Exhibition of original textile dolls, art textiles and felts in St Petersburg (24 June - 3 July 2022).

An exhibition of author dolls, art textiles and felting has opened in St Petersburg, at the Gallery of the Book and Graphic Centre. The two halls of the exhibition feature works by doll artists from various cities in Russia, near and far abroad.

The exhibition brought together more than 120 works by 45 authors from 23 cities. There are such masters of art textiles as Anastasia Goleneva (Moscow) and her students from different cities of Russia, Yana Boeva (St. Petersburg), Svetlana Nerutskova - the project "Kudesnoe Shapito" (Togliatti), Lena Akulova (St. Petersburg), Anastasia Sultan (Saratov), Inga Moiseeva (Saratov). Lena Akulova (St. Petersburg), Anastasia Sultan (Saratov), Inga Moiseeva (St. Petersburg), Natalia Sheina (Tula), Zoya Sereda from Belarus, as well as Varvara Skripkina and Olga Shabalina.

The exposition is organised by the Association of Puppet Artists "Bridges", which for the second year already holds large-scale exhibition projects of author's and art dolls "AIDOLL", gathering talented authors, creative artists and experienced practicing teachers.

The undoubted advantage of the event is the opportunity not only to see the best examples of doll art, but also to gain first-hand knowledge of the technology of working with materials. The exhibition includes lectures and master classes by renowned textile doll artists Lena Lakhova, Oksana Tsyganova, Anastasia Goleneva, Lena Akulova and Liana Vengerovskaya.

We were able to get a short interview with Valeria Korsakova, director of the association, and Olga Bakaleeva, curator of exhibition projects.

The organisers stressed the importance of the event for the cultural life of the city and shared their plans for the future. This exhibition promises to be an annual event. An important platform for presenting puppeteers at the international level has appeared in St. Petersburg.

DDN: How did the idea of holding such an event in such a narrow specialisation as 'textiles' come about?

O.B.: A textile doll is a separate story, which we love very much and think it deserves its own exhibition. It's the same with felt. There are many authors, different technologies and styles. And we thought, why not show all the techniques of working with this deceptively simple material...

DDN: This project is renewable, will you repeat it?

V.K.: This will be an annual project. It is an offshoot of our main project "AIDOLL" - an annual New Year's Eve exhibition. In autumn we are preparing a new exhibition "Non-Scary Tales", where we invite everyone who creates works in Fantasy&Horror stylistics. Come to our exhibitions, master-classes as participants, teachers, spectators. We will be glad to see you!

We wish success to the young and energetic organisers from St Petersburg and look forward to more meetings!

The vernissage was attended by guests of honour: Galina Tikhomirova, chairman of the board of the Chamber of Crafts, Ludmila Osokina, journalist and representative of the Petersburg Angels Museum, puppet artist Anna Chulanova, leading teacher of the Chukla studio with her husband, founder and editor-in-chief of the Art Doll community Anton Kargapoltsev, Varvara Skripkina, owner of the first and only puppet gallery in St. Petersburg.

The exhibition can be visited until 3 July 2022, at 55 Liteiny prospect, St. Petersburg.

Event website: https://vk.com/aidolltextile

Contacts: https://vk.com/leradoll, https://vk.com/olga_bakaleeva.

Text - Irina Panfilenok, photo - Olga Kudryavtseva.