Maureen Carswell, Keryn Evely and Gudde Skyrme were invited to participate in the 1st half of the annual enamel symposium of the Soviet Artists’ Union in Palanga, Lithuania, followed by Amal Ghosh, Annie Hooton and Ian Robertson for the second half of the symposium.
PALANGA, LITHUANIA
The visit of six members of BSOE to work in Palanga with Soviet and International enamellers, was the result of contacts made at the Limoges Biennale. The Soviet Artists’ Union arranged the workshops annually, for the months of January and February. They took place in a hotel for worthy workers in factories to do with the crafts, in the Baltic seaside town of Palanga.
PALANGA, LITHUANIA
The visit of six members of BSOE to work in Palanga with Soviet and International enamellers, was the result of contacts made at the Limoges Biennale. The Soviet Artists’ Union arranged the workshops annually, for the months of January and February. They took place in a hotel for worthy workers in factories to do with the crafts, in the Baltic seaside town of Palanga.
The top floor housed the enamel workshops and the two floors below provided bedroom/ workplace for the enamellers. For the Soviet enamellers, an invitation to take part was highly prized.
Anny Hooton and Alexander Raphael had been the pioneers – they had been invited to attend in 1989. This led to an expansion in ’90 with two sets of three BSOE members (one in January, the other in February) being invited, as well as enamellers from many other countries, France, Germany, Spain, USA (Hawaii) and Australia. The Soviets came from all corners of the Soviet Union, which made it a truly international gathering.
Keryn Evely, Gudde Skyrme and I were the first three to go, in January. We set off from Heathrow, very warmly dressed, with very heavy baggage (Gudde’s was too heavy to go on the conveyor belt and had to be taken to a special place for extra heavy luggage!). The reason for all this weight was that we were taking as much of our enamels and tools as we could, not knowing what would be available. This proved to have been wise, particularly in the case of enamel as the Soviets used mostly liquid enamels.
Gudde had also taken a weight of sterling plates, already photo etched for making brooches. She had entered these on the customs form as Sterling. The official asked to see it. On being shown the silver, he said “No”; he wanted to see the sterling, equating sterling with currency. Obviously there was a language problem, and no end of explaining could get him to understand that the plates were ‘sterling’. Luckily, he gave up in exasperation and let us through!
This was the first of many adventures. We were met in Moscow by a host of friends plus an interpreter. This was the time of the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union and some private enterprise was being allowed. We were taken in a mini bus, through the snow to a gaunt, concrete, high-rise block, among many other high-rise blocks, all the same. We were taken to a flat, obviously someone’s home being rented out, told that someone would bring us some supper, for which we were to pay her, but on no account to open the door to anyone else!!
Our interpreter, Masha, was travelling with us to Palanga. She was a young woman who had just finished her teacher training. The job had been offered to her father, a highly experienced interpreter, but he had asked that his daughter be allowed the opportunity. Her English was excellent, and we got on very well.
Masha and her father arrived in the morning to take us to the airport. They had one normal sized taxi for the five of us and all our heavy luggage. Five into one obviously didn’t go. It was decided that Masha, myself and all the heavy luggage would go in the taxi and that Masha’s father, Gudde and Keryn would get another taxi. I thought no more of it, other than some anxiety driving through the snow in a taxi whose windscreen wipers weren’t working, having to stop every so often to clear the screen. We finally arrived at the airport, but there was no sign of the others. Time was ticking by, getting nearer and nearer to the flight’s departure. They made it just in time. It seems that in those days, it wasn’t possible to phone up for a taxi, one just went out into the street and tried to flag down passing motorists and ask them to take you to your destination. This had proved almost impossible and they had been forced to take a lift into the city and another one out!
After all these tribulations, Palanga itself was a pleasant surprise. It was a pretty town on the shores of the Baltic, with long sandy beaches, backed by pine trees, with wooden walkways through the trees and along the shore. Although it was January, it was no colder than at home, and most of the time the skies were blue. In the evening we met up with our fellow enamellers, led by Indulis Urbanis from Latvia. Our first task was to design and make a poster to represent ourselves and our country, this to decorate the meeting room. We set to work the following day. We three tended to follow a nine to five working day, with leisure in the evenings. For me it was bliss to have the luxury of being a full time enameller for a whole month. On the whole, the Soviets had quite different work patterns. Some of them worked through the night and slept for a large part of the day, they said that it was quieter then.
Each country was expected to host a party. Burns Night fell during our stay, so we decided to have a Burns Night party. We made a haggis out of someone’s stuffed sock, and Masha translated the Ode to the Haggis (which Keryn happened to have with her!) into Russian. We managed to find whisky for sale in the ‘Foreigners’ shop in Klaipeda, we had some tea bags, shortbread and tartan serviettes, so were all set. At the appointed hour, there was no sign of our guests and there seemed to be a lot of scurrying around from room to room. Eventually they turned up. All the men had made kilts out of their tartan blankets; some had a sporran made out of a woolly hat. There was all manner of headgear, but the most impressive was that of Aman Amanoff of Turkmenistan, it was a shepherd’s hat made of sheepskin. Being a Muslim, Aman was not allowed to bare his legs, so he had Long Johns under his kilt!
