art blog — Blog — Alison Savic

My husband, Dragan, who is a native Serb, our 11 year old son, Aleks and I have embarked on an adventure, by moving to Belgrade from England for 8 months. These are excerpts from my weekly diary.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade

A visit to Belgrade's recently renovated Museum of Contemporary Art [1] was an astonishing experience. The building, built in 1965 (the same age as me!) is the perfect space to show-off art from the last 100 years or so of former Yugoslavia, Serbia and internationally. Dragan was delighted to see a painting by one of his classmates from the 70s, he recognised the artist's name from his nickname, 'Đile,' on the label. The artist is now an art critic.

Detail of 'Crowd' by Srđan Marković Đile, painted in 1991

The museum is a very photogenic and thought provoking space, here are some of the fascinating artworks, including some wonderful woodcut prints by Sergije Glumac.

'Hippy Top', painted wood sculpture by Tomislav Kauzlarič, made in 1967

'Subway' woodcuts by Sergije Glumac, made c. 1928

Belgrade's Ethnographic Museum

It was a weekend of museums, and Belgrade's Ethnographic Museum [2] gives a charming insight into traditional life in Serbia and the Balkans. (Aleks was on a school ski trip to Kopaonik mountain - art museums are not high on his list of exciting things to do!) Dragan particularly loved the recreated farm house interiors filled with chunky wooden furniture, hand embroidered textiles and 'ćilim' (hand woven carpets) [3]. He has fond memories of living with his grandparents in a village in Serbia when he was young. His other Grandma, Baba Simana, who lived in Montenegro, used to carry a 'burilo', a rectangular shaped barrel filled with water from the local spring up the hill to the farm every day. She lived to the age of 99.

Cottage interior with hand embroidered textiles

Beautiful ćilim (woven carpet) in a 19th century interior

In the past a Serbian woman's headscarf had meaning!

Traditional dress was worn daily well into the 20th century in some areas of the Balkans. Different styles and designs represented different places and the way a woman tied her head scarf would identify the village she came from. Dragan's grandmother from Serbia, Grandma Tomka wore a scarf every day. The bridal dresses in the museum were particularly lovely and were often embellished with silver coins as part of the bride's dowry.

Serbian folk dancing, known as 'Folklore', is very much alive today and the dancers wear traditional dress, depending on which part of Serbia the dance is from. The costumes are made of wool and with many layers, so the dancers must get pretty hot!

Serbian National Costume at Belgrade's Ethnographic Museum

Bridal Head-dress with silver coins as part of the bride's dowry

A Serbian phrase for you!

It's snowing as I write, so here's a new Serbian phrase for you, 'pada sneg', meaning 'it's snowing!'

[1] http://eng.msub.org.rs/o-muzeju

[2] http://etnografskimuzej.rs/en/zbirke/

[3] http://www.serbia.com/about-serbia/culture/intangible-cultural-heritage-of-serbia/following-the-footsteps-of-intangible-cultural-heritage/pirot-kilim/

My husband, Dragan, who is a native Serb, our 10 year old son, Aleks and I have embarked on an adventure, by moving to Belgrade from England for 8 months. These are excerpts from my weekly diary.

Printmaking in Belgrade

Serbian Folk Dancers lino with faces.jpg

Linocut prints & inking up the lino by Ali Savic at the 'Centar za Grafiku' (Printmaking Centre) in Belgrade.

As a friend put it, 'now begins the printmaking [1] part of my journey in Serbia'. I've been printmaking for about seven years now at the Double Elephant Print Workshop [2] in England, and am really excited to have started printing at the 'Centar za Grafiku' [3] (Printmaking Centre) at the The Academy of Fine Arts in Belgrade. The Academy, which overlooks Kalemegdan Park, also has two galleries and a framing shop.

How did I make the Prints?

The prints above are linocut relief prints, printed on gorgeous Fabriano paper. I made some simple sketches of my impressions of Belgrade, a tram, a woman wrapped up for the cold, some folk dancers and the wonderful 20th century concrete high-rise. The sketches were just a guide and I enjoyed adding elements when I was cutting out the design from the lino. After an initial proof and a bit more cutting I started reeling them off! There were lots of tricky issues, as I was using an intaglio press (rolling) instead of a relief press (stamping), but one of the master printmakers at the centre set me straight. (There are a lot of facilities at the centre, but no relief presses.)

Visiting a family Farm

This weekend was 'Sveti Jovan' (Saint John's saint day) in Serbia, so yup, you guessed it, another 'Slava'! (saint day celebration) [4]. In fact we went to FOUR family 'Slavas' over the two days. 'Sveti Jovan' Slava is one of the three most celebrated Slavas in Serbia, along with 'Sveti Arandjel Mihailo' and 'Sveti Nikola'. One of Dragan's cousins has a small farm in a village near the capital and so the obligatory pig was roasted on the spit in situ for 'Sveti Jovan'. Here's some pictures of the farm, the hut where meat is smoked and a tray of lovely little homemade cakes called 'Kolači' served at 'Slava'. (If you'd like to read more about 'Slava', then scroll down to my earlier blogposts). Needless to say our car struggled back to Belgrade, with us three, full to the brim with delicious food and bags of roast meat, 'kolači' and farm eggs in the boot.

'Dimljeno meso' (smoked meat) on the farm — 'Dimljeno meso' (smoked meat) on the farm

'Domaći Kolači'! (little homemade cakes, a bit like petit fours)

Fabulous Frescoes

Back in Belgrade, I visited the must-see, 'Crkva Cvetog Aleksandra Nevskog' [5] (Church of St. Alexander Nevsky). The architect, Jelisaveta Načić, [6] was the first woman to graduate as an architect in Belgrade and in the whole of Serbia. The Church, completed in 1929, has the most exquisite frescoes, but appears to be unfinished, I noticed scaffolding, possibly for the fresco painters. It is a gorgeous haven in a busy part of town.