Cargopole. Cargopole. Illustrated Guide
In 2018, students at the School of Design received a course in Kargopole under the supervision of the teachers of the school of Alexandra Kuznetsova and Mikhail Nisenbaum. During the expedition, the students were introduced to the monuments of the Russian wooden architecture, iconics and decorative applied art of the XV–XIX centuries.
There are a large number of monuments in the northern Russian architecture around Kargopolia.
Kargopol is located in the south-west of the Arkhangel region. The city was born in the 12th century and was one of the top 10 centres of economic and cultural life. Today, many wooden churches can be visited in the vicinity of the city. The Canoser National Park is a unique monument to nature.
During the expedition, the students were introduced to the monuments of the Russian wooden architecture, iconics and decorative applied art of the XV–XIX centuries. The work also included a large practical component: students collected materials «in the field» (design research), processed and conceptualized visual content. They were given the task of translating historical artistic content into modern visual language.
The expedition resulted in the release of a book as a guide, an art album and a guide magazine. The illustrations used in the book were created by the students during the expedition.
A number of works focus on the welfare of modern residents of Cargopole
«On the one hand, we had the research task of studying the traditional art, architecture and culture of the Russian north, and on the other hand of synthesizing and rhyming the knowledge gained with the formats of modern illustrations, books and modern art. Illustrators and animators with whom we travel to painting sites during the expedition make pictures — people, scenes, houses and architectural designs, books that were shown to us at the Kargopol Museum Book Repository. At the end of the day, there is a ‘ good counsel’on which all the pictures are shown in a day, the topics of the illustrations are discussed, and the best drawings are selected. As a result of these artistic expeditions, a rather large pool of images is collected in the format of an art guide that shows an emotional image of the edge.»
Co-head of the expedition and teacher of the School of Design Michael Nisenbaum
«When we were working on a model of the book Cargopolus. Cargopole. Illustrated guide, we were faced with a super-interesting, in my view, task of making an equally beautiful book out of bright and impressive content in the form of illustrations. In the model, he wanted to let the work speak as loudly as possible, while preserving the integrity of the book and not dividing it by one author. The aim was to create a model so that no work would lose its strength when it met the book at one turn of the illustrations of the different authors and authors. I’m happy to see how supportive it is, but I’ve been able to relive the printing on the pages of the book.»
Author of a copy of the book Cargopole. Cargopole. Illustrated Guide, student in the Master’s Programme of Art Management, 2018 Xenia Ermakov
