Russian Ethnological Museum

A few weeks ago I went to the Russian Ethnological Museum, which is a branch of the Russian Museum. The Ethnological branch mainly consisted of costumes belonging to various nations or regions belonging to the USSR. Other things were also on display, such as objects of daily life (i.e. tools, household objects, etc. etc.) As an artist and an illustrator influenced by my Russian/Armenian background to a great degree, I find it very important to have real life reference of what life looked liked in the world of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Fairy tales, folklore and legends come from a time far before the revolution and all literature stems from legends which are its building blocks. These legends which in turn inspire authors of old who then, in their turn, inspired authors of the new generations, are what inspires artists as well. As we look at what came before us we learn what has been done and we make new things, sometimes better, sometimes worse sometimes tremendously different, but always informed with what has already been created.

While I do not assume that all artists look to legends and literature for subject matter inspiration, I do think that much art comes from a sense of wanting to tell a story. My story begins within the country I was born in. Who knows where the story of my art will go to next, but for now I am still evolving and making sense of where I began.

While I was in the Ethnological Museum I took more than 400 photos. I will post them on my blog, a few at a time, for personal reference and of course if any other fellow artists or just curious viewers are interested, they will be available for your viewing pleasure.

In this posting I have selected all costumes from he Lithuanian region.

Some Art Stuff Between the Cultural and Political Self Evaluation

Truth is this blog was created many years ago for the purpose of sharing my art. I've gone through a phase when I deleted everything on it and completely abandoned the project. I'm working my way back to posting my art faithfully and daily. I'd really like to gain a world audience for my paintings, for what is the purpose of making art if not to share it with others?

While I've been in Russia I started revisiting my old sketches for a story I am particularly fond of by Gogol. The title roughly translates into The Terrible Revenge. When I first read the story I felt a sense of destiny that I should read it, it hit close to my heart and my life experience. It was like a cautionary tale written directly and very specifically to me personally. I was so taken by it that for some reason I sat down and copied the entire thing by hand, and it's a pretty long story! I felt that I really had to make myself memorize it and make sure and remember its significance to me. I also dreamed of illustrating it and have taken some steps to planning the first scene and developing the main villain.

I brought the sketches with me to St. Petersburg simply because they were in my sketchbook. I thought I was going to use my sketchbook to plan my series of matryoshka paintings because that's the what I've been invested in recently in Tucson. But I found it difficult to work on that series in my transient state for it required a lot of precision and calmness of mind, things I don't have right now, as I am away from my husband, reconnecting with my childhood, learning about myself through communication with my grandmother and seeing my country and its culture through new eyes.

I let go of my usual sense of control over my medium and came up with this.

Developments

I have been working on a series of fat matryoshka. This was the first in the series that keeps expanding. My fiancé, Tony Rosano, was the inspiration for this one. One of my friends kept telling me that I should dive into sharing my cultural background with my audience in the work I do, so I tried it and I think he was right. It seems that people really like this new track I have taken. I'll see where it leads me. I'm certainly excited about making these into greeting cards and seeing how well they will do on my Etsy shop when I do finally put them up there.

Competition

I have neglected my blog. A month ago I quit my teaching profession and decided that I will not go back to the public school system. Instead I will delve head long into the art business. While I have no clear idea of one path to success (there's not a fool proof manual on how to succeed as an artist), I do have some ideas of ways to become more visible to the general public and hopefully in the process catch the eye of the right publishing company, art director or gallery.

I think my ultimate goal is to illustrate children's books. I am not positive that this is my optimal niche. I feel as though there are other fields of artistry that I am not familiar with that may be better suited for me, or that I need to become better suited for myself. At any rate I am working on finessing my own artistic style and vision in my pursuit of business success in a creative industry.

The next day after resigning from my teaching profession I entered into a call for entries in the Society of Illustrators annual. Among several other pieces, I submitted the one above. Unfortunately I did receive notice a few weeks back that my entries did not make it into the annual, but I tried. This is my second time in life applying to this annual. Both times the jury did not pick me. I don't know why they did not pick me, but I'm okay with it. I'll keep trying.

The piece above is called Gamayun. It is a mythical creature in Russian folklore thought of as a bird of paradise. Originally the bird had no wings or legs and was said to fly with the propelling force of its tail. Its presence foretold the corruption and abolition of government institutions. As the bird continued to evolve in its form, artists gradually gave it wings and legs and the face of a woman. Popular artists such as Vasnetsov and Block gave it a new two sided meaning, one of happiness and one of sadness as they often portrayed the birds in bright colors and happy facial expressions for good omen and in dark colors with sad facial expressions to foretell tragedy. This piece is simply my take on the bird of paradise and its good fortune.