and 17 educators of additional education of the centre, 12 nominations...

- This exhibition has been held here for over 15 years, - notes Elena Misnik, methodologist of the RCDiM. - "Veterans" of the centre remember the first exhibitions. They were held in the former building of the children's creativity centre, in a small hall, on the third floor. Then the exhibition moved to the intellectual games hall of the "RA" club in the same building, and even later – to the "Skarbonka" salon-shop. The very first works were made from traditional materials: straw, paper, plastic bottles.

It is noteworthy that previously the expositions consisted exclusively of children's works, and since 2000, educators have also begun to exhibit their creations. There were many who wished to participate, so the exhibitions of educators and their students were decided to be alternated. This year, it is the adults' turn to present the results of their decorative and applied arts. Each of them chose what was closer to them: from traditional techniques – such as patchwork, woodworking, ceramics, embroidery – to modern trends. For example, Larisa Stankevich, a drawing teacher at the Educational Institution "Lyceum named after I.M. Erashov of Lepel", decorated family photos using the scrapbooking technique. To present one of the works at the exhibition, Larisa Leonidovna had to temporarily "remove" it from her daughter's home interior: the craftswoman had already managed to give the clock with a family photo to her son-in-law as a gift. The sculptural composition by another lyceum teacher, Igor Tribo, also surprised everyone. His plaster ensemble of five frog musicians – a drummer, guitarists and soloists – rose half a metre in the centre of the hall. By the way, all the works were arranged in thematic zones.

In the "Embroidery" nomination, the self-portrait of Snezhana Pligovko, Deputy Director for Educational Work at the I. M. Erashov Gymnasium, won. It took Snezhana Leonidovna even more time to prepare for this work than to embroider it: for about three months, she searched for a suitable computer program that would convey an image close to reality. The result was not long in coming: those who saw the portrait do not immediately believe that it is not a photograph. By the way, Snezhana Leonidovna first embroidered a portrait of her daughter from a photograph without the help of a computer program. It took her a year and a half, while she made her own in two months. This craftswoman plans to create portraits of other family members.

Ekaterina OSOVSKAYA
In the photo: awards found their winners in each nomination.