Terenty Dverenin: “My dolls are my children”

March 18, 2013 marks the 94th anniversary of the Chuvash folk artist, creator of ethnographic compositions with miniature costume sculptures, Terenty Paramonovich Dverenin (Syundyukovo village, Mariinsko-Posad district, Chuvash Republic).

...In 2005, he began making scenes and multi-figure compositions on the themes of Chuvash traditional life - based on movable wooden doll figures approx. 40 cm, dressed in traditional costumes, headdresses and jewelry, equipped with tools, instruments, and devices. All elements are cut from soft willow wood on a scale of 1:4, partially tinted with simple watercolors in “flesh” colors and connected with simple hinges. The clothes are made from authentic old canvases and fabrics, decorated with hand embroidery (threads for embroidery are not purchased, but are pulled out by a craftsman from old fabrics of a suitable color and smoothed onto glass bottles). The design and decoration of costumes, as well as everyday details, reflect the peculiarities of local ethnoculture. The first works were devoted to the main stages of canvas production, from plowing the ground to weaving the canvas and putting on a new shirt (2005-2006). The master performed the scenes “Plowing”, “Sowing”, “Harvest”, “Spinning”, “Weaving”, etc., including 1 or 2 figures in folk costumes, supplemented with appropriate tools and devices, pieces of furniture, and figures of horses. One of his favorites is the cycle based on the national poem by K. V. Ivanov “Narspi”, which consisted of several multi-figure compositions (2007-2008). A feature of the cycle was the introduction of interior items (Russian stove, large furniture) and the outdoor environment (trees, bushes and fences). Many figures from this cycle were used by the author for the 2009 compositions “Pushkin in Chuvashia” (based on a painting by N.K. Sverchkov) and “Work in the Home Front,” dedicated to the difficult years of the Great Patriotic War. In 2010, the master completed the “Bread” cycle, making the final composition with a rural windmill (it was made on a smaller scale).