Urkovka gallery

This is one dream of mine came true - I’ve visited Urkovka gallery. First I’ll tell you a little about the founder of this gallery Alexander Urkov. He is known in Nizhni Novgorod as professional theatre painter, who worked more than 40 years as a scene-painter and art director in the theatres of Krasnoyarsk, Kansk, Maikop, Karaganda, Moscow, St Petersburg, Pskov, Tomsk, Arzamas. In Nizhni Novgorod he was working as an art director in the Drama Theatre from 1976 till 1986. In 1998 he opened his own gallery Urkovka, where he exhibits his works, created in the technique of “floristic mosaic” - that’s the way he calls it. Certainly Alexander was already acquainted with similar works, in which plant materials are used, but he came to that kind of art from a position of professional painter, who can even paint in mud: it lying under the feet - why we can’t use autumn leaves instead of colours? He even has a poem about this.



Urkov’s gallery is situated in the basement of the house he lives in. This is the house, st.
Bolshaya Pokrovskaya, in the center of Nizhni Novgorod.
There are no windows and that’s why sunlight effect is minimal. But it stays some moisture, like in any basement, - take notice on this, - and the works have no covering at all: no glass, no lacquer.
There are 4 rooms there - in 3 of them Urkov’s pictures are placed, 4th room contains Anisimov’s works (I’ll tell about him later). There are not so much pictures if we know that Alexander creates 26-27 works per year. Pictures are in good demand, therefore many of them are sold . Works are in 40х50 and 50х60 sizes mostly, but there are even bigger. The lowest price - $400. Apart
from pictures in gallery you can also find there different items, made from roots, temples - from water-melon’s seeds, from matches and so on.
My kids were really interested in them - if you put a coin in the slot, the temple begins to turn around, and the light in its windows turns on. Children were playing till we had no more coins.


And these funny dumbbells are money boxes made of papier-mache. I threw coins in them too to come back here again sometime .

Here are photos of the Urkov pictures, disposed in his gallery:

Whisper of Autumn

The coldness

The crack willow in winter

The ant-hill

More works by Urkov look here http://foto.mail.ru/mail/sesame69/Urkov or http://www.urkovka.narod.ru/gallery.html (website by Urkov).
I’m so glad that I had an opportunity to see Alexander’s works, because the photos don’t reproduce even half of their beauty and riches of the tints. Urkov usually use autumn leaves, but those that were under the snow whole winter, it means he collects them in spring. He prefers leaves that are thinner and don’t have glitter - they are all his brown tints. He also likes autumn leaves of different herbs, because they are thinner too and are convenient for work: leaves of nettle, burdock and other herbs with white downside.

Interesting material is autumn leaves of the garden violet (the way Urkov call it, but I think it’s rather viola ) - blackened and covered with something like pimples. He uses it to make trunks of the trees.
His favorite material for sky is sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus). Snow in winter landscapes, grey hair on self-portrait - this is also maple, I even guess that it is summer sycamore maple with white downside. And autumn leaves have such warm tints - yellow, rose - and suits well for different sky tints. Sycamore maple leaves are thinner and softer than white poplar leaves.

Alexander told me that he necessarily leaves dried leaves to lay sometime on the window-sill, under sunlight, in order that they won’t change their colour in future. I understood that this procedure is being applied to the leaves, collected in the autumn. He dries leaves in a very primitive way - in magazines. And always irons them - to avoid microbes. Leaves that were collected in spring are also being cleaned and ironed.
Leaves that were collected in spring are also being cleaned and ironed.
As for the process of the work itself, the picture is being drawn on the thin paper (like newspaper’s but it is blank). The paper is moistened and strained on the stretcher. Then the artwork is being pasted. The most important moment here - to keep the exactness of the drawing. Leaves are pasted as a whole (sky) and in pieces, which we get when leaf is crumbled (crowns of trees). The thin branches and blades leaves are cut with a sharp scalpel. Here is close-up:

Urkov uses PVA glue. Finished works are ironed with a hot iron through the layer of gauze. In order that glue could stand high temperature, we should take one that is used for furniture.
A finished work is cut out and carried to the worksheet (white paper, glued on fibreboard).

Here is a photo of one of his first works (1984). The colours have changed a lot because he hadn’t much experience about which herbs preserve their colour and which don’t.

Now I’ll tell you about Anisimov.

Vladimir Anisimov is not an apprentice, but a follower of Urkov, inspired by his artwork. He is an engineer. He is a former naval officer, who worked more than 20 years on atomic submarines at utmost North. There he began to practice painting, graphic arts, wood engraving. Under the influence of Urkov’s works he devoted himself to floristics since 1997.

