Moldovan Orphanage Project

Moldova to be part of Made in Roath 2012

The latest Opportunity to exhibit the work related to the my visits to Ukraine and Moldova

Be part of the Moldova Project this Summer!

Above introducing some of the young people from the Learning Disability Orphanage in the form of a Collage.

Below you can find out how you and your friends in return can contribute to this project and be part of a collage to go on the walls of the Moldovan Orphanage this Christmas!

Please have a go it will make so much difference to the young lives of the orphans as they realise you care!

Here is a composition made by Min J a Korean girl who came to the open day at Thornhill last month.

She has responded to our request for people to make a composition (no more than A4 for us to take out to Moldova to give to an orphan).

Currently we are looking to return at Christmas so your drawing, painting, collage or even photograph could make a difference to the childrens lives this Christmas.

Try and include something about where you are from as the children know very little about life beyond the walls of the orphanage!  As you can see Min J has included aspects of her life in Korea and in the Uk and her faith.

Open to any age, if you can't draw a photograph will suffice!

The best ones may in addition be used to put on t-shirts or possibly even a calendar!

It would be useful also to have a Jpeg with you holding your work, as Megan has above - it would be nice to make a collage of all the people who have contributed work which we would put up as a piece of artwork.
However we also need the master of your work so we would request you sent the original by post to my address on the email.

Turbulent Times Moldova and the Faith in Art openday

Art interacting with the outside world with a personal message created by Jungsook

Richards interpretation of the Creation in the form of a filing cabinet

All the work (only a couple of pieces shown here) was received well by a steady flow of visitors who made a visit to the open day

Lathan looks on as young and old get on with workshops under the direction of Jungsook

The completed composition of work called "Moldova Turbulent Times

I

It was the first day of the London Olympics and these two sisters created paintings of the occasion to be taken out to the children in Moldova.

It is hoped and in the planning stage that a small team may go back out to Moldova before the end of the year.

preparing to present the work of my experiences with young people in Moldova

Since returning from Moldova last September I had spent most of my time concentrating on my A level course which took me through to June with an exhibition in June.

Fulfilling a promise and the aim of the trip to Moldova.
My trip to Moldova last summer had been to get inspiration from young people through their artwork to make a fouth painting to complete my study of the modern history of the region  as seen through the eyes of artists. This had been the subject of my AS Exam work in June of last year.  I had created a triptich painting portraying the period of the Bolshevik revolution; the socialist period; the post Soviet  era all based on Kiev and the Ukraine.
The last painting was to give an expression of what  life was like today for the young person growing up in a post communist republic.
In this case through the eyes of the young people I had visited and who had so successfully provided me with pictures of their world, with the help of the host organisation "Help the Children Moldova.

The task in hand was a difficult one how could I represent all  these children and try to show there art?

Faith in Art to the Rescue!
Over the last year I had been attending a Faith in Art group in Thornhill Church. At the end of June they announced their intention to have an Exhibition at the end of July.
This was my opportunity - all I had to do now was produce some appropriate and fitting art work for the occasion - just how was I going to present all the sense of excitement and the buzz of creativity that was generated as I held the art work shops at the three orphanges.
How too was I going to produce  a painting incorporating the vast selection of ideas created by my young artists?  That I had in fact had experience of before in so much that in studying the subject for my A level I had looked at a vast number of images by a variety of artists and had had to make my selsction for my three compositions.

So here in fact is my first compostion picking out just a selection of the themes depicted by the orphanage artists. Of couse the orphanage was a central point  for many and many showed beautiful flowers  and trees bearing fruit, many showed beautiful sunny days with happy faces in the  clouds, Some even showed there dreams and hopes for the  future so I have tried to include some of these too.
The country is also endowed with rich supplies of grapes which some focused on.
I also included an element of my own  experience - can you pickout the goat herder with her goats?
Finally I included a small piece of Mickhail Larionov (1881- 1964) who came from Tiraspol and deveped the style of painting Ryanism. I have included aspects of this style from his painting Nocturne

The composition above is an attempt to convey the sense of expectation and the variety of ideas and  the whole idea  that it was a special moment for both the young people and for me the artist who had been so well received by all concerned in visiting the orphananges!



Coming into land!!

On my final morning I insisted on a flying visit to the office so that I could present staff with the hand painted shirts with the pictures of the children with their work. The project is to be known as "Impressions MD 2011" as hand painted on the shirts.
I had painstakingly transferred the pictures and hand painted the logo on twelve shirts working a couple of nights late into the night, so that staff also can make presentations at the Orphanages on behalf of the project!
Above the final photo shot with staff I had come to know over the last at the office of Help the Children Charity.


