Training of specialists in decorative-applied arts: plastics of small forms of the Scythian period
Authors: Nahuliak Petro , Oros Ivan , Rudoi Vadim 
Published: July 2023

In the article, based on the definition that one of the important tasks of the modern education in the artistic space is the search and implementation of creative methods for the formation of a creatively developed personality, on the basis of which it is oriented in the history and perspectives of "Cultural dynamics", it has an acquaintance with the valuable world of historical eras, peoples, individuals, phenomena and processes related to the history of the creation of the world of "things", attention is drawn to the training of Decorative and Applied Arts specialists and teaching methods, and it is noted that it is relevant to turn specifically to the ceramics of the Scythian period, where the artist not only depicted objects, but expressed his̸her idea of reality, solving various aesthetic tasks at the same time. It is emphasized that since new approaches to art education are needed – on the basis of which it is possible to teach students to see and understand historical examples of art, in particular, the plastic of small forms of the Scythian period, in order to create in the future according to the laws of harmony and decorative-plastic expressiveness, then the principle of aestheticization deserves attention of the educational process based on the appeal to the ancient plasticity of small forms, which makes it possible to create conditions to shape the cultural space of a creative personality, to form aesthetic ideals by acquiring the autonomy of one’s own creative and pedagogical activity in the future. The purpose of the study is to examine the plasticity of small forms of the Scythian period and to rethink its conceptuality in modern art as well as to reveal its creative and methodical foundations with the justification of the feasibility of using these approaches and relevant methodological principles for the training of Decorative and Applied Arts specialists. It is highlighted that general scientific and special-specific methods, such as historical, art- and history-related, psychological and comparative approaches to the problem of developing students’ creative thinking, were applied and used to reveal the problem. In the main content, it is highlighted that today the attention to the Scythian ceramic sculpture – for the space of decorative and applied education, is connected both historically and based on practical results – actually created masterpieces. The opinion is substantiated that in the context of attention to the creative and educational foundations of small-form ceramic sculpture, to a certain extent the Scythian ceramic sculpture can be equated and compared with a folk ceramic toy, and the learning process based on the principles of "small-form sculpture of the Scythian period" involves the main tasks of the methodological level with the course "Decorative and Applied Arts" which consist in the formation of students’ knowledge and ideas about ancient and folk arts, and the peculiarity is that the student is faced with the need to show individual creativity at all stages – from the reinterpretation of the Scythian plastic of small forms – to the figurative reproduction of acquired knowledge in a newly created product. It is this type of activity that allows you to accumulate experience in the aesthetic and creative processing of what you have acquired. The point of view is given that educational classes in the space of plastics of small forms of the Scythian period should reveal and cover all technologies for the production of decorative products, and most importantly create conditions for the work on stylization in the context of combining ideas and methods – the Hermeneutic approach and Art-technology on the basis of its specific approaches, in connection with the fact that artistic and creative mastery also consists in decoding and rethinking the external and internal plan of works. In the conclusions, it is noted that under the influence of attention to the art of the Scythian period, and especially to small-form sculptures, students develop the ability to continuously enrich their own pictorial-visual experience, to develop aesthetic taste and special abilities, to replenish knowledge and to improve skills, skills in artistic form-making in practice reinterpretation of achievements and reproduction of the original in content, technically masterful and objectively valuable works, which becomes the basis for reaching the heights of artistic professionalism. In the perspective of further research, it is seen that based on a certain universality of the category "artistic and pedagogical skills", we foresee researching their ability to transform, through teaching decorative and applied arts in the space of reinterpretation of artistic experience, into a qualitative result as the formation of professional and creative skills.