Kovalchuk, Victoria Vladimirovna

Victoria Kovalchuk was born in 1954 in the city of Kovel, Volyn Region .

Her father Vladimir Petrovich, a civil servant, her mother Maria Petrovna is a medical worker. Victoria showed her love for drawing from a very young age, she attended various art groups since childhood, and at 12 she entered the evening art school.

In 1961-1971, she studied at the prestigious 52nd high school in Lviv with a mathematical bias. In parallel with drawing, she was fond of writing. She was an active member of the literary circle at the Regional Palace of Pioneers. For the story, "Myrolka" became the winner of the regional literary children's competition (1968).

Victoria Kovalchuk received upbringing and education in the Russian-speaking environment of the city of Lviv, and therefore she writes her fairy tales, short stories, parables and tales in Russian, which complicates their publication in Ukraine.

Tales of the “Overcoat” (Lviv, the newspaper “Lvivskaya Pravda”, May 9, 1991), “The History of the Statue” (Lviv, the newspaper “Moloda Galichina”, No. 26 (6445) 1991, Moscow, Russian Catholic newspaper “The Light of the Gospel” ”, No. 44, 1997),“ The Tale of the Raven Who Wished to Stay Black ”(Lviv, the newspaper Vysokiy Zamok, October 5, 1991),“ Snowdrops ”(Lviv, the newspaper Vysokiy Zamok, January 14 1992), the cycle of short stories “Get Out on the Road at Dawn” (Lviv, the newspaper Vysokiy Zamok No. 3 (240) No. 5 (242), No. 7 (244) 1993), “Two Tales on the Same Topic” (in the Ukrainian translation - “About the King of Pie I am to the Cruel Skupindru”, newspapers and "High Castle" on September 19, 1996), "Winner" (Lviv, the newspaper " High Castle " on March 27, 2003) is an incomplete list of works published in periodicals.

In 1972-1978 she studied at the Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute. Ivan Fedorov . After graduation, the head of the department worked for some time. book office of the department of design and illustration of the book of the Ukrainian Polygraphic Institute, head. the decoration department of the Vishka Shkola Publishing House, the artist of the Kamenyar State Publishing House, the senior lecturer of the Department of Fine Arts - Graphics, Ukrainian Design Academy. But most of his life is a free artist working for domestic and foreign publishers. She designed about 200 books of various genres, including more than 30 books for children. The diploma of the Republican and All-Union competitions "The Art of the Book", international art exhibitions. She developed the original design of the Ukrainian Primer, which received a diploma of the I degree at the All-Ukrainian competition “The Book of Mystery” (2000) and was named the best book of the year. The ABC book has survived 9 reprints with a total circulation of more than 200,000 copies.

For four years, the artist painstakingly worked on a book devoted to folk clothes “Ukrainian page” (1990-1994), collected field material throughout the country, developed an original concept for popular science illustrations. For six years, the book "was looking for its publisher." It was released in 2000 in a small edition. In 2001 she was recognized as the best book of the year.

In 1999, Lviv Television made the film “Victoria Kovalchuk Poetry Theater” (directed by E. G. Bondarenko).

Victoria Kovalchuk is a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine.

The creative motto of Victoria Kovalchuk is: “The artist is a messenger, not a gardener of his own pride.” The method is mythical realism ^[1] . They had a great influence on creativity - symbolism, futurism, the national primitive. For the last 2-3 years, the artist has been working on her own direction, which she calls “jokes” - a kind of protest against the civilization of consumption, the decadent motivations of postmodernism.

Living almost without a hitch in Lviv, the artist likes to wander in the world of books, philosophies, cultures. Her deep passion for folklore, especially the traditions, customs, beliefs of the Hutsuls, fights, Lemks - ethnic groups inhabiting the Ukrainian Carpathians, to a large extent shaped the style and figurative structure of her works. The artist is close to the ideas of Pan-Slavism and Slavophilism.

Conditionally, the artist’s creativity can be divided into several periods:

1. ethno period with elements of surrealism,
2. The "eastern" period, a series of meditative drawings "Fragments of the road", created under the influence of Buddhism, Hinduism,
3. mythical realism, an attempt to visualize the properties of the human soul, the figurative language of Marquez, Borges, Kobo Abe, Hermann Hesse,
4. "Prikolizm" is the answer to vulgar materialism, a mechanistic civilization with a cult of profit and violence.

1. G.S. Ostrovsky, A.I. Popov. Roots and Crown - Lviv, Publishing House at the Lviv State University of the Vyscha Shkola Publishing Association, 1989
2. Y. Gayan. The miracle of the pysankan world (a word by artist), Bless Mom mono-edition - Kiev, Veselka, 2001
3. Irina Bondarenko. One hundred and eleventh book, the first primer ... // Dilo No. 4, February 9, 1998
4. Natalka Poklad. With a pure soul // Slovo Prosviti, September 9-15, 2004
5. Alla Nosova. A modern fairy tale about trees similar to birds // Molod Ukrainy, July 22, 1987
6. A. Petrova. Trees similar to birds // Zirka, December 25, 1986
7. Anatoly Popov. With a brush and a word // High Castle, January 5, 1993
8. Irina Ermak. “Today I wouldn’t paint Christmas ...” // Parafyalna newspaper, December 2001
9. G. Ostrovsky. Every stroke counts // Friend of the reader, April 25, 1985
10. Anatoly Popov. My birds will fly over the world ... // High Castle, July 25-27, 1997
11. Irina Bondarenko. Masterpieces do not burn ... But they do not stand out // High Castle, July 14, 1998
12. Anatoly Popov. Multiplying the glory of Lviv // Lviv Pravda, May 16, 1990
13. O. Prokip. World of images and colors // Vilna Ukraine, June 8, 1988
14. Svetlana Gavrilyak. Life is Beautiful! // Journal of Secrets, No. 5 1996
15. Valentina Buzile. Tales of the Good Old Women // Cuba, No. 2 1981
16. E. Mason. Primer // Knizhkovy svіt, No. 2 (5) 1996
17. Natalia Obolenskaya. Koktebel with the colors of the world // International Tourism, December-January No. 6 (84) 2008

• Page of Victoria Kovalchuk on the website of the publishing house A-BA-BA-GA-LA-MA-GA (Kiev)
• Books with illustrations by Victoria Kovalchuk on the Chitanka website