Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Kyurkchyan, Khatcherian Collaborate On 'Ornamental Art' Publications

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Kyurkchyan, Khatcherian Collaborate On 'Ornamental Art' Publications

    KYURKCHYAN, KHATCHERIAN COLLABORATE ON 'ORNAMENTAL ART' PUBLICATIONS

    Armenian Weekly
    August 29, 2012 in Armenia,

    YEREVAN-The independent Armenian publisher Craftology has announced
    the American release of the twin titles Armenian Ornamental Art and
    Armenian Ornamental Script-the result of a landmark collaboration
    of artist-designer Armen Kyurkchyan and photographer Hrair Hawk
    Khatcherian, who spent more than a decade excavating and capturing the
    Armenian patterns, symbols, and scripts that have survived centuries
    and civilizations to take their place in the world cultural treasury.

    The cover of Armenian Ornamental Art For the first volume, Armenian
    Ornamental Art, the collaborators journeyed across the eastern and
    western homelands, crossing rivers and borders to visit every church,
    cemetery, and monument where an Armenian craftsman might have taken
    chisel to stone. They uncovered thousands of miniature masterpieces:
    rosettes, birds, human figures, angels, crosses. Now, for the first
    time, these masterpieces have been captured both as photographs
    (taken by Khatcherian) and as meticulous drawings (rendered by
    Kyurkchyan), which are presented side-by-side in print as they are
    on a CD accompanying the glossy, full-color volume.

    "Our intent was not merely to collect and present our national
    treasures for admiration on coffee tables and in classrooms,"
    Kyurkchyan said, "but also to offer our country's native designs-true
    masterworks of medieval art-to practicing designers, architects,
    and artists who might incorporate them in their own creations, giving
    them new life in the 21st century."

    The second volume, Armenian Ornamental Script, sent the collaborators
    on a journey of another kind-an excursion to the libraries,
    repositories, and archives of the world, where ornamented Armenian
    manuscripts have been scattered through time. In their pages the
    authors found the original 36 Armenian letters, but not in their
    standard geometric forms. The Armenian masters have transformed
    our letters from mere symbolic units into unique masterpieces of
    ornamental art. Now we, too, can see them-letters that blossom into
    flowers or take flight into birds or find higher life, with a sudden
    burst of imagination, in human forms.

    "The Armenian illuminated manuscripts are especially dear to me,"
    Kyurkchyan said, "decorated as they were not only by skilled
    professionals, but also by monks-sometimes even by their young
    students. These illustrations are my favorite. They are so simple,
    so charming, even naïve. It is almost heartbreaking to consider their
    innocence and sincerity."

    Both volumes are now available on Amazon and at select bookstores
    across the world.

Working...
X