Penza, 1 December 2017. PenzaNews. The two-day All-Russian festival of folk artistic crafts "Penza is the heart of craftsmanship" began its work in the regional M. Y. Lermontov library.

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The government of the Penza region, the regional Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the local lore museum and the Handicrafts Chamber became organizers of the event, which united over 100 folk artisans from different cities of the country.

At the fair and exhibition in the hall of the library, participants presented handmade musical instruments, clothes, accessories, dolls, souvenirs made in different techniques, as well as art objects.

The deputy chairman of the Penza region government Oleg Yagov and the deputy head of the regional Ministry of Culture Vladimir Karpov were among honoured guests who visited the display.

The artisans were happy to show their works to the guests.

Thus, the teacher of the children's activity centre Sergei Tkachev, who had been teaching teenagers for 20 years already, explained that among the goods on the stand there were those that had received awards of different exhibitions. As an example, he mentioned one of Penza symbols – the "Cuckoo" clock made of wood, over one metre high, which had received a prize of the Vologda fair.

He noted that such exhibitions let artisans make themselves known as well as get support of business representatives and the authorities.

Competition of artisans was organized within the festival.

It was suggested that within six hours the craftsmen should execute a piece of work on the topic "In harmony with nature", which became known just before the start of the contest. Winners will be defined in the categories "Painting", "Pottery goods" and "Scattering of crafts".

All works will remain in the festival's collection and be included in a mobile display.

The inauguration ceremony will take place in the Lunacharsky regional drama theatre in the evening of December 1. It will feature performance of the Moscow State Academic Dance Theatre "Gzhel".

The event will continue on Saturday, December 2. In addition to the fair, there will also be a site with workshops and a show. The guests will be able to try themselves by joining into the creative process of making souvenirs of clay, wood, felt, textile, vines and bark.

As it was reported before, in June 2017 the governor Ivan Belozertsev suggested holding the festival "Penza is the heart of craftsmanship". According to the head of the region, such events are designed to promote development of traditional crafts in the Penza region.