The Jury of the “MIRA” Crafts Award Competition met in Krasnoyarsk to select the nominees
The distance qualifying round was held at the Uspensky Historic Cultural Center. We visited the venue and asked the experts to share their impressions about the participants’ handiworks.
“I was astonished by the presentations. I mean they are like films! How great the process of handiworks’ creating is described! Such videos could be included in the curriculum of art schools and institutes”, Vasily Belyaev said.
“They are kindly ingenuous and sincere and it makes them powerful. It always makes a good impression and inspires”, Alexander Migas said.
It is the first time for Oxana Kishteyeva to be the Competition Jury member. Before that she saw the nominees’ works at the exhibition in Shushenskoye. She was amazed at the amount of the applications. This year 108 entries have been submitted. The Jury had to choose 12 out of them – six people for “traditional craft” nomination and six people for “modern applied and decorative craft” nomination.
“Due to video presentation you can gain impressions about the craftsmen and their capabilities. To see just one handicraft even a very beautiful one is not enough. The finalists are the craftsmen who have paved a great way and have worked out their own style.”
Among the applicants for “MIRA” Crafts Award are young and senior craftsmen, amateurs and professionals – members of the Union of Artists of Russia, title winners, and holders of the presidential grants and governmental awards. Despite this there was no controversy between the Jury members while selecting the nominees. It happened due to many years of collaborative work at the festival. Moreover the participants got more experienced. As the Jury Chairman Alexander Migas said, “A lot of craftsmen who did not win previously, apply for the competition for the second and third time. We see their creative growth and rejoice at their success”.
Traditionally good handicrafts are presented by the craftsmen from Ural, Altai and Caucasus. This year the artisans from the Belgorod, Magadan and Chukotka regions have presented very good works. Among the districts of the Krasnoyarsk region the experts distinguished the applications from Khatanga and Norilsk.
“Someone very creative now lives there”, Alexander Migas said.
“They now have two studios there and it seems like they compete with each other”, Vasily Belyaev said.
“The quality is amazing! We can see that the folk art is twisted with the academic one. This approach is very important and highly valued.”
As for the materials the mostly used by the craftsmen is textile (weaving, dolls, embroidery, costumes).
“But there are new materials as well – modern dyes, plastic materials, etc. At times we were at a loss to decide upon its category when we put down the information about the handicraft in the minutes.
The works of highest quality have been selected for the exhibition that promises to be interesting and exciting”, Mr. Migas said.
The list of the nominees selected to compete for the “MIRA” Crafts Award Competition in the summer will be published on the festival website by the 1st of May. Stay tuned for more news.