On April 19, 2019, O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum hosted an opening of the exhibition Colorful Festival of works by pupils of the Department of Visual Arts of Children’s School of Arts in Kropyvnytskyi within the art project Gallery of Children’s Art.
    Children's School of Art of Kropyvnytskyi was opened in 1986 on the basis of Children’s Music School No.5 in the village of Nove. Nowadays, it has the following departments: Musical, Vocal and Choral, Choreographic, and Visual Arts. It is not the first time that the pupils of the school present their artworks in the museum. The Department of Visual Arts has been headed for about thirty years by YuriiVintenko, a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. The experienced artists and teachers of the department share their knowledge of painting, drawing, composition, decorative and applied arts, and history of the world visual arts with the children.
    The current exhibition presents more than 50 works by young artists, aged from 8 to 16. The works are made in different techniques during the last three years. The paintings impress with the color openness, vivid imagination, a sincere desire to learn about the surrounding world; the works of decorative and applied art brightly represent the diversity of Ukrainian folk traditions.
    When opening the exhibition, YuriiVintenko drew special attention to the fact that the teaching staff of the department was renewed. He introduced young teachers, graduates of the school, by the way, - Yuliia Burhutina, Olha Krasnopolska, and Viktoriia Sliushchenko who stick to the classical forms of the teaching of visual art and actively introduce new methodologies aimed at developing the creative skills of pupils.
    The participants of the exhibition – both pupils and teachers were congratulated on the exhibition opening by Svitlana Medviedieva, the school director, who noted many years of effective work of the teachers HalynaYarova-Vintenko and LarysaYakovlieva. She also thanked the Town Department of Culture and Tourism for their support in the preparation of pupils’ works for the exhibition. The colleagues also made congratulatory speeches – Hanna Tymofiienko, the director of the Art School named after Oleksandr Osmerkin, Valerii Davydov, the senior teacher of the Subdepartment of Visual Arts and Design of the Art Department of Central Ukrainian State Pedagogical University named after VolodymyrVynnychenko, who mentioned that there are many graduates of the school among his students. Also, artists came to congratulate their colleagues; among them were Andrii Khvorost, the head of the Regional Center of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, and Andrii Nadezhdin, Merited Artist of Ukraine. Andrii Nadezhdin as a leading researcher of the museum is a compiler of a themed booklet of the exhibition. Vita Chernova, the museum director, handed a Letter of Appreciation and a symbolic bunch of pencils to the staff of the Department of Visual Arts and the pupils.
    Young piano players of the School of Arts – Kristina Karelina and Anna Melnyk, performed a musical greeting. Recently, the girls represented not only our town but the region at the prestigious musical competitions – the international instrumental competition of Yevhen Stankovych and the national open competition of piano players named after Serhii Prokofiev, where they took award-winning places.
    The art festival in the museum set a wonderful mood in everyone present who was fascinated by the exhibition of children's drawings and decorative works. Small but incredibly talented participants took photos with the guests.