Bulgaria has incredible young talents – that is, in a nutshell, how we could describe the SECTOR ART national exposition by 14 art schools, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture. Until June 26, visitors can see, at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, fine and applied art works, as well as design by students from these schools; starting with iconography and woodcarving, through painting, sculpture, black and white drawings, ceramics, textile and metal, down to the most modern forms of art…

Severina Eneva has won awards at the national contest for nude paintings; last year she won first prize. Now, Severina, who is studying at the St. Luke National School of Applied Arts came second in textile arts. As a matter of fact, her work, called Thought is as much fabric as it is sculpture.

“Humans are bizarre – they rarely express what they are thinking,” Severina says. “What I wanted to convey with this work was the image of the thoughts in my head – a tangle of motion… I was inspired by a sculptor who submerges his sculptures to the bottom of the sea where they are slowly covered in molluscs and other sea creatures. It was he that pointed me in the way of discovering human nature, of seeing what is inside us all, of what we want to say but do not…”

Severina says that to her, art is a dream, a flame and a passion that pushes her forward. She has numerous interests – even treatment of glass – but adds that painting is inside her heart. “Bulgaria is the place I want to work. We are Bulgarian and we should be creating the history of this, not of some other country,” she says.

The students from the Professional Secondary Stoneworking School in Kounino village near Vratsa, the only one of its kind in the Balkans, by a tradition excel in sculpture. First prize went to 9^th form student Philip Philipov:

“This is my second year at the school, I am doing sculpture. I took part in the contest last year and won the encouragement prize. My work this year is called Morning – a horse at a watering hole early in the morning. It is made out of marble – it is very hard but also very brittle and is difficult to work with, but in the end it turns out well.”

Ilyia Evdenkov from the same school came second. He called his sculpture Caryatid – a column capital made of limestone. Ilyia and Philip plan to continue at the Art Academy in Sofia. In fact, it is an established fact that the graduates of the school in Kounino have no trouble finding a job – in Bulgaria or abroad.

The exhibition’s opening was attended by renowned Bulgarian artist Prof. Bozhidar Yonov. Was there anything that made an impression on him?

“Yes, the fact that all of these children then come to the National Art Academy. These young people have an excellent potential. I think the Academy should have no worries – what we see here is inexhaustible talent. And the best thing is that they are able to develop their talent in Sofia, but also across the entire country.”

But will they find work to unfold their potential?

“That is the most important question of all because art means a lot of patience, tenacity and a lot of giving. I have always told my students that it is one thing to be working in your own studio, out of an inner need, and quite another to be working on commission. It is very important to be able to create a work, but it is also important to be able to sell it. There are instances of works that are not up to par selling on the market, and other, exceptional works, remaining in the studio. Marketing art is no easy thing. And things are no different abroad; I think it may be more difficult, because the competition is so stiff…”

English: Milena Daynova