Ethnocode Ethnocode Mykhailo Bilas Pastel

On Friday, 25 September, the Mykhailo Bilas Art Museum hosted the official opening of an exhibition of the renowned artist's pastels, together with the presentation of the cultural and educational project "Ethnocode of Mykhailo Bilas: Pastel".

The project is dedicated to preserving, researching and digitally popularizing this fragile part of the outstanding Ukrainian artist's legacy.

Grinchenko University is one of the project's key partners in popularizing the master's legacy. Participants explored little-known pastel graphics and sketches that reveal Mykhailo Bilas's creative laboratory. The university's scholars will take part in lectures, art seminars and master classes for students and young artists.

Moderator

Alla Rudenchenko - Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Decorative Art and Restoration, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, member of the Union of Designers of Ukraine

Speakers

• Ostap Kovalchuk - Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, PhD in Art History, Associate Professor, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine
• Olena Bilas-Berezova - art historian, Director of the Mykhailo Bilas Art Museum in Truskavets, researcher of the artist's work, compiler of albums, member of the National Union of Folk Art Masters of Ukraine
• Olesia Naumovska - Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Folklore Studies, Institute of Philology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
• Olena Prokopiuk-Shkribliak - master weaver from Yavoriv in the Kosiv region, daughter of woodcarver Dmytro Shkribliak, founder of the "Osedok Shkribliakiv" homestead museum
• Oleksii Vlasov - art historian, curator of international heritage preservation projects, PhD student at the Department of Fine Arts, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University

Participants traced how an artistic image is created - from the first pastel sketch to a complex woven piece - and examined the artist's methods of working with texture, colour and yarn.

The seminar presented the pastel catalogue and the new bilas.art page. Club leaders discussed how to adapt elements of this technique for their classes - to develop children's sense of form and colour and their love of Ukrainian traditions.

We thank the Galicia Children and Youth Creativity Centre and Ms Khrystyna Kushnir for their hospitality and organization.

The project, run by the Mykhailo Bilas Art Museum since July, was presented at the Lviv National Academy of Arts. The event was opened by museum director Olena Bilas-Berezova, and the academy's rector Vasyl Kosiv gave a welcome address. A set of catalogues was officially donated to the academy library - students, postgraduates and faculty now have open access to these materials.

Discussion participants

• Roman Yatsiv - Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor at the Lviv National Academy of Arts, full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine
• Oreslava Khomyk - member of the Lviv Regional Council, Honorary Chair of the Union of Ukrainian Women
• Tetiana Tatomyr - Head of the Culture Department of Truskavets City Council, Honored Worker of Culture of Ukraine
• Liubava Sobutska - Head of the Folk Art Department, Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv
• Yaroslav Kravchenko - PhD in Art History, Professor, Honored Art Worker of Ukraine

Greetings from partners were conveyed by Kateryna Karkadym (Yosafat Kobrynsky National Museum of Folk Art of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia) and Oksana Bila (Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv).