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Arts and Crafts Fair Marked Its Anniversary

The exhibition and sale of arts and crafts products for the first time took place in 1986, 30 years ago, and since then it has been gathering craftsmen from near and far parts of the country.

Annually, potters, wood carvers, masters of basket weaving, blacksmiths, and needlewomen display their masterpieces for the numerous guests and holiday makers, and the park alleys of Stanitsa Vyoshenskaya become a bright exhibition of people’s talents.

Within the thirty years there were so many craftsmen from different parts of Russia! And this time, the products of arts and crafts presented the Rostov, Voronezh, Volgograd regions, the Krasnodar and Stavropol territories, Belarus and Ukraine.

Each year, the fair gets brighter and more popular, and guests buy the masters’ works as souvenirs and try themselves in the art of wood carving, beadwork, basket weaving, pottery and saddlery. The masters of “Sholokhov Spring” are really talented, many of them often come to the holiday and have already won the hearts of the residents and guests of the stanitsa.

Here, at “Sholokhov Spring”, you can see rare arts and crafts which existed in old times but can be found nowhere today.

Valery Chizh, a saddler from Konstantinovsk, came to the holiday for the seventh time. His colleagues from Aksai, Rostov, the Volgograd Region, the Stavropol Territory and he displayed their masterful production of whips, lashes, quirts and Cossack sabres. As well, the guests were attracted by old things restored by the masters.

Vasiliy Baibarin, a wood carver, is well-known by the holiday-makers. His plates, dishes, bread-plates, cutting boards, boxes and bijouterie are real masterpieces. The master’s works are appreciated both in Russia and abroad, and they are awarded with diplomas of Russian and international contests. In a small workshop in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky Vasiliy Ivanovich conducts a wood carving club, and at “Sholokhov Spring” he is always surrounded by children, who are interested in the secrets of making wooden spoons.

As always there were many artists working with clay. The ornamented ceramic articles of Viktor Vakarin, Member of the Artists’ Union of Russia, a

docent of the Fine Arts Faculty of the Southern Federal University, display Cossack culture authenticity, his articles are recognizable and unique.

Sergei Gursky, a ceramic artist, for ten years has been bringing from Rostov his souvenirs keeping an echo of the unique Cossack culture, and his colleague, Sergei Garkusha, came to the holiday for the first time, and was glad that the guests of the holiday appreciated his souvenirs with pictures of Sholokhov’s personages.

For many years, the ceramics from Semikarakory following the best traditions of Russian faience has been in great demand. The tea things, plates, vases, interior dolls original in their forms and underglaze hand-painting create a festive mood.

Very popular are the works by the local masters displaying their pictures, embroidery and basket-weaving articles.

The fair of arts and crafts is a real exhibition of people’s talents and for 30 years already the numerous guests have been taking the unique works of art with them to remember about “Sholokhov Spring”.

Tatyana Balak