‘God is the creator, but I am the chosen one’

The works of 21-year-old Ivan Girvel from Molodechno decorate the churches of his native city and arouse interest among art lovers

The young master carver Ivan Girvel, whose talent was appreciated by fellow Molodechno residents, gained fame for his unique icons and biblical images embodied in wood. Recently, an episode of the New People series of Belarus 3 TV channel, dedicated to the wood artist, became a prize-winner at the 10th Saint Vladimir Festival of Cinema and Television Films with Spiritual and Moral Content in Sevastopol in the ‘Orthodox Projects’ category. We talked with the hero of the programme and found out that the creative range of the talented guy is not limited to filigree carvings.

Ivan could have followed in the footsteps of his parents, who work at the Molodechno children’s art school, and become a musician, but the boy discovered another talent in the 7th grade. 
“I am the eldest child in the family, and we have five parents in total. I have a brother Georgy and sisters Anastasia, Varvara and Lyubov. My father is a button accordion teacher, and my mother is a piano teacher, so music has always occupied a special place in my upbringing. I studied the accordion at a children’s art school for five years. And I even made progress, participated in competitions, tried to compose, but I always liked doing something with my own hands, tinkering. I didn’t have enough handicraft lessons at school, and in the 7th grade my mother enrolled me in wood carving in the pedagogical practice sector at the Molodechno Music College named after M.K. Oginsky. I became so immersed in art that I worked seven hours a day. And the diligence bore fruit. I am sure that any creativity, no matter how gifted a person may be, is first of all hard work. In high school, college students bought some work from me. For me, a schoolboy, this was an opportunity to earn my first pocket money. The teachers, of course, paid attention: the level was different, because not all the guys go to learn the craft purposefully,” he says. After 9th grade, Ivan went to college named after M.K. Oginsky to study decorative and applied arts, and now he is a sophomore at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. The direction remained the same: monumental and decorative art. Working with wood (icons, boxes, rings, mirror frames, pieces of furniture) occupies a central place in the life of the young master. Many works end up in private collections, and some are donated by the artist. For example, the diploma work in college — the Trinity icon — was transferred to the Lyadensky Annunciation Monastery. Church ministers paid attention to the work of his fellow countryman when he brought his icons to be blessed.
Ivan is proud that he had a hand in decorating Molodechno churches.  
The young man made the columns with capitals for the icon case, as well as cherubs for the iconostasis in the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the request of Father Aleksandr.
Orthodox themes bring the master a special, one might say, enlightened inspiration, “The spiritual topic has always been close to me; I attended Sunday school as a child. And I never forgot the way to the temple, I try to attend services. At the same time, I am not at all alien to the secular entertainment of modern youth. I don’t have much time for any parties, but I love good historical cinema, museums, and travel. The trip to St. Petersburg brought a lot of impressions; I like getting to know Belarus. My parents instilled a taste for good music. My playlist includes Mozart, Chopin, and Rachmaninov... Today, thanks to my hard work, I largely provide for myself. In addition to selling works, I teach two basic courses in the capital: geometric carving and a wooden spoon course. I prefer an active and healthy lifestyle (for example, riding an electric scooter); I manage to save some of my earnings for cultural recreation. I dream of visiting the homeland of the Titans of the Renaissance.”


From the cathedral with Ivan we head to his studio, where an inspired artist can spend the whole night without sleep creating his next work. And the first thing your eye falls on is one of the most famous biblical scenes, The Last Supper, delicately executed in wood.   “I worked on it for two years intermittently so that my eyes wouldn’t blur. This is probably my favourite creation so far, but in general I became interested in icons and biblical themes in my second year of college. At first these were small icons, then larger ones. As a believer, I experience special inspiration when I convey the faces of saints. As a rule, I see embodied images ready-made. Ideas apparently come from above, so I feel more like a chosen one than a creator. Of course, technique and adherence to certain image canons are important. But in order to evoke emotions (no matter what topic you take on), you need to put your soul into it,” says the artist.
Painting is also presented in the artist’s studio. As Ivan admits, he prefers landscape pictures and portraits. The self-portrait attracts attention; in it our creator presented himself as a master of the Renaissance. The artist plans to put together an exhibition of portraits. He says that among his contemporaries, the work of Nikas Safronov inspires; abstractions arouse curiosity, in which images of nature and time are philosophically rethought, where the author tries to experiment with texture, creating additional volume with oil clots. For this purpose, he even came up with his own style and called it facturbism.
In the future, Ivan Girvel sees himself as a diverse artist. There are ideas for a thesis at the academy, “I would like to paint the creation of Adam and Eve, perhaps it will be a painting on the ceiling or wall. I have enough time to prepare and choose a serving option,” Ivan explains.
The young artist has a lot of creative plans. He never doubted his path and is grateful to his family, parents who always supported him, fellow countrymen and his hometown, where the first exhibition took place, where he received first attention and recognition, “I don’t know how my fate will turn out, where I will create, but the image of my native places will always serve as inspiration.”

Note to TV viewers
The series of programmes New People is created using funds from a targeted collection for the production of national content and is aired on the Belarus 3 TV channel weekly. The programme archive is always available on the Belarus 3 YouTube channel.

By Andrei Zakharov

Photos by Aleksei Vyazmitinov