Sergiy Polubotko - Ukraine
Sergiy Polubotko, an Honored Artist of his native Ukraine will be the Lead Demonstrator at the 2008 CBA Spring Conference. In the Ukraine, Mr. Polubotko founded and operates ARMA, a 25-man blacksmithing shop which produces sculptural, artistic, and functional ironwork which can be seen throughout the Ukraine as well as the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Austria, Poland, Russia, and the USA. Sergiy is 45 and completed a Teaching program at the Precarpathian National University.
Sergiy is a self taught Blacksmith having gathered information from books and from the remaining old smiths who shared what they knew about the blacksmith's craft. Unfortunately, during the Soviet era, Artistic Blacksmithing "was considered to serve the high class society and that is why practically artistic forging was forbidden and killed." Following the collapse of the USSR, Sergiy and other blacksmiths from the Precarpathian region gathered and started a revival of the historic Blacksmith Art.
Sergiy founded and has been the President of the Ukrainian Union of Masters of Blacksmith Art since 2005 and has organized the Annual International Blacksmith Festival and Artist Blacksmith exhibitions in Ivano-Frankivsk (his home town) for seven years. In 1989, Sergiy was the first Blacksmith from the newly independent Ukraine to travel to Venice and work under Alfred Habermann in the preservation and restoration of ironwork of historical heritage. Mr. Polubotko has demonstrated blacksmithing in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Belorussia, Italy, Austria, with BABA in the United Kingdom, and the 2002 ABANA conference in the USA. His work is displayed in FERRUM the Museum of Metal located in Ybbsitz Austria, a center of European ironwork since the 12th century. Sergiy credits his Blacksmith teachers Alfred and Leopold Habermann, Johann Peter of Austria and Oleg Bojkov his first Ukrainian blacksmith teacher. Olga Polubotko will be assisting her husband as well as documenting our conference for publication in the Ukraine.
