Russian Painters Visit BB&N
When asked if he had always been a painter, Nicholas Shaplyko looked sincerely confused. Finally he shrugged his broad shoulders and answered in a thick Russian accent: “What else would I do?”
That same passion was apparent in all of the paintings Shaplyko and his wife and collaborator Ekaterina Sorokina brought into Russian teacher Armen Dedekian's classroom this February during a visit to BB&N. Shaplyko and Sorokina have been in the U.S. for 15 years now since leaving Russia, and in 2002 they opened the Museum of Modern Renaissance in Somerville, Mass. as a space to exhibit their work and host concerts, and performances.
The famous artists—Russian President Vladimir Putin heads the list of people who own a Shaplyko painting—were at the Upper School to be interviewed in Russian by BB&N students and to share their art. Working in pastels and oil paints, Shaplyko does the drawing with Sorokina completing the color afterwards. The final results are large, deeply colored canvases featuring Russian churches, mythological beasts, and landscapes.
Students were impressed by both the fantastic paintings, and the artists' words.
“Always be a kid,” the artists answered about their approach to art. “There is nothing like an empty piece of paper, because a child always wants to fill it up.”
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