Minutes later I whisked off in a car heading for the border. Tranestria is one very interesting state or maybe it should be referred to as a non state?
As a result of a civil war in 1993 the Russian Red army peace keepers have a presence at the border.

On the whole the border equates to the historical border that was the demarcation prior to 1940 when the Soviet Union created the Republic of Moldova. This boundary followed the line of the River Nistru. The only difference to this is that in 1993 the Transtrians have also taken the town of Bendary which is on the Western bank (Moldovan side) of the River Nistru!

Any border crossing into Transniestria involves going through three sets of border control. Above can be seen the Transniestrian with their red and green flag, this is followed by the Russian Peace keepers, and is then followed by the Moldovan Border Control.

My hosts seemed quite accustomed to dealing with these controls, everything in Traniestria is done on a bartering basis - corruption is the name of the game - which I sense is the name of the game in former Soviet regions as a whole! (Moldova is not prone to this way of life to the same extent as it it is looking west towards allegiance with the European Union).
However our driver did handover a small bottle of perfume to the Customs official at the Moldovan check point - had this not been done my exit may not have been so prompt.

We then were being whisked through the Moldovan countryside with its undulating countryside dotted with small villages with as many wells and it was with sadness that I saw the grand entry of Botannica in the distance, but realised I had on this occasion be dropped at the International Airport for my departure.

There was one further problem as we sped up the hill towards the airport our car was stopped by the Moldovan cops!
Yes we were speeding also it had to be checked that the driver had both citizenship for both Moldova and Transniestria - thankfully I was not driving!
The Police were looking for 100dollar bribe my hosts were looking to get it down to 10 dollars which I believe they did!
I was very thankful to be in the safe hands of my hosts

It was with mixed emotions that I left my new Tranestrian friends, but my own sense and knowledge that my project objectives had largely been met and also had been received so well at the orphanages left me with a sense that I could leave well pleased with my endeavours!




I had a long wait at the airport but a coffee at the bar close to the entrance allowed me to have a view out towards the land of Moldova I have come to love and feel apart of. And I had the fore cite to keep some paints handy and went about my business of creating my final impression from the terminal building looking towards the white apartment buildings that make up the suburbs of Chisinau and the red and white chimneys of industry that give way to the undulating countryside dotted with homesteads that had become a familiar sight over the passed weeks.
With in the foreground the entry access to the terminal building and the police officer who both seemed to have responsibility for keeping vehicles moving and also called in a special unit when a piece of left luggage was found inside the terminal not too distant to where I was standing!
What a contrast this terminal is to the huge unfriendly concrete giant of Gatwick where I had to waste away some hours three weeks previously!

My flight back was with an Austrian airline and a change of plane in Vienna!
I was able to share the first flight with a Moldovan girl who had just completed her masters in finance in Berlin and was about to start a job in the sector in Berlin. She had just spent sometime at home with her parents and been a bridesmaid to one of her friends. She was a very proud Romanian Moldovan and it was really nice to get a final perspective from her having had very much a Russian perspective on things over the last week.

I like both Russians and Romanian Moldavians - thankfully both groups seem at least on the surface to co-exist quite happily.

It was with Quite some sadness that as this small plane shakily came into land I had to make a swift departure saying fair well to Elena having exchanged contact details and make my way to my London bound plane.

The final planes departure was delayed by 15 minutes due to heavy winds over London which meant the queuing of planes over London had to be kept to a minimum - apparently Britain had experienced severe winds as a tail end of Hurricane Karina had reached the maritime shores of Uk.






However as we flew in over the Wash, I am sure pilots follow the rivers like travellers of old. The Captain reported that the winds subsided and the cloud had been largely blown away.
So above is a view of the Thames with the old Millennium Dome (now the O2 building) in the bottom centre of the photo.






As we finally came into land with the sun setting I realised one chapter of this adventure was coming to a successful completion.

..... But as I saw a plane take off another chapter was just beginning ... how am I going to bring value to all this .... and make the lives of these orphans known back in the UK!



That question can wait for another day .... first I need a few good nights sleep and to enjoy the fact that my pioneering adventure had birthed "Impressions MD 2011" and has been a success!

plein air Nistru stlyle

c capturing a cattle
+ goat herder by the Nistru river - i thought at one point the goat was going butt my paints out the way as he vigorous chew grass!

but I survived to complete the impression!