One movie away

The newspaper "Zvyazda" published an article about our gallery workshop. "At the distance of one movie. Author: Nadezhda Drindrozhik https://zviazda.by/be/news/20230113/1673626314-na-adleglasci-adnago-filma-syamya-kupila-staruyu-vyascoviyu-hatu-i-za An art gallery in a remote village? Far away from the capital? Artur and Lora Pavlova from Minsk only smile when they hear such questions, full of surprise. "And why not? Art has no limits. The bolder the plan, the more likely it is to succeed and resonate with people." About a Shishkin reproduction and one chair It all started nine years ago. Arthur and Laura bought an old house on the shore of a picturesque lake in the small but very beautiful village of Charosovo near Lepel. There was no point in renovating it. During the time that the building stood without care, the logs rotted. So the new owners built another clapboard house in its place. - All these nine years we passed by an abandoned wooden house, which is a hundred meters away from our house. And no attention was paid to it, - says Artur Pavlov. - And only last year, in May, when they drove by once again, Laura (she is an artist) said: "Art- How did you come up with the idea of making an international art gallery in a simple village house? - In the house that Arthur and I originally bought for our workshop, we found two framed paintings among the piles of garbage," says Laura Pavlova. - One of them is a reproduction of Shishkin's painting "The Oaks of Mardvina" from 1891. We don't know the author of the second one, but it too has nature on it. Today they occupy a place of honor in our permanent exposition. We left them, preserved them as a part of the history of a simple Belarusian house, which turned into an art gallery. When I first came here, I was struck by the presence of paintings. I immediately felt that the house had a good energy and I would like to paint here. And then I imagined that it would be possible not only to work here, but also to organize exhibitions. "Imagine," I said to Artur, "if paintings by different artists are exhibited here in Charosov, and people start coming here, including from abroad, the village will revitalize even more".hur, I don't have a normal studio. Why don't we buy this house and I'll paint in it?" - "I'll have to think about it," I replied. And already in June, he drew up the documents for the house.- How did you come up with the idea of making an international art gallery in a simple village house? - In the house that Arthur and I originally bought for our workshop, we found two framed paintings among the piles of garbage," says Laura Pavlova. - One of them is a reproduction of Shishkin's painting "The Oaks of Mardvina" from 1891. We don't know the author of the second one, but it too has nature on it. Today they occupy a place of honor in our permanent exposition. We left them, preserved them as a part of the history of a simple Belarusian house, which turned into an art gallery. When I first came here, I was struck by the presence of paintings. I immediately felt that the house had a good energy and I would like to paint here. And then I imagined that it would be possible not only to work here, but also to organize exhibitions. "Imagine, - I say to Arthur, - if here, in Charosov, will be exhibited paintings of different artists, people will start to come here, including from abroad, the village will revitalize even more". - That's how the idea to unite the artist's studio with an international art gallery came about... I was inspired by the idea," says Arthur. - At the end of July he rolled up his sleeves and started the reconstruction. Only then I had no idea how many things would have to be redone....- You bought the house on June 13 last year. And already on December 24, the opening of the gallery-house of the artist "Laura Pavlova Gallery Lepey" took place. Only six months have passed, and the old house is unrecognizable. How was it possible to restore everything so quickly? - As they say, the eyes are afraid, but the hands do. Idea and desire are the main driving force. I worked almost every day from morning till night. He did almost everything himself. Only from time to time he brought in helpers. He saved a lot of money that way. There were many ideas during the remodeling process, because there were surprises at every step.... When we bought the house, we thought: let's paint the walls, floor, ceiling a little.... And then, after the rain, it turned out that the roof was leaking and the furnace was smoking.... So we had to completely replace the old roof with a new one, and a huge furnace, which occupied 1/3 of the house, on a compact, more energy-efficient. -efficient chimney stove. By the way, we gave the old brick a second life - we filled the holes left in the floor at the site of the former furnace. - You could have demolished the old building and done everything from scratch. But you went the other way... - Who would be surprised by a modern building today? They are all the same: the walls are white, everything is perfectly flat. We wanted the gallery to be "highlighted". That's why we built a new one, preserving everything good, the old....- What did you manage to salvage? - The old log cabin was completely preserved. On the outside, it was clad with pine boards using the ventfasade technology. Inside, the wood grain was left on purpose, I just sanded all the logs with a sander. In the part of the house where the showroom is now, the walls were plastered with clay on wood chips. We restored this plaster a bit, preserving all the existing irregularities, hollows and bulges, and painted it white. Such walls can be viewed for a long time, they are like a separate work of art. The old floor was also left, because it is made of boards about eight centimeters thick. Now it is impossible to find them. This floor, as I said, will stand forever. When they replaced the old windows with new ones, it turned out that they were "backfilled" - not in the same plane with the facade. It was possible, of course, to level them, but we decided to keep this curvature as well. By the way, after we cleared the site of overgrowth, it turned out that from one side of the house, where Laura's workshop is now, there is a magnificent view of the field, so we specially replaced the small windows with one large panoramic one. The only furniture left was the chair that helped us from the beginning of the gallery renovation to the end. We said "thank you" to it and, after a little restoration and repainting, gave it a second life.- How did the locals perceive the gallery? - As a rule, people are wary of anything new.... I remember when Laura and I planted a patch of lavender, the villagers didn't understand at first either, they said, "How can you plant a whole garden with flowers? And potatoes? After that they got used to it and even came to our festival. By the way, thanks to the lavender field, the village has come to life. There are no empty houses left here - they have all been sold. Even now, some people still don't understand how a gallery can be located in a village. Why is it here? Nevertheless, everyone is curious. Now the path of all the locals is past the gallery to see what's there. It is rare to see artwork on the walls of houses and apartments. People buy an expensive bathroom, TV, but not paintings..... It's a pity... "Oh, I don't understand anything about art", - I heard this phrase from more than one person. We try to convey that art is accessible to everyone. You hear music and you either like it or you don't. It's the same with painting. You either like the picture or you don't. The culture of visiting exhibitions and art galleries should be expanded. Thus, today we are sowing the seeds of love for art. We want to show that relaxation can be not only in front of the TV. I think the gallery is not our last project".