Back home doing research

Well, I‘ve not forgotten this blog, neither am I sitting back home and doing nothing to share here with you. 

I‘m finally back and since a couple of days I‘m busy with some other stuff. I‘m taking a couple of sabbatical weeks for a research. 

Have I mentioned, my roots are in Russia and Latvia? Well, now I‘m knee-deep in folk art of both countries, also taking some of my findings from Hungary, where I‘ve spotted a dozen of precious old books on applied arts which I find related to Russian/Latvian arts in some ways. 

I‘m learning old techniques of weaving, of applied arts, art of traditional costume. I have some books, I also visit as many shops/galeries/work spaces/work shops/museums as I can absorbing as much as I can each time I‘m travelling there. Each time I get back full of deep admiration for everything that can be done/woven/sewn/paint by simple means and with very simplified shapes, but very accomplished and harmonious in appearance, and functional. And this is something I appreciate a lot - simplicity, harmony, usability, using mostly natural/ecologically friendly materials like natural linen, wool, wood, simple paints, natural dyes, with this individual touch on each piece.

I‘m gonna talk about a traditional costume and how it was cut and sewn so that the home-woven fabric was used with as few rests as possible – cut of straight pieces of fabric, like japanese kimono, very simple. About woven belts, used for decorating capes, pillow cases along with embroidery. About decorative paintings on all kinds of objects of utility – where the scenes where represented with a very particular language of forms (I‘m talking here about the northern regions of Russia, because this particular one I'm favouriting the most).

So in the next couple of weeks I‘m gonna talk about those projects – like weaving, applied arts, costume. I‘m not gonna copy any of objects from my books or what I might have seen somewhere – all the photos represent here what I‘m learning now about the principles, forms and expressive possibilities and how I interpret them in my current "sabbatical" creations for the sake of research. I have no idea where it can bring me, but I do want to spend my time investigating this cultural heritage.

If it appeals to you, stay tuned, I‘m gonna share more of my research results soon.