Ramage Reflects on Ukraine Visit
This story was written in collaboration with Castleton community member and former academic dean Joe Mark.
On Thursday, March 24, former Castleton Professor of Art Bill Ramage presented a gallery talk reflecting on his trip to Ukraine nearly 30 years ago and the artists he met there.
In early 1993, Ramage was invited to Kyiv to stage one of his large art installations. He was initially connected to the region by a friend, who went to Kyiv on business, and met local artists Vladimir and Irena Veshtak. He encouraged them to get in contact with Ramage, and they soon began a long-distance friendship facilitated by mail.
Ramage’s visit came 16 months after the dissolution of the USSR and just one year after Ukraine’s independence. At the time, Kyiv was a neglected city due to the poor quality of modifications made by the Soviets.
Ramage traveled to Kyiv for two weeks and was hosted by the Veshtaks. Irena and Ramage traveled all over the city, mostly by foot, to sightsee and meet with some of Irena and Vladimir’s artist friends.
Vladimir introduced Bill to a common phrase in the Soviet Union – “They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work.”
“They were looking at building a sovereign nation, literally from scratch. It was probably seven to 800 billions of dollars of deferred maintenance. And I was told at once Kyiv was sort of the Queen City. It was a beautiful city. And you know, if you looked through all the cob-jobs, you could see that the architecture was beautiful. But it was really pretty unsightly when I was there,” Ramage said.
There was little remaining infrastructure, with heat and electricity in short supply and gas stations non-existent. The few food stores were all nearly baren. The art community was struggling as well, having operated under Soviet domination for years with no connection to colleagues outside the USSR.
For decades, artists’ works were devoted almost exclusively to producing propaganda, with supplies virtually unavailable unless used to create these materials. However, artists who did the government’s bidding were rewarded, oftentimes being able to own a dacha, a second home in the country.
Being a state artist was considered a prestigious, sought-after position, which led to a highly competitive and pressure-filled environment for students of the art academy. Emphasis was placed on practical skill development, with no space for creative expression. The goal of students was to gain all fives on their assignments, as only those who consistently performed at that level were admitted to the Union of Artists of Ukraine.
“The tension in that school waould just take your breath away. These guys were so desperate, so desperate, to make the cut,” he said when reflecting on touring the art academy. “I was astounded at how joyless it was.”
The installation that Ramage brought with him, “The Great Gates of Kyiv”, measured 24-feet by 45-feet, a massive piece that he had to create in Rutland and travel with to Ukraine. The Kyiv artists had many questions for Ramage, including how one makes a living on art in America.
After returning to the United States, Ramage proposed to the Castleton administration that they underwrite the costs of inviting the Veshtaks for a reciprocal visit.
Vladimir and Irena arrived with approximately 40-50 posters in hopes of selling them, though few sold at the time. They mounted an exhibition in the Christine Price Gallery of original drawings, prints, and watercolors that they and other Ukrainian artists had produced, brought overseas in plastic water bottles that had been cut up and taped together to form rudimentary shipping tubes to protect the art.
11 of the original posters brought with Irena and Vladimir have been on display at the Castleton Library Gallery for the past week and will be sent to the Rennert’s Gallery in New York City to be auctioned. All funds raised will be contributed to the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America.