ABOUT DS Artistry Labs Journal

At that university in Kyiv, I also had training in historical methods, and we systematically created copies of objects in all the historical printing and binding techniques, in combination with the history and art theories. Then, I added to this the history of book and printing, book and paper restoration, which I learned and practiced both in Ukraine and in Italy.

There is something exhilarating about antiquarian books, a personal touch that connects us to the past. And I would like to share with you my passion for medieval and renaissance manuscripts on parchment, pre-modern prints of extraordinary execution, leather-bound editions, and intriguing tales behind each volume, so you can experience a kind of fictional time travel, as old books can transport us to locations and epochs in which they were created. And I will try to punctuate my work-related publications with some art-history excerpts.

Over different periods of my life, I improved my qualifications through various university programs or single courses, which I completed approximately every 3-4 years: art and history of book and printing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan in 2006, book restoration, the history of medieval Spanish books at the University of Pavia in 2007, publishing at the Catholic University of Milan in 2010. The two graduate programs, library science and comparative literature, that I completed simultaneously in Canada in 2019 and 2020. 

I will write in a separate publication about different systems of education, cultures etc. – it is very exciting, at times comical, sometimes questionable and contradictory.

In my dissertation, I described my author’s method of translating literary metaphors into visual images, that I developed during my work in Milan, and intertwined it with the theory and history of books and printing. 

That was the second project, but the first one was on the history of the Byzantine book, and when I had already traveled, studied all the primary sources I needed, and collected materials from various libraries in Italy, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, and the topic had been developed in detail, the work was frozen, until better times.

But I would like to share my publications and the treasures that I discovered during such trips, and stories that stand behind.

I worked as an assistant at the Archives in London Ontario, then at the Library and Learning Services, Huron College Library, and at the Archives and Special Collections at Western Libraries. I investigated in detail the entire stacks of rare books collections to record them through the library catalogue. I analyzed 15th-century incunables, and wrote a monograph on the art of early printed books. I curated several exhibits of rare collections. These activities provided me with essential skills, and I met interesting people from whom I learned a lot. 

My “Artistic tours” to rare collections make part of my publication series.

This is me at the age of 5 with my first teacher, when I started to attend the art school. This is where my creative life began.

I will dedicate a series of publications to introduce my beloved teachers, people with whom I worked, and who formed me professionally and as a person. I will not overlook those who destroyed my work, mostly intentionally.

English is not my native language, I began learning it ​after I turned 30, and I haven't been able to eliminate my accent. I’m also fluent in Italian, as I lived and worked in Milan for 10 years. My native language is Russian as I was born and grew up in Ukraine before it transitioned back to its national language, and I learned Ukrainian as a child from my grandmother and at school. I can read some other Slavic and Roman languages, which helps me in my research and rare collections work. So, let's talk in any of these. 

It is worth mentioning that a restorer of artworks is also a scientist, researcher, historian, and professionally trained artist. A historical method is a number of techniques, methodologies, and materials used in each given epoch and culture. Research is an important part that is done before we can even touch an old object in question. Restorers normally identify, evaluate, and research primary and secondary sources. Thus, historical reconstruction implies both knowledge of the history of arts, and practical skills of making replicas in all those techniques, so one can recreate missing parts of old objects in a given style, using appropriate methods. 

A common assumption that reduces an art education to drawing classes does not apply to a university that respects the traditions and standards of the arts that have been developed over many centuries. The constant supervision by great scholars and masters of crafts during the 6-year program, and several joint disciplines go hand in hand that makes quite a difference when it comes to professional work. Stepan had such training in restoration, and I in bookmaking at the Academy of Arts in Kyiv, with a lengthy and in-depth traditional education.

After graduation, Stepan worked at the National Museum of Ukraine in Kyiv, where he developed many complex restoration projects: from icons on wood to painted wood sculptures, to antique furniture that needed reconstruction, and to paintings on canvas; and offered the same range of services to private clients for whom he also created brand new furniture in antique stiles. 

When working in Italy, with our cross-skilling, I added to my practice book restoration, and Stepan started to create his own miniature carvings to make our better-rounded team. With high-level craftsmanship, we can, with some degree of creativity, use such a base as a valuable tool for developing new collectible pieces by relying on the techniques borrowed from great artists of the past. For example, skills in calligraphy may be used to reconstruct the missing pages of an old book but also to create products of new design in any style of historic handwriting. The same way, skills in wood-sculpture restoration are put to reconstruct the missing parts of antique furniture, but also to design and carve collectible walking sticks, miniature sculptures, from ivory, corals, mother-of-pearl, amber, precious woods, with incrustations from silver, nacre, and other materials.