Written by Cordelia Weedon from Llanfyllin:

"Artists' working spaces focuses on the living spaces and studios of artists in the Ozerki Group. It is part of my contribution to the Interdisciplinary Symposium in Shuvolova, which I attended with three other members of the Vyrnwy Group in June 2001. Several artists' from this group had attended the Lake Vyrnwy International Symposium in 1999 & 2000.

Shuvolova, where the Ozerki Group of Artists is based, is situated north of St Petersburg, trapped between the Helsinki Highway and the mainline railway. To visit people in different parts of the community necessitates taking your life in your hands by crossing the mainline railway and navigating your way around the immensely long parked freight trains.

It is close to three small lakes, and the old dilapidated wooden houses of this artists' community contrast ominously with the rather threatening high rise housing complexes on three sides. This prerevolutionary village of formally grand wooden houses with large gardens were originally dachas for the wealthy residents of St Petersburg. These dachas were condemned to make room for more high-rise housing that never materialized. However in the 1970s several artists managed to acquire some of these condemned houses as studios.

Over the last three decades the artist's community has grown and now forms a powerful artist's group, which includes ceramicists, filmmakers, painters, photographers and sculptors. Their continued existence is under threat due to the growing trend among the nuevo riche Russian businessman to build large new houses with fairy tale towers and surrounding security walls.

This artist's village may look romantic with the old dilapidated wooden dachas, but life there is far from easy. The temperatures in the winter are extreme. Most of the houses are only heated by wooden stoves, and many lack running water, relying on water pumps in the street. Some of the dachas are beginning to disappear, abandoned because the cost of essential repairs is too great or they have been burnt down in suspicious circumstances.

The people I met in this community live precariously and many of them have experienced tragedies as a result of living under a regime where human life and emotions are cheap and expendable. However I was struck by the warmth and friendliness of the people, and how welcome they made us feel. I really enjoyed the trip and valued the opportunity to stay with members of the Ozerki Group. The Arts Council of Wales Travel Bursary funded the trip to Russia in 2001."

Written by Cordelia Weedon