The children's art school in Ushachi was named after the Great Patriotic War veteran Demyan Krupenya
The participant of the legendary partisan blockade breakthrough was born in the village of Sudilovichi, Ushachi district. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he had completed five grades, and joined the partisan detachment just before the blockade. Even as a schoolboy, he loved to draw, but he seriously took up watercolors while serving in the army. He joined the airborne troops in Kirovograd some time after the war ended, as he was too young before. There, the author painted his first picture – he copied Volkov's "Autumn" from a magazine at the request of the command. After demobilization, Demyan Krupnya studied in the drawing and painting department of the Correspondence People's University of Arts in Moscow.
After the army, the former partisan worked as the secretary of the Komsomol organization, was the head of a reading room, an instructor in the district committee, the chairman of the workers' committee, and headed the House of Culture in the village of Glybochka, Ushachi district. Throughout his life, the artist painted dozens of pictures, inspired by the nature of his native region. His works can be found in museums in Ushachi, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Minsk, and Moscow. Interestingly, he gave away his works, almost never selling them. The native of Ushachi district participated in and was a laureate of all-Union exhibitions of amateur artists in Moscow. The Belarusian's art was exhibited abroad.
Demyan Krupenn passed away this year, almost on the eve of his 95th birthday. The Ushaсhi Children's Art School is now named after the Great Patriotic War veteran. Currently, 346 children are studying here in six departments: music, choreography, digital, choral, pop, and fine arts. The latter has nearly fifty boys and girls.
"This is a wonderful tradition not only in our region but in the country as a whole. Our youth, children are our future; they draw inspiration from the heroic deeds and stories of previous generations. The event is valuable and important primarily for our children, the students. Especially since our art school has a fine arts department. I think this will give a special character to the works they will create. We are familiar with this artist's paintings; we know them. He was a kind and bright person who lived a difficult life, his own path," noted the school's director, Natalia Ivanova.
Demyan Krupenn's son, Vladimir, participated in the solemn ceremony of naming the Ushaсhi Children's Art School after D.V. Krupenn. He thanked everyone involved in this event for immortalizing his father's name.
The regional patriotic event "Victory Breakthrough" is dedicated to the 79th anniversary of the breakthrough of the enemy blockade by partisans of the Polotsk-Lepel zone in the territory of the Ushachi district. The event is attended by the leadership of districts and the region, representatives of labor collectives, public organizations, military-patriotic clubs, students and schoolchildren. Guests from the Pskov region of Russia are also invited.
"BELTA"