When I am asked why I have been doing vytinanka for so many years, I answer confidently:

— Because it teaches creativity.

And it's not about scissors or paper at all.

Vytynanka teaches you to see where others see only a blank sheet of paper.

One of the first assignments I give to college students is called very simply — "Butterfly in the meadow".

At first glance, it seems too easy. Even childish.

But this is precisely where its power lies.

At first, the students are surprised.

— Is this really a task for future designers?

Yes.

Because it's not about the butterfly.

The point is to find not alone, and many ways to create it.

A butterfly can be silhouette or openwork. Simple or complex. Symmetrical or asymmetrical. It can be cut from a single sheet or made up of several parts. It can become a postcard, a window decoration, a decorative panel or part of a large composition.

And each time it will be a new butterfly.

It is at this moment that a person stops looking for the only correct option.

She begins to look for her own.

And then creativity is born.

My other exercises are structured in the same way.

One of the very first tasks of the course is to draw twenty suns.

Sounds simple.

The first few are born easily.

Then the familiar images begin to fade.

And that's when the fun begins.

We have to look more closely at nature, recall our own observations, start fantasizing, change the shape, rhythm, and character of the lines.

Suddenly it turns out that even an ordinary ladybug can be twenty times different.

And this is no longer a drawing exercise.

This is an exercise in freedom of thought.

The same thing happens with viburnum.

First, we create the simplest vytyanka.

Then it's more complicated.

Then an openwork pattern appears, new compositions, postcards, and decorative panels.

Step by step, a person stops repeating other people's work.

She starts creating her own.

It was so many years ago that the idea of my author's course for developing creative abilities using vytynanki was born.

His goal was never just to teach how to carve beautifully.

I wanted to teach someone else - to see multiple solutions where most people only see one.

To see beauty.

Notice patterns.

Don't be afraid to experiment.

Find your own way.

The course lasts three months.

And, honestly, that's what scares people sometimes.

We are used to living very fast. We want to get results after the first session.

In one master class you can learn how to carve a beautiful butterfly.

But learning to think creatively is impossible in one day.

I do not know such miracles.

Creativity grows just like a tree grows.

First, a small seed appears.

Then came the first hesitant attempts.

Over time, the courage to experiment comes.

Gradually, a sense of composition, harmony, rhythm, and form is born.

And one day a person no longer repeats other people's work.

She creates her own.

Perhaps that's when an artist is born.

I think that vytynanka has never been just the art of cutting out paper for me.

It has become a way to develop creative thinking.

And, perhaps, even a way of knowing oneself.

Because every new job doesn't start with scissors.

It begins with the question:

"Can you do it another way?"

It is with this question, in my opinion, that true creativity begins.

“Butterflies in the meadow”