“Workshop-Museum of Realistic Painting of Alexandra Varentsova” Private Institution

The idea of creating the workshop-museum belongs to the artists S. V. Akifieva and A. A. Varentsov. With their own experience and through joint efforts, the artists cleaned and repaired the burned-out premises of the Novgorod branch of the BOS while renting it. The process started in 2011. Gradually, they came up with the idea to open workshops for visitors and make educational activities. During 2014, the concept of the institution was developed, the legal form was determined, and the Charter was prepared.

The workshop-museum belongs to the category of the museums of the living environment. The visitor’s interaction with the space takes place through immersion in the environment, through communication, and through their own creative activity. All tours in the workshop-museum are conducted by the artists themselves in the format of a live dialogue with visitors.

Educational tours allow you to immerse yourself in the “space of the artist’s life”, and to travel around the house, “where painting lives”. The museum consists of three art workshops, a gallery for exhibition projects, and a small guest hall (for small exhibitions of invited artists). The main objects on display are the workshop of artist Alexander Varentsov, the workshop of artist Svetlana Akifieva, and the workshop for visitors, where master-classes are held, and creative works of visitors of all ages are exhibited. Various exhibitions are organized in the gallery of the workshop-museum.

Description of the collection: Currently, the collection of the private institution includes 130 units from the main fund, which consists of paintings (70), graphic (30), and sculptural (2) works by the honored artist of the Russian Federation, Alexander Alekseevich Varentsov; in addition there are photographs (20) and books (3).