Workshops

A series of master classes was held in the courtyards of Almetyevsk as part of the «Dialogue with the City» portion of the final season of the «Tales of Golden Apples» public art program in 2022. City residents created art objects together with artists and other specialists.

The theme of the season was care in its various forms. Caring for loved ones and ourselves, caring for a quality dialogue with the outside world, caring for what remains after us, for those who have to live on. Since this is the last season, care refers to a metaphorical handover of everything that was done to the care of city residents, who can continue to cultivate this «garden of life». These are not merely the motifs of the public art program season, but also the meanings and values that the project team wants to preserve in the city after its completion.

On August 27 and 28, Almetyevsk hosted a two-day «Inner Garden» master class by Igor Safiullin, a landscape engineer. The first day was devoted to landscaping design, and the second – to applying the acquired knowledge in practice.

First, the master class participants and Igor Safiullin measured the yard (located at 78 Stroiteley Avenue), which was slated for landscaping. The landscape design was then aligned with the flowering season in mind. The planted flowers will bloom in spring and autumn. On the second day, the residents and Almetyevsk landscape designers led by Igor Safiullin began planting shrubs, perennial flowers and trees, including daylilies, junipers and birches. Residents also discussed the seeds and trees they will be planting in the future to continue turning their yards into «Inner Gardens».

Raquel works in an unusual technique, combining traditional for Tatarstan needlework and the practice of street art. The very name of the resulting work tells about the influence of the region's nature on local customs and culture: «Al da gol / Pink, floral» in the sense of «bright, beautiful» is also an answer to the question «How are you?», when «everything is fine, wonderful, better than ever!». The name of the workshop was invented by Albina Nurgalieva, a participant of the event and the guide of the public art program.

On June 22, 2019, Alla Mallabiou and Zoya Boitseva, founders of «I Hear You», an organization that helps families with hearing-impaired children, held a workshop. At the event, children and their parents learned about inclusion and how through the language of culture and art it is possible to influence public opinion and even reduce existing tensions among different population groups.

During the workshop, participants were invited to create their own comic book, continuing the fantastic story of Team «S.L.U.H.». The comic book «Team S.L.U.H.» tells the story of three superhero children: a boy with a hearing aid, a wunderkind girl who knows sign language, and a deaf teenager. All three characters have superpowers, which helps them fight evil and save characters from trouble.

On June 29, 2019, the workshop «Kolyntchak/YaZheRebyonok» by artist Natalia Pastukhova was held. Natalia, an artist from Yekaterinburg, is well known to residents of the city thanks to her own mural «Үsterү/ Grow» from the series «Әlifba/Azbuka», which in 2018 appeared on the house number 39 on Prospekt Stroiteley. In the same year, Natalia already held a creative workshop «Wow, what a monster!».

As a foundation for the workshop Natalia took the plot of her mural. Participants of the workshop were invited to create their own masks of fairy foals (from the Tatar "Kolyunchak") based on the mural «Үsterү/Grow» in the form of a game. As the material participants used improvised items: cardboard, boxes, colorful scotch tape, different kinds of paper, heat insulation materials and bubble wrap. The choice of materials was caused by the desire to show that creative activity is possible even with the use of improvised items, which are available to every child.

On June 30, 2019 a workshop by Bulat Khasanshin, a calligrapher from Kazan, was held in Almetyevsk. At the event Bulat told the participants about the history of lettering and calligraphy in Russia, outlined the main expressive features of these writing genres, and discussed why calligraphy and lettering are relevant genres and what their prospects are in the future.

During the practical part of the workshop all the participants were offered to create their own images using different materials (ruler, syringe, sponge, etc.). The choice of materials was determined by the desire to show that anyone can engage in calligraphy, using the most ordinary improvised materials.

