Museum of Russian Culture & San Francisco

Since last week, I have been in San Francisco, California, on the mission of applying from my Russian visa. So far, all is well and it should be ready by next week. In the interim, I have had the chance to discover the little corner of Russia that lives here in the City. 

Dolls and ephemera of Russia.

By chance, I discovered a small but well kept institute of Russian-Americans here, where you can visit the free and open to the public Museum of Russian Culture. With an intimate atmosphere and quiet hospitality, the space reminded me very much of the apartment museums of Saint Petersburg, the gallery is a wonderful discovery and escape from the American streets into a little corner of Russia. The museum features a well honed mixture of arts, crafts, history and local culture.

Inscription with peacocks.

Perhaps the most amazing thing in the museum is an original White Army flag, authentically stained with blood of the counter revolutionaries, hanging discreetly in a corner amongst other textiles. Having a guide point out such details is what makes the expert set of eyes so useful when visiting small and detail-packed museums.

Tolstoy and historical documents.

The gallery has its own semi-official tumblr blog Zolotoivek, which focuses on the Golden Years of Russian history, 1880-1940.  I was lucky enough to have a personal tour of the museum from the blogs curator, who warmly and with informative passion showed me through the detailed cases and wall hangings that consist of the museum's collections. Since the 1970s, the place remains largely unchanged, and even includes a small private library of Russian books.

View of the Museum.

Overall, I highly recommend any passer-bys, visitors and locals of the Bay Area to visit the Cultural Center. Since it relies only on volunteer work, any donations are highly appreciated. I personally love that such museums like this even continue to exist, fostering community and adding to the rich "salad bowl" of the United States that make the country so rich for discovering the pockets of immigrants that add to the vibrancy of the nation as a whole. 

Russian Quilts & Sochi 2014

After some cursory research into quilting in Russia, I have discovered that the new logo and branding identity for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic games will be comprised of a medely of geometric patterns based on traditional Russian quilt designs! Credit to this small but mighty American quilting blog:

The Olympics organizing committee wanted a special symbol to illustrate both the diversity and unity of Russia. So the 16 folk images within the patterns represent Russia’s different nations and cultures.

Based on the press conference, the designs were “created from the motifs of ornaments of the most famous Russian national crafts. Here we can see Uftyuzhskaya painting and Vologda lace, Gzhel and Zhostovo painting, Kubachi patterns and Pavlov Posad shawls, Mezenskaya painting and Khokhloma, Yakutsk patterns and Ivanovo chintz.”

Unveiling the Logo for Sochi 2014

The logo is fresh and colorful, much more colorful than traditional Winter Olympics designs, which tend towards the monochromatic and understated. What's exceptional about this logo is the cultural specific link, as well as a sporting event giving the visual arts and crafts a place in their halls! The pattern will be applied all over Russia, including usage on trains and in other public spaces. I am sure the Russian Quilters Association, based in Saint Petersburg, must be proud.

Various variations of the banners.

More news on this topic to come, as we get closer and closer to 2014!

Art of Russia Documentary from the BBC

Thanks to a recent reshowing on BBC America, I have now watched this fantastic documentary by Andrew Graham-Dixon, an excellent guide with a refreshingly open and international view of art history. Aptly named The Art of Russia, the program is diced into three components: Into the Forest: beginning with early roots in Russia's Kievian history, secluded from Western culture until its influential opening to the West by Peter the Great. 

artruss01A

The second part, Roads to Revolution, examines the sweep of European modernism in art across Russia, as well as the 19th Century movement led by Tolstoy to rediscover Russia's roots in the forests where its genuine soul and people dwell. Political unrest and ever growing estrangement between the ruling classes and ruled create a unique divide in styles, one gazing outwardly to Western elegance and excess, and other inwardly towards internal struggle and harsh reality of daily life within the country. Most noteworthy is the Russian interpretation of the Arts & Crafts movement, led by Lev Tolstoy and Ilya Repin, which was not a retaliation against the industrialization of craft, but instead a politically motivated movement to go back to the naturalism and naivety of the land, Mother Russia, herself.

Art of Russia 02

Smashing the Mould, as the eponymous third part is named, bulldozes straight on into the Bolshevik revolution and the events that followed, showing the casualties it claimed in history as well as in the progress of art in Russia. Icons and Orthodoxy are replaced by a rigid propaganda and worship of the State's idealistic and ruthless vision of total Communism. The skeletons of an era long past are dug up, and a look towards what lies head is examined. And what exactly does lie ahead? That is exactly what I wonder as well. He touches on the notion of uncertainty and searching for a new voice. A good point, however, it is not one that is unique to contemporary Russia.

