About the project

 

International art-project “Modern Art Enamel” is young, it was born in 2007 (unlike the technique of hot artistic enameling, the history of which exists for thousands of years). However, despite its youth it is actively growing and developing.

 

There have already been a few successful All-Russian exhibitions – “In co-authorship with fire” (April, 2007, “Book and Graphic Center”, St. Petersburg), “Modern Hot Enamel” (October, 2007, Museum of Applied Arts of Saint-Petersburg State Academy of Art and Design named after Shtiglits, St.Petersburg and Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow), “Peter and Paul Fortress, Emalier Fantasies” (June-July, 2008, State Museum of St. Petersburg History, Peter and Paul Fortress).

 

Together with “Creative Kreis International” there was an exhibition held in the Netherlands in the “Enamel Museum” (Ravenstein, March, 1^st – June, 15^th, 2009), which was later moved to Germany to the celebration of the CKI’s 30^th anniversary of CKI to the city of Dadesheim (June 20-29^th) and the city of Himmerod (July, 11^th – August 16^th )

 

 

The project’s exhibitions are more than just vernissages of random authors – these are the meetings and dialogues, learning and creating, discovering new names.

Within the frames of exhibition there are workshops held, where one can see how enamel works are born.

 

Hot enameling technique is complex and labor consuming – the metal covered with glass with oxides is burnt in the oven at the temperature up to 850 degrees. In order to incarnate his vision an artist thoroughly putting the paint layers may do up to 20-30 burnings. A lot in the emalier art is achieved empirically. Practical experience, patience, and constant artistic search – this is the hard way to success. As a reward an artist gets the inimitable shining of the stained glass color, softness of pastel tones, and diamond glitter of guilloched metal surface. The uniqueness of the technique is in the fact that the works retain the beauty of the first look for ages.

 

Projects of 2009

 

There is an exhibition “Enamel. St. Petersburg encounters” held from May, 27^th till September, 15^th in the Antique and Gothic halls of the Museum of Applied Arts St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Design named after Shtiglits. More than 60 artists participated in the exhibition, among them artists from Russia, Germany, Spain, Romania, etc

Within the frames of exhibition there are meetings planned of foreign and Russian artists of various creative directions, workshops of famous emaliers, round table about the problems and aspects of modern art, the role of St. Petersburg as one of the leader of the international cultural centers.

 

There are organizations that kindly agreed to support the project, among them The Committee of Culture of St. Petersburg, The State Hermitage, The Artists’ Union of St. Petersburg, and The International Organization of Emaliers “Creative Kreis International”.

 

The informational support: television (news and information-cultural channels of the central and city television companies), “Arts Dialogue” journal (Russian Academy of Arts), and other periodical and advertising editions and analytical websites in the culture and art field.

 

The full-color catalogue of the exhibition has been published.

 

The exhibition was opened on the City Day of St. Petersburg and became another remarkable event in the cultural life of the city.

After the end of exhibition in St. Petersburg the exposition was moved to Moscow to the halls of the Moscow department of the Russian Artists’ Union (Begovaya str., 7/9; September 29^th – October 10^th), where around 200 works in the art enamel technique were presented.

 

The culmination point in the international exhibition “Enamel. St. Petersburg encounters” has become the creation of the exposition and grand opening in the hall of the second floor of the building of the Federal Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation in Moscow (Bolshaya Dmitrovka, 26). The works of the emaliers were presented for the first time in the history of the Federal Council’s exhibit hall.

 

The exhibition of the project’s participants in the Netherlands (“Enamel Museum”, Ravenstein) moves to the anniversary exhibition “Creative Kreis International” in Germany (June, 19^th – August, 16^th, 2009) – presenting Russian emaliers on the celebration of the 30^th anniversary of the World Association of Emaliers (CKI)

 

Plans:

 

The leaders of the project “Modern Art Enamel” view the exhibition “Enamel. Saint- Petersburg encounters” as a stage of active preparatory work of conducting the first International biennale of enameling art in 2010 in St. Petersburg.

 

The project’s leaders plan to actively develop their activity, including the international affairs with the creative organizations interested and open to dialogue. The conduction of joint exhibitions, international exchange of expositions and other activities can be a subject of a dialogue and the beginning of the new interesting projects.