UKRAINE     2005

Kolomya, Ukraine

Reflections of the Local Traditional Culture
  in the Museum Exposition
June 6–10, 2005

Consultants: Ihor Poshyvailo and Guillermo Barrios

This seminar was a follow-up of the Exhibitions Planning and Design Seminar conducted by Lyndel King and Guillermo Barrios for The Fund in Lviv in 2003. The idea, raised by Yaroslava Tkachuk, Director of the Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttia Museum and of the Musum of Pysanka in Kolomya, was to bring an opportunity to the museum community of the Carpathian region to discuss the issue of exhibition methods and techniques in this area well known by its wealth of traditional folk art and architecture.

Ihor Poshyvailo, deputy director of the Ivan Honchar Museum in Kiev joined Dr. Barrios in leading this seminar. Thirty-seven participants from sixteen regional museums of different kinds, including Folk Art, Ethnography, Natural History Museums and Historical Architecture Preserves, attended the Seminar. The group was comprised of directors and medium-level officials, and also by professional staff involved in curatorial, restoration, exhibit design and research work in their institutions.

Two years of preparation with the American Embassy in Ukraine and their cultural manager, Olha Krekoten working with local cultural managers, were spent preparing this event, which offered the opportunity to share theoretical sessions with field trips to museums and artist workshops in Kolomya and its surroundings.

In the formal sessions, the participants discussed and reviewed cases about the following topics:

• The issue of national and regional identity and the role of the museum
• Methods of exhibiting traditional culture in modern museum exhibitions
• Functions of the museum engaged in the implementation of folk art shows
• Graphic aids and audiovisual equipment

The field trips were very useful not only to appreciate the immense potential of the area for developing a strong cultural tourism international venue, but also for in situ technical and conceptual observations in diverse operational issues of the museum work.

The visits and activities outside Kolomya included:

• Workshop and master class of a pottery artist, part of a traditional family of artisans
• Museum of Folk Art and Culture in the town Kosiv
• Yavoriv village. Master-class on manufacturing of traditional carpets, including the visit to an old water mill.
• Ivan Franko Home and Studio Museum
• Myhailo Hrushevsky Memorial Museum
• Bukivets Pass. Meeting with the family of famous folk musicians Tafiychuks

In Kolomya the group made a comprehensive visit to the History and Etnographic Museum, and was able to see the exhibitions areas with different installations, the storage rooms and the Restoration Department.

The final session was held at the Museum of Pysanka, devoted to the collection, preservation and exhibition of Easter Eggs, whose modern building, in the shape of a big and colorful one, has become a town icon. The group discussed possible follow-up strategies like the implementation of a web site, which can serve for the purpose of strengthening the communication among the participants and the community of folk art museums active around Ukraine.