Overall, this documentary is an excellent introduction into the vast and diverse realm of Russian art. It shows us so much within such a brief period of time, and running at nearly three hours total, it seems to fly by, telling the great story of Russia's pictorial development with rapid excitement and passion. Graham-Dixon's tastes sometimes tinge the atmosphere, with his obvious disapporoval of Tsar Nicholas II's taste and his gushing, unabashed adorement of Rodchenko's posters, yet overall the piece is very informative in showing us the tip of the gargantuan iceberg is that is Russia's rich art history. Highly recommended, especially since he was granted access to places that the average tourist might never get to see! The above are clips, to see the entirety of the documentary, catch it over here at Doku Watch.

Почта России & other News

The last few weeks have been busy, and at long last I have finally finished my photography / portfolio website, pavlinaya.net. The good news is, in April I am expected to begin Russian courses at the ProBa Language Centre in Saint Petersburg! I will undertake the work/study program, a unique exchange program which offers intensive Russian language for English instructor from a native speaker (such as myself). At the moment, I have all plane tickets booked and am awaiting my official invitation letter so that I might apply for the visa. It will be my second visit to Russia and I am looking forward to intensive study once again. I had initially planned to take courses here in the U.S. but due to lack of enrollment, they were cancelled. Thankfully I discovered this program which will be much better, and instead of moving to a larger city in the U.S. temporarily just for the sake of a Russian course, I thought, why not just return to the country itself?

I learned the German language mostly through social interaction in my work as an au-pair, coupled with intermittent courses at the local Volkhochschule in Vienna. What helped me most greatly was having penpals with whom to write on a nearly daily basis. I found writing out my thoughts in a foreign language helped me to rapidly increased my understand for linguistic structure and daily use.

Speaking of penpals, today I have received in the post a lovely gift from one of my dear Russian friends in Saint Petersburg. During my visit in December, I noticed a beautiful handmade ring that she was wearing featuring the famous animated hedgehog from Hedgehog in the Fog / Ёжик в тумане, Yuriy Norshteyn's wonderful Soviet-era animated creation of a Russian fairytale. I was so impressed by the little ring, my friend decided that I must also have one. We went searching all over the city, from handmade boutique to boutique looking for it, but alas they were all sold out! So then she promised to send me one as soon as she could find one. Thankfully the package arrived today and now I own one of the cameo-style rings! I am grateful that we didn't find it  because our search lead me to discover many boutiques and the Handmade Bazar in the city, which luckily was happening during my short two week stay.

She also sent me some wonderful chocolates! вкусный! I hope that as I learned German previously with my penpal's help, having such wonderful native speakers as friends will aid me greatly to learn the language. Now I just await to apply for my visa before I am off again to Russia. I've been researching more and more about Russian crafts and hope to update very soon with more articles on my findings, as well as my experiences. 

USSR. Country of 189 peoples. Land der 189 völker

USSR. Country of 189 peoples. Land der 189 völker, a photo by Boston Public Library on Flickr.

Wonderful poster showing various ethnic groups as defined by their crafts. It would be great to see all 189 peoples, each represented with their own unique, indigenous crafts! 

The Matryoshka, or "Russian Doll"

On May 24 [2010], a rare Matryoshka doll display will open in Moscow’s AFIMALL City shopping center. Each of the six- to 13-meter-tall installations, which were displayed during the 2010 Russian National Exhibition in Paris, is shaped like a Matryoshka, the famous nesting doll that has come to symbolize Russian culture. [...]

Each Matryoshka design uses regional traditions such as those from Khokhloma, Gorodets and Mezen for painting on wood.

To see additional photos from the exhibition, please visit the website of RIA Novosti here.

Welcome! Where East meets West

Добро пожаловать! Welcome to my new blog, Craft & Folk Art in Russia & Abroad!

This blog will be my digital journal for further studies into Russian Folk Arts & Crafts, from historical, cultural and aesthetic perspectives, with analysis and comparative study of different styles and mediums of craft, as well as what cultural identity lies within these objects.

I decided to start this blog because while there are a few very good English-speaking blogs about Russian Art, I have yet to discover one that focuses on crafts and folk arts, which is a large and  important part of Russian culture. I hope this blog will be of use to anyone who considers themselves a Russophile, or has an interest in folk arts and crafts in general. It is intended for academic research but open to anyone.

It is always more challenging to study a "folk art" which is an organic, internally conceived element of a culture that has its roots even in pre-history, and is considered to lie outside of the realms of "Fine Art" or Art proper. This blog examines those intermediate spaces between the Arts & Crafts, where they overlap, where political history and cultural development fuse between the two, made visible by the works themselves.

In the future, I would love to have this blog be bilingual, in both English & Russian. I am currently studying Russian language and hope to make great progress in the next few months.

Thank you for your interest in my blog. I would love to hear from you, if you would like to contribute or have any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me, see my About page for details.

Большое спасибо!
A.P.