Modern Era
At present, no college or university in Ukraine offers study of the design of specifically Ukrainian jewellery. However, five secondary art-oriented institutions exist where students can study the technology and design of jewellery. In the Lviv Academy of Fine Arts, at the only faculty of metal working in Ukraine, one semester is devoted to the small forms. It is still impossible to work officially with precious materials in the workshops of the Academy because of confusing and complicated legislation.
The absence of specialized galleries and artistic critics makes it difficult for individual artists to realize their works. The lack of regular exhibitions and competitions means that creative ideas are not being exchanged. A lack of tools and materials is present, even though the number of jewellery workshops during the post-Soviet period has increased almost tenfold. Legislation allows workshops to be opened by persons who are not professionally skilled. Copyright laws are not enforced. Goldsmiths in Ukraine are isolated from each other since there is no union or association. There are few contacts with colleagues from abroad, and there is still no professional literature in Ukrainian.
The first attempt to congregate jewellers from different regions of Ukraine was the 1997 exhibition "Treasures of Ukraine" in the newly created museum of the National Bank of Ukraine in Kiev. In 1999, the "Jeweller-Expo" exhibition was held in Kiev for the first time. In Ukraine, there are four state jewellery factories, two state factories of stone cutting, and one state enterprise of the mining and processing of amber. Only recently Ukraine began to extract its own gold.
Some small private companies have been founded in recent years. Also, some personal and group exhibitions of jewellery have taken place in Kiev, Lviv and other cities. Ukrainian artists participate successfully in competitions and exhibitions abroad. Every year, many young artists are joining the search for new forms and innovative materials.
Read more about this topic: History Of Jewellery In Ukraine
Famous quotes containing the words modern and/or era:
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)
“It struck me that the movies had spent more than half a century saying, “They lived happily ever after” and the following quarter-century warning that they’ll be lucky to make it through the weekend. Possibly now we are now entering a third era in which the movies will be sounding a note of cautious optimism: You know it just might work.”
—Nora Ephron (b. 1941)