My Art Album from 30 years ago

Seeing this album was a surprise for me on many levels. First of all, I did not know that Mom saved it. I forgot what projects we were working on in 5th grade. I was surprised to see the wide variety of media and techniques we were taught. Our teacher Aleksei Sergeevich Poletaev was a fine artist who had his exhibitions in our town and in Krasnoyarsk (the big city nearby), as I heard. We had two years of art classes (once a week) in 5th and 6th grades. It was fun to see what I was able to create between 11 and 12 years old (my daughter's age now), especially as I watch my daughter growing and see what they do in their art class, while at the same time I'm rediscovering my own interest in visual arts which was rather passive for the last 30 years.

I don't remember having any free subject drawings or paintings. All of the works are assignments from my teacher, and most of them are calendar related. Like the bouquet of flowers for the First of September which is a firm date for the beginning of school in the former USSR. It is still common to dress up and bring a bouquet of flowers to your teacher in Russia on your first school day.

The War Dawn, or Before the Fight. We were raised in a patriotic way, and these two works are for Soviet Army Day (February 23) and the Victory Day (May 9). The markers picture was made in a Soviet poster style.

The graphic work was a test at the end of the school year.

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