The story behind
Solomiia is a sculptor from Ukraine. In March after the war started in Ukraine she had to leave for Poland, where she later started her master’s degree. She has participated in numerous collaborative and personal exhibitions, as well as art residencies in Ukraine and abroad. Currently she is working on illustrations and posters in support of Ukraine and is preparing two exhibitions during the upcoming months.
Through their eyes
“After the war started in Ukraine, I went to an artist residency in the city Gdansk, Poland, where I am currently living. The need for informational and financial support arose immediately. I sent applications for various programs, but the fastest response was from the Ukrainian artists & creatives support program by ECHN. The support from the program helped me to freely work creatively and purchase materials for further creative activities. In recent months, I have been applying to the Gdańsk Academy of Arts, and now I am a master’s student in the graphics department. My skills in digital graphics also helped me make an appropriate portfolio for this faculty since I radically changed the field of activity from monumental sculptures to graphics. This became necessary after a full-scale war because there was a problem with mobility and a lack of a relevant sculpture workshop. Now I am preparing for two exhibition projects, one of which will take place in Gdansk in December. The theme of the works of the last months is related to the war and volunteering.”
More about Solomiia Gorobiuk
Scholarships
2022 – now a six months scholarship, Laznia 2, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland.
2013 – a two months scholarship for artistic stone processing, practice processing a stone sculpture, Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Group Exhibitions
2022 – “Stand With Ukraine”, Madrid, Spain.
2022 – “Stand With Ukraine”, Offenbach, Germany.
2022 – “I can only talk about war / I can talk not only about war”, Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland.
2015 – Participant of the exhibition “Touching, I See” Lviv, Ukraine.
2014 – XIII International Exhibition of Metal in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
2014 – International Exhibition “Autumn Salon “, Lviv, Ukraine.
2014 – Exhibition for the Blind “Touching, see” Portrait of Michael Boychuk, lviv, Ukraine.
2013 – XII International Exhibition of Metal, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
2012 – XI International Exhibition of Metal, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
2012 – exhibition contest “Honore de Balzac” organised of “Allians Frances”, Lviv, Ukraine.
2011 – presented exhibition in honour of renowned sculpture Immanuel Mys’ko, Lviv, Ukraine.
Residencies
2021 – residence in painting, Kvasy, Ukraine.
2016 –”FRANKO SCULPTURE SYMPOSIUM” symposium of modern monumental sculpture, Lviv, Ukraine.
2012 – Symposium “Seven Fine Pysanky” of stone monumental sculpture, Colomyja, Ukraine.
2010 – Stone Sculpture Symposium, village Lavriv, Monastery of St. Onufry, Ukraine.
Personal Projects
2021 – Created a monumental sculpture, Kahovka, Ukraine.
2019 – Created a two monumental sculpture “Hand”, installed Pidhirya, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine.
2019 – Created five monumental sculptures for the interior design of a nightclub “Split”, Lviv, Ukraine.
2013 – Created a sculpture set “Wheel of Fortune” installed in Lviv, Ukraine.
2009 – Created a Memorial Table “A thousand years since the Baptism of Ancient Rus”, installed in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.
Olha Kupriian is a writer and editor on children’s books. With the help of the MakersXchange Ukrainian Artists & Creatives Support Program she was able to start working on her new novel.
The story behind
Olha is a writer and book editor of children’s books with an experience of more than 10 years. In March after the war started in Ukraine she relocated together with her daughter to Poland. Currently she is working on a series of books targeted to teenagers, about their adaptation to emigration during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Through their eyes
“I was provided with a grant by MAX – MakersXchange Ukrainian Artists & Creatives Grant & Support Program, which gave me the possibility to work on a text. In July – September I have been working on my newest novel The Lady in the Emigration («Панна в еміграції»). An extract was published in the Polish-Ukrainian journal Posestry. The Lady in the Emigration is a novel for teenagers. It is written in the form of three diaries of 14-year old girls from Ukraine, who escaped from Kyiv in the first days after February 24. One of them, Olya, left in Lviv with her mother, who has bipolar disorder. Instead of being a child, Olya takes care of her mother while her father protects the country in The Armed Forces of Ukraine. Two others, Sofia and Diana, emigrated to Kraków, Poland. Diana’s mom couldn’t leave Kyiv because of their disordered grandmother. Diana took her little brother with her. Now, instead of being a child, she should be like a mother to her 6-years-old brother. Sofia is stressed because of her elder brother, who works in The Territorial Defence Forces, in Kyiv. Her father volunteers as a host for those who lost their homes. Also, she experienced worldview changes, and she argued with her boyfriend, who stayed in Kyiv. During the period of July – September 2022, I wrote 20 pages of the novel and I continue working on it.”
More about Olha Kupriian
Work Experience 2013 – present editor of the children’s reading support project “BaraBooka. Space of the Ukrainian children’s book”, methodologist of the children’s reading laboratory of the National Center “Small Academy of Sciences of Ukraine”.
National Literature Contests for Children
“Top BaraBooks”
“Critic’s Rating”
“Espresso. Readers’ choice”
“Nash Format” publishing house manuscript competition.
Author of 10 books for children and teenagers of various ages.
The novel “Lola’s Diary” was awarded the “LitAccent of the Year 2018” award.
“I, Nina” (2019), in co-authorship with journalist Yanina Sokolovawhich received the BookForum Best Book Award 2020 in the “Modern Ukrainian Prose” category.
Residencies
“Borderlands” fund (Krasnogruda, Poland, 2022).
“International House of Writers and Translators” (Ventspils, Latvia, 2022).
“Krakow – UNESCO City of Literature” by KBF (Poland, 2022).
“Author’s House” (Zakynthos Island, Greece, 2020).
Key Takeaways
MAX (Makers’ eXchange) project is a pilot policy project, co-funded by the European Union, that aims to define and test policies and actions supporting the mobility and exchanges of experience between the cultural and creative industries, creative hubs, maker-spaces, fab-labs and formal and non-formal learning and skills development systems in a cross-sectoral way and embed makers’ mobility schemes for skills development and inclusion into mainstream CCIs support programmes, policies and ecosystems across Europe.
Name
Solomiia Gorobiuk
Current location
Gdansk, Poland
Professional field
Art, sculpture