I liked his pictures very much, they are even more filigree. Here you can look at photos of his works:

Before flying away


The right coast of Oka

The Reflection

Spring at Svetlojar

More works by Anisimov look here: http://foto.mail.ru/mail/sesame69/Anisimov

At parting Alexander Urkov signed for me two books with his work’s photos. Here is his autograph (on the lower photo: Alexander Urkov and Vladimir Anisimov):

Scarlet Sails

This is my work «Scarlet Sails», which I had sent to California on the WWPFG contest. The art contest is an obligatory part of a program of annual Guild conferences.

The conference was held in Anaheim from 21 to 23 of June. This year it was allowed to participate in the competition on three categories: Mini Bouquet, One Dream, Long Ago and Far Away. I’ve made an artwork in the context of One Dream. World Wide Pressed Flower Guild gave me 1st place for this work and I won "People's Choice". It was my first competition and the first winning.

Here you can look at all the works, presented on the contest:

http://www.wwpfg.org/Conferences/2008/index.htm

This my work has been inspired by the fine story "Scarlet sails", written by Alexander Green. For everyone who does not know about it, here is the story in short:

Scarlet Sails

A little girl Asole early lost her mother and lived with her father in a fishing village Caperna. Her father, the former seaman, made the toy ships for sale. When Asole was 8 year, she carried new toys for sale, and there was a miniature racing sloop with scarlet silk sailes among them. The girl decided to play and put the sloop in the water to sail. The sloop floated at full speed down the current, and Asole ran out to a mouth where saw a man holding the toy sloop in his hands. This man was an old Egl, the famous wandering collector of songs, legends, traditions, and folk stories. He gave Asole her toy and told, that will pass years and a ship with scarlet sails move right toward her and a prince will come and will take her away. The girl believed in a beautiful fairy tale and since then lived with this magic dream. Because Asole lived in the world invented by her, countrymen thought she was a half-wit.
Have passed years. Arthur Grey, the son of rich and notable parents, dreamed of the sea since his childhood. In the fall of his 15 year, young Grey ran away to the sea and became a ship’s boy. In some years he became a captain of his own ship " The Secret ". One day he was in a seaside city not far from Caperna. And one of the evenings Arthur with one of sailors went on coast in searches of a place suitable for fishing. They stopped absolutely close from the village and fished. In the morning Arthur went for a walk and saw a sleeping girl in grass. He stared at the girl’s face ,and leaving, he carefully placed a ring on Asole’s finger.
The rural innkeeper told to Arthur, that Asole was a half-wit, dreaming of prince and ship with scarlet sails. But Grey, did not believe him, he managed to understand, that this girl was unusual and was similar to him. He went to the city and bought the scarlet silk. So once in the morning "The Secret" was near Caperna. Asole was shocked by view of ship with scarlet sails from which deck music flew. She rushed to the sea where inhabitants of Caperna gathered. The boat in which stood Gray was separated from the ship, and directed to coast. After a while Asole was in the ship. All happened how Egl predicted.
This story is fine because it inspires hope for being people in the world capable to hear and understand each other. She has proved to everyone that any dream can be carried out into life, if you trust in it, do not betray it, do not doubt it.

Beginning

First time I took a closer look at the pressed plant art 20 years ago, when during my journey to Latvia in some little town I visited exhibition of paintings, made from plants. It was really sensational for me that artists could make landscapes, portraits and still-lifes from little pieces of leaves and herbs in such a way that from a little distance you could think pictures were made of oil.
Many years I wasn’t recollecting this. But I guess I always was very enraptured with such a great mastery deep down in my soul and in 2006 I had some kind of impulse (I even don’t know what exactly it was - may be it came from above) but it set my thoughts on the right track.
I began to collect information about the technique of drying the plants and about the ways of making those pictures, meanwhile I was collecting and drying autumn leaves (it was autumn at that time). In my city I had no special courses where I could get really important knowledge for me. That’s why my first step was a book “Pressed floristics” by Beletskaya. After I’ve read it I began to paste up my first artwork. Then I found a Russian chat forum of associates in the Internet, where people and artists, rapt in oshibana were sharing their experience with others. I’m really thankful to all people, who supported and inspired me.
I’m truly eager to create beauty by my own hands. During two years I’ve made few pictures - only 8. The only thing I regret - that I haven’t much free time to devote it to my artwork. Because my two children and beloved husband claim a lot of care.
Nevertheless in December 2007 I’ve become a member of one of international organizations devoted to pressed floristics, which united artists from all over the world - World Wide Pressed Flower Guild (WWPFG). In May 2008 I made an on-line class by one of my works for the members of the Guild. I have taken part in competition at the WWPFG conference, which was held in Anaheim, CA in June 2008. Now I plan to participate in pressed plant contest which will take place in Philadelphia in 2009 (Philadelphia Flower Show).