"ZHERVE"
"ZHERVE" – is slang in Oleshnia, Chernihiv region, for describing a handsome, brace fellow. Valeriy Yasynkovsky gave the same name to his narration about Ivan Ivanovych Bibik. Ivan Bibik is one of the eldest potters in Ukraine, a potter from the God, the live legend of the famous Siverska Oleshnianska ceramics. The author visited him at his home in Oleshnia, met at Chyhyrynsky Potters’ Symposium. There he learned the master and his wife’s fates damaged by the war… You watch the energetic master twisting his wonderful wheel, the “Bibik’s blast-furnace” “smokes” all round Ukraine. We can’t but admire his unique bowls, pumpkins, flasks, “twins”, “triplets”, beakers. The master’s works can be found in Chernihiv museums, in the collections of local and foreign fans of folk art. As for Ivan Bibik, his dream is to open in his native village exposition of Opishnia ceramics to support the local Union center. He is going to submit there his own best works and his family savings.