Creative Work

Oil Painting

In the painting "Still Life with ‘Troika’," Russian and German motifs are combined. I made the body of the “Troika” clock back in art school. Its figures have the typical features of Filimonovo toys. It is not difficult to guess that this Russian folk craft symbolizes the Russian part of the canvas. The traditional German beer mug represents the German side. The fruit plate placed in the foreground has a neutral character and enlivens the composition. 2004.

The Trinitatis Church (Trinitatiskirche) is located in Sondershausen. In grammar school, during art lessons, we were given the task of depicting this church first as a drawing and then in an artistic style of our choice. I became interested in Cubism and decided to try myself in this style. 2006.

The motif with the rose emerged spontaneously. The flower was given to me by Mrs. Rudolf on the occasion of completing my language courses. The rose blossomed beautifully, had a pleasant color, and looked very picturesque. I added a notebook with a fountain pen and drapery in the background. 2004.

The icon was painted for a family friend — Father Dionysius. After his death, the fate of the icon is unknown. 2006.

IMAGO Erfurt

The works were created while attending the IMAGO School of Design in Erfurt.

Graffiti Workshop 2004, Erfurt

Graffiti — is it a crime or art? The InterCityHotel is located at the railway station in Erfurt. One of its walls faced the railway tracks and had become a victim of spray-can graffiti. What should be done with a simply vandalized wall? The hotel manager, Mr. Jürgen Karl Kramer, and the head of the IMAGO School, Anne-Katrain Maschke, gathered several people to create art on this 13x15 meter wall.

We thank:

• InterCityHotel Erfurt and its manager Mr. Jürgen Karl Kramer
• IMAGO Erfurt and course leader Mrs. Koczaku

And the team:

• Leona Wagner, Aron Pekar, Claudia Otte, Alexander Babel, Jenny Seidel, Joseph Holland-Merten, David Ehrenberg, Matthias Flücke, and Oliver König.

ERFURT 07.2004

Grammar School, Sondershausen

University in Frankfurt am Main

My Studies at the Art School

At the age of 11, I passionately wanted to learn how to draw, and in 1997 I began attending an art school, where for four long years I mastered this discipline. At that time, the school director was Sergey Nikolaevich Pingachev.

We had six subjects and practical training:

• Drawing
• Painting
• Easel Composition
• Sculpture
• Art History
• Applied Composition
• Plein air
• “Filimonovo Meadow”

Classes were held three times a week for 4–5 hours a day. Most of these drawings were created during school lessons. About 9–12 lessons were allocated for one work, approximately 6–8 actual hours. Starting with simple geometric figures and gradually moving to more complex still lifes, we acquired the ability to work with pencil and watercolor.

My first encounter with plastic art took place in applied composition classes at art school. The material was clay. We mainly sculpted Filimonovo toys, but I also tried making Dymkovo and several Abashevo toys.

There were also sculpture lessons in which we modeled various figures from sculptural plasticine: animals, birds, and human figures.

Later, when the project of the grandfather clock was conceived, it was immediately decided that it would include sculptures. The upper part of the clock case is crowned by a wooden figure of a harpist, and at the very top of the composition hovers a winged Sirin made of mammoth ivory. The magical sounds of the harp and the singing of Sirin are accompanied by angels made of aquamarine, decorating the tops of the side columns.

Drawing

The work begins with a detailed sketch of the forms to be depicted. Even though it is an initial sketch, it must be clear and precise. Gradually, work with tone begins. Do not forget — constantly construct the forms. Shapes, tone, and strokes must be maintained consistently from beginning to end of the drawing. We can erase and draw again. The hardness of the pencil plays an important role. It is necessary to use different grades and pressure from “H” to “B.” Before drawing a complex composition, I practiced a great deal. First, I drew individual fragments, then combined two or three together.

After gaining some experience, I was able to move on to anatomical subjects. It was necessary to study the details of the skull. After that, I drew plaster figures and portraits. For me, portraiture is the most complex and interesting genre of drawing.

Painting

Work on these watercolors begins with drawing and easel composition. In watercolor, the main rule is observed — areas with light tones should be kept as light as possible for as long as possible; darker colors, enveloping the lighter ones, create highlights. Another important aspect to consider is that white can, in fact, only be achieved by preserving the white of the paper. To render volume more precisely, the paints are mixed. The consistency of the paint also plays an important role.

Easel Composition

In this discipline, we studied the structure of a painting: how to arrange objects on the sheet, what to place in the foreground, its proportions in relation to the bottom and top of the picture, and how the background is filled. Sketching people is much more interesting to me than still life, as it allows the use of a wider range of auxiliary techniques in hatching and applying paint. A portrait requires great attention not only to proportions but also to clothing details. I first created the work “Conversation” in pencil to convey the contrast between light and dark tones, and only afterward attempted to paint it in color.

Applied Composition

In applied composition classes, we studied the forms of animal and human bodies and then sculpted them. Our material was clay, from which we learned to create Filimonovo toys. We began with the simplest ducks and hens, then moved on to more complex figures such as bears, cats, horses, and also ladies and soldiers. We also studied the painting technique of these toys: colors, decorative elements, the rules for applying motifs, their sequence, and even the appropriate brush size. The main features of Filimonovo works are:

The finished pieces were then fired and painted. Folk art in Russia is highly developed. Many regions are famous for producing clay toys. There are Abashevo, Tver, Dymkovo, Gzhel, Filimonovo, and other traditional folk toys.

Folk Art, Craft

The Filimonovo toy is a Russian folk craft that takes its name from the village of Filimonovo, where it developed.

• More

Table Clock “Troika”

“Troika” — a sculptural composition in the style of the Filimonovo toy with a clock (ChChZ Chelyabinsk Watch Factory), Alexander Babel, 2001.

• More

Plein Air

Every summer, for two weeks at the beginning of June, we had plein air practice. For four hours a day, the whole class painted outdoors. Our task was to depict nature, houses, and human figures in correct proportions. This was especially important for the subject “Easel Composition.”

Filimonovskaya Polyana

There was also the opportunity in summer to go from the school to a tent camp located near the village of Filimonovo. Our supervisors were Lyudmila Stanislavovna Milyutina, Andrey Nikolaevich Pingachev, and others. We lived in tents, cooked for ourselves, and gathered berries for evening tea. We also collected clay to have material for our “Applied Composition” classes and did a lot of drawing. My work “Conversation” was created during this trip. I was fortunate to go there twice. A few years later, the school discontinued the “Filimonovskaya Polyana” program.