We proceeded with the procession of bringing in the haggis and reading the Ode. We then gave them lessons in the Gay Gordons. I think that it is fair to say that a great time was had by all.
I think that it is also fair to say that everyone worked hard and played hard. There was a great range of techniques and styles and an exchange of ideas. Many friendships were formed, and I feel very privileged to have taken part.’
© 2009 Maureen Carswell.
Keryn Evely, Gudde Skyrme and I were the first three to go, in January. We set off from Heathrow, very warmly dressed, with very heavy baggage (Gudde’s was too heavy to go on the conveyor belt and had to be taken to a special place for extra heavy luggage!). The reason for all this weight was that we were taking as much of our enamels and tools as we could, not knowing what would be available. This proved to have been wise, particularly in the case of enamel as the Soviets used mostly liquid enamels.
Gudde had also taken a weight of sterling plates, already photo etched for making brooches. She had entered these on the customs form as Sterling. The official asked to see it. On being shown the silver, he said “No”; he wanted to see the sterling, equating sterling with currency. Obviously there was a language problem, and no end of explaining could get him to understand that the plates were ‘sterling’. Luckily, he gave up in exasperation and let us through!
This was the first of many adventures. We were met in Moscow by a host of friends plus an interpreter. This was the time of the beginning of the end for the Soviet Union and some private enterprise was being allowed. We were taken in a mini bus, through the snow to a gaunt, concrete, high-rise block, among many other high-rise blocks, all the same. We were taken to a flat, obviously someone’s home being rented out, told that someone would bring us some supper, for which we were to pay her, but on no account to open the door to anyone else!!Our interpreter, Masha, was travelling with us to Palanga. She was a young woman who had just finished her teacher training. The job had been offered to her father, a highly experienced interpreter, but he had asked that his daughter be allowed the opportunity. Her English was excellent, and we got on very well.
Masha and her father arrived in the morning to take us to the airport. They had one normal sized taxi for the five of us and all our heavy luggage. Five into one obviously didn’t go. It was decided that Masha, myself and all the heavy luggage would go in the taxi and that Masha’s father, Gudde and Keryn would get another taxi. I thought no more of it, other than some anxiety driving through the snow in a taxi whose windscreen wipers weren’t working, having to stop every so often to clear the screen. We finally arrived at the airport, but there was no sign of the others. Time was ticking by, getting nearer and nearer to the flight’s departure. They made it just in time. It seems that in those days, it wasn’t possible to phone up for a taxi, one just went out into the street and tried to flag down passing motorists and ask them to take you to your destination. This had proved almost impossible and they had been forced to take a lift into the city and another one out!
After all these tribulations, Palanga itself was a pleasant surprise. It was a pretty town on the shores of the Baltic, with long sandy beaches, backed by pine trees, with wooden walkways through the trees and along the shore. Although it was January, it was no colder than at home, and most of the time the skies were blue. In the evening we met up with our fellow enamellers, led by Indulis Urbanis from Latvia. Our first task was to design and make a poster to represent ourselves and our country, this to decorate the meeting room. We set to work the following day. We three tended to follow a nine to five working day, with leisure in the evenings. For me it was bliss to have the luxury of being a full time enameller for a whole month. On the whole, the Soviets had quite different work patterns. Some of them worked through the night and slept for a large part of the day, they said that it was quieter then.
Each country was expected to host a party. Burns Night fell during our stay, so we decided to have a Burns Night party. We made a haggis out of someone’s stuffed sock, and Masha translated the Ode to the Haggis (which Keryn happened to have with her!) into Russian. We managed to find whisky for sale in the ‘Foreigners’ shop in Klaipeda, we had some tea bags, shortbread and tartan serviettes, so were all set. At the appointed hour, there was no sign of our guests and there seemed to be a lot of scurrying around from room to room. Eventually they turned up. All the men had made kilts out of their tartan blankets; some had a sporran made out of a woolly hat. There was all manner of headgear, but the most impressive was that of Aman Amanoff of Turkmenistan, it was a shepherd’s hat made of sheepskin. Being a Muslim, Aman was not allowed to bare his legs, so he had Long Johns under his kilt!We proceeded with the procession of bringing in the haggis and reading the Ode. We then gave them lessons in the Gay Gordons. I think that it is fair to say that a great time was had by all.
I think that it is also fair to say that everyone worked hard and played hard. There was a great range of techniques and styles and an exchange of ideas. Many friendships were formed, and I feel very privileged to have taken part.’© 2009 Maureen Carswell.
1990 - Phil Barnes succeeded Maureen Carswell as Chairman.
LIMOGES BIENNALE
The Limoges Biennale invited Phil Barnes, Amal Ghosh, Joan MacKarell, Columba O’Donovan and Alex Raphael to exhibit, with each of them inviting another enameller to show with them; Phil invited Fred Rich, Amal invited Iris Hudson, Alex invited Ruth Ball , Columba invited Sue Daly and Joan invited Tamar Winter.
LIMOGES BIENNALE
The Limoges Biennale invited Phil Barnes, Amal Ghosh, Joan MacKarell, Columba O’Donovan and Alex Raphael to exhibit, with each of them inviting another enameller to show with them; Phil invited Fred Rich, Amal invited Iris Hudson, Alex invited Ruth Ball , Columba invited Sue Daly and Joan invited Tamar Winter.
