Exhibition 'Prokopyevskaya Birch Bark'

About exhibition

The 'Prokopyevskaya Birch Bark' exhibition presents works by renowned craftsmen from Prokopyevsk that are held in the city's municipal collection. The subjects and motifs of the masters' works are very wide-ranging: the exuberance of taiga life, pagan mythology, Bashkir and Shor national traditions, Russian festivities, ironic playful forms, historical images, and philosophical reflections. Despite the artists' varied individual approaches, their work is united by common artistic and technical methods of working with birch bark and by the perception of birch bark as a living, malleable material. The distinctiveness of the Prokopyevsk masters lies in the fact that their subject—the ancient Russian craft—is not used for cottage-industry production but has been elevated to a level of high artistic mastery. While preserving the traditions of birch-bark carving, the artists also develop the craft in a contemporary direction, introducing elements that were previously uncharacteristic and unusual. The exhibition features more than 100 works.