A 15-year-old Donetsk resident opens his own school

He began painting at age 9. At 15 he opened his own art school for young artists. He has already painted more than 120 pictures, mostly devoted to Ukraine and his native city of Donetsk.

The above lines encapsulate the life story of Artur Ozerov, 17, who has become a real celebrity in the Ukrainian coal miners’ capital.

Artur recently graduated from the 11th grade at Secondary School No. 69 in Donetsk. He also works at the Studio for Young Artists of Ukraine’s Renaissance. Artur founded this school with the unusual name after winning a contest last year for projects competing for a grant from the president of Ukraine.

It took him a long time to reach this goal. When he was 15, he wrote his first letter to the Presidential Secretariat, in which he described his project and requested funds. This first attempt to obtain a government grant failed for a shockingly simple reason: the future project manager did not have an internal passport, a mandatory document confirming the civil maturity of a contest participant.

A year later Artur tried again, and this time the president of Ukraine unhesitatingly underwrote a grant worth UAH 49,000. Letters of recommendation for his project came from curators of Donetsk oblast’s largest museums and galleries, the principal of Artur’s school, as well as Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, who has known the teenage artist for several years and was absolutely certain that some day he would become one of the region’s most celebrated painters. The project was launched last August and is now being carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Ukraine for Youth and Sport Affairs.

This is not Artur’s first victory. He has received an avalanche of prizes in art and literary competitions at the city, regional, and national levels, and in 2005 won the title Young Man of the Year. Artur’s first exhibition was held at the All-Ukrainian Assembly of Architects in 2001: that was when he met the future mayor of Donetsk, Lukyanchenko, who advised the teenaged artist to exhibit his works at this assembly so that “architects will learn how to love their native city.”

Artur says he took up painting accidentally. “My parents just signed me up for an art school to get me busy doing something — I was very restless. I made tremendous strides at that school. My first teacher was Valeriy Hrynko, who now teaches at our studio. He was the one who discovered that I had talent. Almost all my works were created thanks to him,” says Artur.

His first themes were devoted to dinosaurs. Then his father suggested that he draw something in a large format. Artur took a big sheet of paper and that was the beginning of his landscapes, and a turning point. Then the teen prodigy began painting pictures of his native city.

Donetsk and its residents are now the main theme of Ozerov’s works. “I really love my city, and my paintings are a token of respect for Donetsk and all its inhabitants. In my works I always try to show the best things in our city and also present it in a different light.”

“There have been so many radical changes in our country over the past few years. New structures and churches are being built, streets are being rebuilt. This is what I mean by ‘renaissance.’ It is not only an architectural renaissance but a spiritual one, which occurs in human hearts,” he explains. The teenaged artist believes that his principal task is to participate in the development of this new epoch by helping his peers, who find it difficult to realize their talents.

The young artists’ first works funded by the presidential grant have already received recognition at several exhibitions. The first gala exhibit was held in December 2005 at the Technology House of the Donetskstal steel mill (DMZ). This venue was chosen deliberately: Artur’s two grandfathers and one great-grandfather used to work at this mill. The DMZ is Donetsk’s first enterprise, founded by the Welshman John Hughes (mispronounced “Yuz” in tsarist Russia — Ed.). He launched what was known as Yuzivka. Today, it is Donetsk, the coal miners’ capital. It is therefore very symbolic that the first exhibit of Ozerov’s Renaissance of Ukraine project should have been held at a factory that gave birth to modern Donetsk. Then there was another exhibit funded by the grant, and now there are plans to hold more in Donetsk, at the Artek youth holiday center, in Odesa or Lviv, and Kyiv.

“We always invite Artur’s peers and classmates to visit these exhibits,” says Artur’s father Volodymyr. “We want their friends to see that they have already achieved something, that they have an alternative to hanging around and mindlessly wasting time.” When all the exhibits end, the Ozerovs plan to publish a catalogue of the project participants’ work.

Today Artur’s school has seven students besides Artur. Four of them are art school students and the rest are students at ordinary schools and higher educational institutions. The grant requirements stipulate that each student must paint 18 pictures, three of which are devoted to the revival of their homeland. The school is open on Saturdays and Sundays, and pupils study four hours a day. Once a week, Artur’s mother teaches them art history.

It is difficult to overestimate the role of Artur’s parents in the development of his project. They quit their jobs and decided to take charge of their only child and other children, who need support to be able to develop their capacities as much as possible.

Artur’s parents consider themselves only his assistants. “We deal with organizational matters — from signing exhibition contracts to purchasing painting supplies. It would be difficult for him, at his age, to organize all this,” Volodymyr Ozerov said.

The Ozerov family built the entire studio with their own hands — from its cozy interior to the last step of the porch. “We did everything by ourselves. Artur and I built the porch one step a day. We ended up running out of money before the construction ended. We even sold candy here, but it didn’t help and we had to sell our grandmother’s apartment (now she lives with us). But we finally managed to do everything, and now even strangers like to have their picture taken on our porch,” Ozerov says proudly.

Students were accepted to the studio according to one criterion: candidates should have an artistic nature and know how to create their own works. Now the students have an opportunity to try out a host of diverse techniques and styles. At first they felt somewhat lost once they realized that they were allowed to draw anything. But now they have dived into the wonderful creative atmosphere of the studio, and in the teacher’s view, his students’ work will be even finer by the end of the year.

The Ozerov family hopes that the project does not close after the grant expires. They will not be able to increase the number of pupils within the grant’s limits because everything, including paints and other materials, was calculated precisely for seven people. Artur and his parents would like more young artists to attend the studio and turn the latter into a private art school.

Artur intends to continue working at the studio and complete an art college and later an art institute. Hrynko says the teenaged artist is ready for this. “I would like Artur to continue to do art in the future, too,” the teacher says. “At the moment it is difficult to say what style he will choose, but all I can say is that the seed that was planted in him in childhood, the seed of interest in art and painting, has already produced a sprout, and this sprout is already strong enough.”