by Bogdan Munteanu
Since it clearly isn’t an actual gallery, what is the Basil
Gallery in fact?
It is not an actual gallery and it wasn’t intended as such.
The dream that me and my husband had since the beginning of the 2000’s was to
own an art gallery. But, later on, our goal has changed. We observed that,
unfortunately, in the period of 2005-2006, the galleries were visited by just a
small number of people and they were more or less the same all the time. My
husband got the idea of creating a new concept – a gallery-workshop, where,
people would come and, in time, they would become an informed public.
Gradually, the classes of drawing, painting, modelling, architecture and many
others replaced exhibitions. At one point we were organizing two events each
week, now we don’t have time and space anymore – the classes are taking it all.
What was the starting point, how did you transform the dream
into reality?
This is a lifestyle, it is not a dream. If you are dealing
with a long term project; if the steps you take are small but precise, then for
sure you shall succeed. The capital for the investment was the money we got
after selling our first house – a double studio located in the Aviatorilor
neighborhood.
With this money, we opened the gallery and we agreed on a
two years term to see if we would manage earning an income that would be
sufficient to support our project. We knew that it is a field that has many
risks: artists don’t have much money, the market wasn’t yet well shaped and our
desire was to support exactly young artists. After one year, in the middle of
the deadline that we had set for ourselves, we realized that we will not have
an income able to support the gallery. We were still brining in our own money
and we were under the impression that the same situation would go on long
term.
Anyway, we were a nonconformist gallery, located in the underground of Casa Universitarilor, with brick walls covered in painted cloth. Everything was different. Therefore, we introduced the workshops and we opened a small store selling painting materials. People would come, would learn to paint and would come back to exhibit in the same place. In Bucharest, at that time, only the Mora gallery was having this sort of activity.
Did you have any studies in the field of art, were you
dreaming of becoming artists?
We recevied artistic education in our adulthood, in the
workshop of some wonderful artists named Hristofenia Cazacu, scenographer &
painter, and Mihail György, graphic artist. They are two less known artists
because they left the country in the ‘70s. After 1989 they came back but they
were already old. When we stepped into their workshop they were a bit over 70
years old. We spent some good years with them and this is how the dream of our
gallery was born.
We were dreaming, but we didn’t do anything towards that.
When they found out about our dream, these two people encouraged us. We said
that we hadn’t graduated the Art University, but they told us: “It is ok, this
will help you”. We learnt a great deal from them.
The first dream of a gallery was about exhibiting together.
They wanted to pass the legacy over. The first exhibition, it was the four of
us. And so, we opened the Basil Gallery, in the courtyard of Casa
Universitarilor.
How did you find people to attend your classes?
It was very difficult to convince people to let their
children join the classes. The adults were still coming by to ask whether oil
can be mixed with water, so we said to ourselves that it would be best to work
with children. Well, in six months we had barely convinced six people, and so
we formed a first group.
This was in 2006. In 2008 we have managed to have 70
students each year, from September until June – people who would come once a
week. Today, in 2016, we have a bit over 300.
I think all we did was to learn in the same time with our
students. There are many children who grew up here. During 2006-2008 we had
children, who were 5-6, maximum 8 years old, and now we still have many of them
who still come to classes and they are high school teenagers. There are many
children, but also adults who, after attending our classes, went to study at
Art Universities, even at the Florence Academy of Art. We have a realistic
painting class taught by a professor who is teaching at this Academy.
We have hobby classes and also intensive classes for children and shorter atypical workshops (Fleming painting, Titian painting, glass icons and wooden icons). For adults there is the hobby category and the “Academy” class that is three years long. If we were to take into account that, the average of those who come back for more classes is about 80%, I would say that we had over one thousand students up to the present moment.
Did you fulfill the dream of creating a new public?
I believe that all the older students say about us that we
are the “Basil school”, or the “Basil community.” There are just a few people
who imagine that they will succeed in coming 5-6 weeks in a row. And there are
even fewer who think that, in 3-4 years’ time, they will have their own
personal exhibition.
Yes, we have certainly created a new public. I am absolutely
convinced that all these children who attended and would attend will know to
make the difference between workshop art and exhibition art. Then, any museums
they might enter, they will look at art with different eyes. They are closer to
the field of art and they have more courage, because they have received
encouragement right from the start. Even if their first works are but simple
scribblings – for their parents. But, for us these are stories.
Could you tell us how is art changing the lives of your
students?
Things are relatively simple. In order to draw, the first
step you need to make is the paging. It seems like a constraint, but it helps
you get organized. In order to put some elements in the page, I need to think
how to arrange them, so that they have a certain balance. If we speak about
color, then some new horizons appear.
For example, the parents tell me that young children start
matching their clothes better. Then, their sense of observation develops when
they study, and not just execute, because they need to observe beforehand. This
is what I wish to the students: “Inspiration and observation!”
Then, parents tell me how the children notice architectural
elements on their way home, something they wouldn’t have never noticed before.
The children who join our classes write more beautifully and they learn a
universal language, because drawing is the only language that we all understand,
no matter where we live on this planet.
We create a balance between the grey outside and the
colors we have in here. This is the reason why art helps in all areas of
activity. Imagine a doctor that deals with a large amount of unfortunate
cases! The moment when beauty and color play together, suddenly the sky becomes
clear. Many adults come here looking for art therapy; they are in search for a
balance.
As for the brain, it gets a lot of benefits from art. When
we learn to play an instrument we are forced us to use both hands at the same
time. And we do this experiment. If someone has their right hand hurt, we ask
them nevertheless to attend the class and to work with the other hand. There
are right handed children who have worked with their left hand and were amazed
of their accomplishments.
Basil Gallery is a proof that art can provide a living. Do
you lack anything else – friends, family?
Think about all the friends we have here, all the students
and their families! And then, I work together with my husband. Our son,
whenever he can, helps us a great deal, although he doesn’t work in this field.
He is a student in aerospace engineering. Still with the head up in the
clouds, sort of speak… He is a sports pilot. He paints also, and he often
attends architecture classes. Just like us, he has discovered late that he
would like to try art…
Behind this gallery there is a lot of work and this is the
message that I usually send to children. No matter how talented, gifted and
wonderful we are, no matter how easily we make things, the key is a lot of
work, persistence and… dreaming. Neither us, nor their parents set out the
objective for them to become artists.
I would like them to remain artists for themselves, to apply
what they have learnt, regardless of the field they will end up working in:
mathematics, informatics, medicine. The play with color and creativity should
help them have a more open mind. In today’s world, we can be very talented but,
if we are not creative, we are not moving forward. Creativity is the greatest
benefit of the classes that we teach.
