Doll Round Dance
Maya Anatolievna Sysoyeva, People’s Master of Russia, draws upon the ancient tradition of the Russian North in making dolls called “Stolbushka”. As a rule, the dolls created by Maya Sysoeva wear dresses typical for the northern region. Dolls-“girls” always have a linen plait decorated with multi-coloured satin fillets; sometimes they have kerchiefs on their heads or bands which are adorned with two or three fillets fastened with a button or a bead. Dolls-“women” have a special headdress in the form of a cap. M. Sysoyeva uses worn out original printed cloths, motley fabrics and checks for the dolls’ dresses. She also decorates them with braid, lace and even gold embroidery. The dolls of M. Sysoyeva are often displayed at the exhibitions and fairs. Her masterpieces are kept in many museums.
Marina Nikolaevna Vasileva, People’s Master of Russia, is a teacher of the studio “Artistic Ceramics” in the Center of Children’s Creative Activity in Cherepovets. She is a student of Sergey Gezovich Fenveshi, famous ceramist of Vologda, People’s Master of Russia and member of the Union of Russian Artists. Her talent can be seen in the terracotta sculpture. She tries to show not only appearance of the residents of Cherepovets and the Belozersk district, but also peculiarities of their movements and mimicry with the accuracy of an ethnographer. Marina Vasileva has been successfully creating separate dolls and the whole series for many years. She combines terracotta with fabric, leather and other materials. She tries to show regional peculiarities of the costume in the dresses of her dolls. Her ethnographic dolls are always “at work”: they are spinning, making lace or going to bring water. Some oeuvres of the master supplement the exposition “Folk art of the Belozersk district” in the museum.
Irina Vladimirovna Luzhinskaya works in the Cherepovets Museum. She is seriously engaged in the study of folk art of the Vologda region, and she devotes all her free time to painting. Irina Luzhinskaya tries to reveal features of the art widely developed among the northern peasants which has been lost more than hundred years ago. She looks for ways out of the painting traditions in the present. The exhibition presented her articles made of wood: images of young ladies – peasant women, nurses and old men. She represented the features which could be seen in the collection of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum painting their costumes: her dolls wear sarafans (long dresses) and shirts imitating printed cloth and red calico.
The exhibition “Doll Round Dance” was organized thanks to the friendly relations between these masters and employees of the Kirillo-Belozersky museum. A large part of the displayed articles was directly connected with Kirillov and the Kirillov district. The presentation of the exhibition took place within the framework of the celebrations of the Day of the Town on June 20, 2009.
