OPENED ROOMS FOR UKRAINIAN ARTISTS AT ORTWEINSCHULE GRAZ
Ukrainian artists sometimes lack contacts and access to materials when they arrive in Graz. Kulturvermittlung Steiermark and Office Ukraine in Graz started a cooperation with the Masterschool for Arts and Design at the Ortweinschule in Graz. The artists are allowed to participate now and then and use the equipment as non-official students. Some are also attending the classes regularly.
In a workshop at the HTBLVA Ortwein in Graz, Tetiana Rudenko, a young artist from Odesa, sets the first brushstrokes of her latest work. “I can use the studio, at home there’s not much place to work now,” she says. The model for the still life is a three-year-old photograph showing an abandoned room in Ukraine. Rudenko adds some details, the skeleton immediately catches the eye. She is now in her second year in the master class for painting, after the application process she was given a regular place.
It is different with Mariia Rohovets. She was never part of the official class here, but as an already trained artist, she was able to use materials as well as workshops at the Masterschool and benefit from the teachers‘ expertise. “It was very important for me, because I didn’t know anyone in Graz yet and I wanted to work,” she says. She often used the school’s printing presses and experimented with new techniques.
Artists like Diana Fedoriaka, Margo Sarkisova and Lera Elur also took advantage of this opportunity. “Since I just moved and due to the war, I didn’t have lots of money. I got the opportunity to scan my films, use the dark room and facilities,” says the photographer Fedoriaka. She was an extraordinary student in the photography class last year, and since September she has been in the regular class for jewellery and metal design at the Ortweinschule.
Josef Fürpaß. Photo: Thomas Raggam, Schubidu Quartet
At the beginning, Kulturvermittlung Steiermark and Office Ukraine Graz approached Josef Fürpaß. The freelance artist teaches painting and printmaking at the Masterschool. He first introduced the Ukrainian artists to the director and the head of the department, and depended on their approval. “Everyone was open, I had a lot of freedom,” says Fürpaß. So far, every request has been accepted. “The course is very well set in our school. Since I started in the autumn of 2011, there has always been openness.” For a long time, the school has been committed to helping refugees; Fürpaß remembers an artist couple from Iraq during his first year at the school.
In the master class, all students are adults. Especially in a completely new environment, it is important to facilitate a good exchange. Rohovets felt welcome from the beginning: “My colleagues helped me with everything and I met a few students, we are still in contact.” Fedoriaka underlines this: “My classmates are amazing, they help me a lot and usually translate for me.” Classes are held in German, but everyone is willing to switch to English if necessary. Moreover, most Ukrainians attend language courses in addition.
According to Fürpaß, it is particularly easy to connect with practical work like drawing, shaping, and designing: “You learn by watching.” For him, it is a great opportunity when students bring their individual ideas with them, for example in handling the machines and materials. The enthusiasm for art facilitates networking in the class. “It’s already something you have in common with students, with teachers, you’re more connected to society,” Rudenko says.
Experiences and fears of war regularly crop up in works, Fürpaß agrees: “Of course, 24 February 2022 was a day of trauma.” Lera Elur, for example, made a whole series of prints on the theme, which are part of the travelling exhibition “Struggle & Contemplation” from Kulturvermittlung Steiermark. It will be on display in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Romania. “We will never be able to recreate these experiences ourselves, but we can support with respect,” Fürpaß explains. There have been no Ukrainian students so far who have left out the motif of war.
If required, it would still be possible for artists from Ukraine to contact the Ortweinschule.
Mariia Rohovets. Photo: Thomas Raggam, Schubidu Quartet
“It did me a lot of good” – Mariia Rohovets
In spring 2022, Mariia Rohovets attended the Masterschool of Painting as a guest. She processed her new start in Graz in the project “New Life” – pictures of babies with a creepy, unsettled look on black paper. “It is a symbol of new life, like being born anew. The new state is stressful at the beginning and you feel alone,” Rohovets describes. She comes from Butscha and completed her master’s degree in art in Ukraine. Besides working as an art teacher, she was involved in the 39.9galerie, which connected her to Office Ukraine Graz. At the Ortweinschule, she took courses in graphic arts and oil painting. “It was therapeutic for me because I came here from Ukraine in March 2022,” Rohovets was able to process her thoughts about the war. “Being able to draw in peace did me a lot of good”. The artist mostly works with colour markers or creates collages. She is employed as a waitress, in the future Rohovets wants to stay in Graz.
Tetiana Rudenko. Photo: Thomas Raggam, Schubidu Quartet
“Art education is different here” – Tetiana Rudenko
Tetiana Rudenko already studied art in Ukraine, in Graz she is now continuing as a regular student in the master class for painting. The training lasts two years, starting in September 2022. “Ortwein was the best option for me, here you can be different and do different styles,” says the artist from Odesa. The language is a big challenge, she says. “Speaking in German is still difficult. But all the people were open-minded and ready to talk to me in English,” Rudenko finds. The way of learning about art is different in the two countries: “Here it’s like no rules, no borders. Everything you feel, everything you want to do is right”. In Ukraine, she says, the studies were more theoretical, with stricter guidelines. “I would like to go to Vienna and try my best there,” says Rudenko.
Diana Fedoriaka. Photo: Thomas Raggam, Schubidu Quartet
“I found this new obsession within me” – Diana Fedoriaka
Art all-rounder Diana Fedoriaka primarily deals with photography, she has also been active as a filmmaker and actress. She has already lived in many places, but as a big-city person, Kyiv is most likely her home. In Graz, Office Ukraine gave her the contact to Florian Koller, who is a lecturer for photography at the Ortweinschule. “He’s actually the nicest person I met, I was allowed to use everything, even despite the fact that I wasn’t officially at the school,” Fedoriaka recalls. Four magnificent rings on her hands – there are usually more, but they get in the way when she is cycling – show what she is burning for: “I found this new obsession for jewellery within me. I wanted to have the intersection with photography.” Koller directed her to Elisabeth Gort, who teaches jewellery and metal design at the Masterschool. Fedoriaka successfully applied. “The thing I love about the school is the art approach, I feel freedom,” she says. Jewellery is not just “beautiful”, she says, but a work of art, a statement. When the war is over, she wants to go back to Ukraine.
Text: Felix Neumann