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Olga Fedotova |
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I was born at the 8th of April in 1957 in Orenburg.
Education: I have secondary education.
I have lived in Saint-Petersburg since 1987. I used to be an analyst
and an operator of gas boiler-house. Now I am a housewife. I have
been a member of Radova club since 1999.
Everything began in my childhood. |
My grandmother was the only dressmaker in the hamlet "Tryapichnoe" in the Orenburg region. There I spent my childhood, playing with rag-dolls made by my granny and falling asleep under a quilt. My grandmother showed me how to make those dolls and clothes for them. I was just 5 or 6 years old at the time, but dolls, quilts and rugs stayed in my memory. When my own children were small I made them clothes, fancy dresses and toys. Children had grown up but I still wanted to create. When I worked at the boiling-house I dreamt of making it comfortable. I was given old clothes for patches and started to create. I made quilts for sofas, covers for teapots to make tea stronger, "tortoises" and dolls.
Those dolls led me to the patch-worker
Larisa Dergachova.
She collected works of different craftsmen: patch-workers, puppet-makers, artists, wood-carvers, ceramic makers, etc. Larisa's works in "crazy" style, her patch-panels and great quilts charm with their color spectrum and plenty of patches. Looking at them, I had different feelings. First I was stiffened with astonishment: I could never imaging it was possible to make such wonderful things of usual patches of fabric. Then I felt myself overfilled with splendour. Finally, delight and joy crept over me! Patchwork won me over, it shattered my peace and quite. Larisa shared her patches and her experience with me and advised me to make several pictures of fishes for a start, to learn to choose a color spectrum. Her favorite phrase was: "Play patches!" Later I proceeded to make waistcoats. My tutor taught me chromatics, work with contrasts to avoid making a "boring" thing. She complimented and criticized me, but complimented more often. Larisa is very kind person, and I appreciate her deeply.
I worked out a technique "crazy" and learned to play colors, but most of all I liked applique work. So I started to master this technique. First I made miniature landscapes. I felt shortage of fabric because sometimes I failed to find fabric with proper color and texture. Then my colleague, Raisa, helped me. She used to go to factory, collect cuttings of fabric and buy them. I had a great collection of patches.
Once I decided to depict in fabric an icon of The Holy Family. I started to draw faces and was surprised, because I had never thought I could draw so well. When a child, I dreamt to learn how to draw but I couldn't do it. And now, after 40 years, a talent for painting was displayed. But when I embroidered the picture, I was surprised with my abilities even greater. Amazingly, but the most difficult was to embroider hands.
It was one of the icons that brought me to Radova club. Most of all I like applique work, so I took part in making "Light of Christmas star", "Mermaid's week", "Saint-Petersburg cats" and "Vyborg".
Patchwork is so interesting and exciting, that I have infect my younger son Alexander with it. He made a work "The nocturnal sea" in his 16 and a "Scarlet flower" in his 18. He independently sewed by hand with a rantering seam, refusing my help even in choosing fabric. |
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