MEDAL WORKSHOP VELIKO TURNOVO 2005

From 11th through 17th October, 2005 the consecutive students’ Medal workshop was carried out the town of Veliko Turnovo – an ancient Bulgarian capital. The mild weather and the specific atmosphere of the one of the most beautiful of the old Bulgarian towns made it possible for eight students of mine from the Medallic Sculpture Studio with the Sofia National Academy of Arts to spend seven wonderful days – both pleasant and productive.

We stayed at an antique house – the “Blue House” – an architectural monument – where we spent the nights and enjoyed wonderful evenings.

The studio which was given at our disposal for work by the Department of Sculpture with the University of Veliko Turnovo was close by and the view from there of the ancient town was wonderful.

Each day every student had to make at lease one medal. Some of them, Nahtalia, Mariana Adriana and Ilia, had a difficulty in meeting this requirement because it was for the firs time that they were making atempts at this kind of art. As matter of fact, the main aim of this annual workshop is to prepare the students for their future work in the medal studio during the academic year, so that they can overcame the problem of adaptation more easily. However some of the students like Stefan, and Ivailo had already participated in the former workshop held in Plovdiv and Lubomir had finished the course of the Medal Studio the previous year. They were very good not only at producing medals, but also at preparing various dishes and organizing pastime evening entertainments. I believe, however that this workshop was most productive for Natasha Rathliffe from the UK who in October 2005 specialised at the Medallic Sculpture Studio in Sofia. During her one mount stay in Bulgaria she created about twenty very fine medals.

The medals of all the students have already been cast and patinated and expect to be shown to the public.

Prof. B. Nikolov

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