On July 13 and 14, 2019, Almetyevsk hosted a two-day program of events dedicated to the problem of drug addiction and ways to solve it. On the first day, a creative meeting with musician Andrei Maloy (Mister Maloy) «Will you die young? Andrey Maloy on clean art» was held at the closed rehabilitation center in Nizhnyaya Maktama. In the second part of the meeting our participants were invited to take part in an art-therapy master class in fluid-art technique «Color of Mood. Map of feelings» by artist Yulia Petrova. All the works made by the participants that day became a part of the whole panel, placed in the rehabilitation center of Lower Maktama.

On July 14, the same event – a fluid-art workshop was held at one of the public areas of Almetyevsk, where every citizen could become a participant. Fluid-art is a technique of painting with liquid acrylic, the patterns and shimmering colors are created by themselves under the influence of gravity. The practice of painting in this technique helps to cope with stress and abstract from external stimuli, it is suitable for people with any level of art education.

The weekend of August 10-11, 2019 in Almetyevsk was united by a single theme – historical manuscripts and calligraphic art of Tatarstan.

On August 10 there was an open meeting with Alfrid Bustanov, a historian and researcher of Tatar culture, «What do Tatar manuscripts talk about». At the meeting all the participants were shown a unique manuscript archive, which was found in Almetyevsk in the course of the research part of the project.

Immediately after the meeting there was an opening ceremony of the exhibition of calligrapher Gulnaz Ismagilova's works «Calligraphy as a Source of Inspiration». The next day, August 11, Gulnaz Ismagilova gave a master class on the basics of calligraphy. During the event, participants of the workshop got acquainted with the main types of calligraphy and learned the Kufic script.

On the weekend of August 24 and 25, 2019, and September 2, Nizhnyaya Maktama hosted a workshop called «Our Fairy Tale» by public art program artist Nikita Ardov.

Participants were invited to paint a city wall based on fairy tales composed by the guests of the open discussion «Dialogue with the City» about the plans for the public art program in 2019. Under the keen guidance of the artist, participants created a full-fledged street art work and mastered basic street art techniques.

The workshop «Our Fairy Tale» was aimed at the active involvement of residents in the transformation of their home town and the organization of a collective creative event for local residents. The wall that was chosen for the painting became a free space for self-expression, where everyone could leave their mark on the ever-changing appearance of the city through art.

August 25, 2018 in Almetyevsk on the eve of the grand opening of Pavel Ignatyev's sculpture «...In this amazing forest.../ Bu kap-kara urmanda...» artist Natalia Pastukhova conducted an original workshop. Residents of the city are well familiar with the mural of the artist «Үsterү/ Grow» from the series «Әlifba/Azbuka», created in 2018 on the house number 39 on the avenue of Builders. Next year, Natalia returned to Almetyevsk with a new workshop «Kolynchak/YaZheRebyonok» based on her own mural.

At the event, guests tried their hand at creating costumes and masks based on the images of Tatar fairy tale characters. The artist from Yekaterinburg, in her usual relaxed manner, created masks of fairy tale creatures together with the participants from available materials: cardboard, boxes, colored scotch tape, all kinds of paper, insulation, bubble wrap and threads.

On September 15, 2018 the Almetyevsk Children's Technology Park «Quantorium» hosted a workshop «Modern calligraphy – the new life of Tatar art» by calligrapher Airat Khismatullin.

The participants learned the basics of calligraphy as well as got acquainted with the classic materials and tools of the art. At the end of the event every participant created their own small calligraphic work under the keen eye of Airat Khismatullin.

On August 26, 2018, Almetyevsk hosted a workshop by street artist Alexey Kislov «Change the city – start with a wall».

During the event, city residents created a painting on one of the city walls under the guidance of the artist. Beforehand, Alexey drew an outline image divided into special segments. The participants had to fill each of them with their own image in a particular technique of street painting. The result was a single visual composition, woven, like a patchwork quilt, from various fragments of the original images of the citizens.

In the same year, Alexey Kislov's large-scale mural «өy/Dom» from the series «Әlifba/Azbuka» appeared in the city on the house #37 on Stroiteley Prospect.