Ukrainian Cultural Initiative

    Our first organized exhibition "Affirmation of Life. Art from today’s Ukraine" (September'2023) was initiated by the community of The First Parish in Bedford (MA) and the Ukrainian Cultural Initiative with support from the Bedford Cultural District Partnership.

    When planning our exhibition, we envisioned creating a collection for American viewers who have actively supported Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. We aimed to gather in one space such works of art that could harmoniously fit into every interior or become its special emphasis. We call it "a reflection of the Ukrainian style". This style will be experienced and become apparent to exhibition guests, as they get acquainted with work by Ukrainian artists. Ukrainian visitors will find themselves in the atmosphere of a familiar world and the native beauty of their country.

    Moreover, our challenge was to cover as many artistic trends as possible and to present them with gratefulness to the United States of America. The collection includes

 enamels on copper by Tetiana and Serhiy Kolechko, oil paintings by Oleksiy Bednoshey, Borys Eghiazaryan, and Nadiya Martynenko, gouaches by Lyubov Minenko, 

oil pastels by Olha Omelchyshyna, Petrykivka paintings by Oksana Dovban, 

“vytynanky” by Nataliya Huliayeva-Smahlo, 

and tapestries by Olha Pilyuhina.

    We would like to express our sincere gratitude

 to Ellen Scheiner, Doris Smith and Christine Wojnar

 from The Gallery@First Parish in Bedford for reaching out to us to organize the exhibition. With gratitude, we would like to emphasize that the selection of works of art and the design of the catalog were made possible with the support of the members of the renowned family of artists Seda Baroyants and Setrak Baroyants.

    The catalog contains a photographic retrospective of each artist’s work, texts by art historians, and reflections on art by Dr. Nataliya Proskura.

Together to Victory!