Attending Novgorod State University, postgraduate studies

Accepted into The Union of Arts of Russia in 1998

Certified “People’s Artist” (Master Craftsman) in 1997

St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts, St. Petersburg, Russia, undergraduate in 1980

 

 

A musician by his education, Vladimir graduated from the St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts in 1980.  He began making birch bark baskets in 1984 after having been shown how by a friend.  After three baskets, Vladimir was on his own.  Since then, he has continued to weave and to study the uses and history of birch bark, a history that dates back centuries.  His music gave way to baskets, and in 1993 he became a teacher with an active studio having many long-term members–children, adults and retirees–at the Cultural Palace in Veliky Novgorod; he shares his knowledge and skill with anyone who asks.  He has authored numerous articles (see Books and Articles) about birch bark basketry, history and the special canisters for Russian publications.  He has organized and taken part in exhibitions in Veliky Novgorod and Moscow and many other Russian cities as well as in the US.

Vladimir made his first trip to the US in 1994 to participate in the International Children’s Festival in Washington, DC.  Since then he has returned to teach at AMB and NCBA conventions, Midwest Focus and throughout the US since 1997.  Other major travels for teaching have taken him to Taiwan and Europe.  In 2003 he was invited to teach basket makers at a guild in Moss Norway, a sister city of Veliky Novgorod.  In Taiwan at the International Children Folk Art and Folk Games Festival of 2004 he taught for a month and a half–more than 100 people.  Following an interview, the Novgorod Vedomosty (Novgorod Records) newspaper, October 9, 2004, wrote about his Taiwan experience, “To Taiwan with His Own Samovar.”

 

Vladimir is attending Novgorod State University as a postgraduate student where he will be defending his thesis on the cultural development and environment for teaching adults traditional crafts.  His degree in pedagogical science will be awarded in 2009.

 

Vladimir has participated in Christmas Fairs in Hamburg and Strasburg, Germany, and in 2007 he went twice to Germany to teach students in Lippstadt and Bielefeld. 

 

Vladimir was born in 1954 in Qaraghandy City, Kazakhstan, a republic of the former Soviet Union.  He and his wife Tatiana have a son George, who so far is more interested in soccer and chess than in making baskets and who is a student of mathematics at the Saint Petersburg State University now.

 

Major Work:

 

Plaited Basketry with Birch Bark, a comprehensive book about traditional Russian birch bark work, history and project instructions, co-authored with Flo Hoppe and Jim Widess, was published in December, 2008, by Sterling Publishing Company. 

 

 

His “Basket for a Mouse, Three Birds and a Man” was included in Lark Books 500 Baskets, A Celebration of Basketmaker’s Art, published in 2006 (page 335). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exhibits:

 

Since 1990 Vladimir has been invited to participate in numerous exhibits throughout Russia including a personal exhibition in the State Museum of Velikiy Novgorod and annual exhibitions of the Novgorod Branch, Russian Art Union.  His more recent exhibits include:

 

• “Russian North,” October-November 2008, Velikiy Novgorod, Russia
• European Basketmaking Exhibition, May 2008, starting in Kilkenny, Ireland, and touring Europe for a number of months
• Exhibition of Novgorod artists in The Sarasota Art Center. March 23 – April 23, 2006. Florida USA.
• Dairy Barn, Athens, Ohio, May 26 – September 4, 2006, an exhibition in conjunction with NBO’s Regional Conference, USA
• Personal Exhibition “Novgorodskaya beresta (Novgorod Birch Bark).  Vladimir Yarish” Saint-Petersburg Museum of Toy, August 16 – September 11, 2005.  St. Petersburg Russia
• All Russian Exhibition, “60 Years of the Victory in the Second World War,” April-May 2005.  Moscow, Russia
• All Russian Exhibitions in 1999, 2004, 2005.  Moscow, Russia
• “Tradition Craft Contemporary Art,” March 10 – April 18, 2004.  New Hampshire Institute of Art, 148 Concord Street, Manchester, NH 03104-4858, USA
• “Russia,” January – February 2004. Moscow, Russia
• “Baskets 2002:  New Perspectives on an Ancient Tradition,” March 16 – April 28, exhibit at the Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, Connecticut, USA

 

Things to watch for in future:

 

Some of Vladimir’s projects at present and planned in the sphere of art include:

 

• Teaching students in his studio at the City Cultural Palace, in Art College
• Research on birch bark crafting in Russia, USA and in other countries
• Collecting old techniques in the crafting
• Article and "how to" instructions for peasant shoes (lapti)
• Making historical reconstructions of old Novgorodian birch bark artifacts (X-XV Centuries) found in Novgorod archeological excavation
• Restoring birch bark pieces in The Novgorod State Museum
• Writing a book about Old Novgorod birch bark crafting, to make a few dozen reconstructions based on the Novgorod artifacts (before XV century) and to research birch bark crafting in Finland, Sweden and Norway
• Continue participating in exhibitions and conferences in Russia and abroad