Vernissage

Fragility and beauty of the world in watercolor landscapes

On 16 October, the Cultural Centre "Mir" hosted the opening of an exhibition of watercolor paintings by a designer of the Scientific Communications Group at the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems Marina Mishchenko.

The exhibition features about 50 paintings, completed over the past six years, inviting visitors to stroll the old streets of Istanbul, to bask in the sun of Antalya, to explore the turquoise bays of the Kemer region, to briefly visit Spain and Greece and to finally return to Dubna.

Marina prepared all of her paintings especially for the exhibition. Some were loaned from private collections. Besides Dubna, Mishchenko's paintings are already in Spain, Turkey, Mexico, New York and Bulgaria.

On the opening day, ceremonial speeches were given. Deputy Director of the Cultural Centre "Mir" Elena Troyan expressed her joy at the exhibition's success, "The Cultural Centre has collaborated extensively with Marina on the design of several exhibitions organized by the DLNP Scientific Communications Group. Today, Marina has revealed herself to us in a completely new light. She is an accomplished artist with a keen sense of watercolor."

Head of the DLNP Scientific Communications Group Elena Dubovik emphasized: "Confucius asserted that beauty is in everything, yet not everyone is gifted with the ability to see it. Our Scientific Communications Group is very fortunate to have Marina, our designer, someone gifted with the ability to see beauty and convey it. I can confidently say that everything Marina does, everything she touches, is filled with beauty. This is easily noticeable simply by looking around here at this exhibition."

"Marina is the heart of all our creative projects in the Science Communications Group," Deputy Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems Dmitry Naumov said. "She always pays attention to details that many would otherwise overlook... This exhibition features many wonderful works and it's a pleasure to see Dubna through Marina's creative vision. I think everyone will find a painting here that speaks to them. I wish her only good luck and new exhibitions."

Head of the SIM Office Andrey Tamonov added, "It's always a pleasure to see the talents of our staff at JINR. In recent years, we've had a successful series of exhibitions of "physics and poetry". I wish Marina success and I hope the third exhibition will be held at the Central House of Artists, where Moscow will be able to see Dubna in all its glory."

Marina Mishchenko herself also gave a speech of gratitude, "On the one hand, this is my solo exhibition but it wouldn't have happened without the great team that organized it. If it weren't for Maria Pilipenko's idea to organize this exhibition, all my works would have been sitting in my closet, unseen. Thanks to support at all levels, we can now enjoy the results."

In a short interview, Marina Mishchenko shared her interest in watercolor painting, "I've been practicing watercolor for 10 years now. Its visual ease has always captivated me and I marveled at how someone could paint so beautifully! I took my first watercolor lessons from the renowned Dubna master Natalia Kotomina. I doubted myself but thanks to Natalia, my initial fears disappeared. Afterwards, I studied at Sergey Kurbatov's online school. Later, there were various master classes. I was very impressed by Alvaro Castagnet, a Uruguayan watercolorist. I made a special trip to St. Petersburg to attend his class. I also learned a lot from the artist Anton Batov. I constantly learn."

Marina also shared what motivates her creativity, "In my art, I share my inner world. I love to travel. In the rhythm of home and work, you sometimes miss beauty. But when you travel, you're impressed by something you haven't seen before, something new. I get an idea and until I put it on paper, it doesn't let go. My paintings are what's inside me, begging to be painted. I love nature and the sun, cityscapes with interesting buildings and perspectives. Currently, I'm interested in creative experimentation: granulation in watercolor and experiments with color. I also want to try to move away from the classical landscape and introduce notes of impressionism into my work."

Maria Karpova,
photo by Daria Konova