Art objects made of straw and hay. Haystack Sculpture: Straw Art Festival in Japan. Magnificent straw sculptures are also in Russia
Is there any point in agro chips?
STRAW locomotives, carts and cows. Labyrinths and paintings a few hundred meters in the fields. Such folk art, which is referred to only as land art, has been pleasing to the eye for more than a year. Compositions grow up both before "Dazhynkami" and after. But what is the price of the issue and how expedient is it to engage in field art? Correspondents of "SG" joined the agricultural creativity.
AN UNUSUAL idea in a field of corn. Near the Dzerzhinsky Chernikov region, the only labyrinth in Belarus. You can see Blue-eyed from an unusual angle on the corn plantation of the DAK farm. Today, the first attraction is opened here among the high thickets of the Queen of the Fields.
Tangled paths form a labyrinth in the form of a map of our country with picket stops in six regional cities. Along the way, you also need to go through a historical quest to find hidden pickets. The questions are not very difficult, but with a catch.
Student Alexander Pozharenko, the author of the idea, was looking for a partner for a long time, with whom he could bring the idea to life. Some were ready to give the land, but for a lot of money. And only the owner of the KFH "DAK" Dmitry Krylov supported the novice entrepreneur, one might say disinterestedly, inspired by the originality of the idea - he himself hatched a similar one.
In the spring Dmitry and Alexander sowed the field. But the cold spring and summer delayed the growing season of the crop. As a result, the opening of the amusement park had to be postponed from the beginning of August to the 19th. The farmer is engaged in organic farming and animal husbandry, so he did not accelerate the growth of plants with the help of chemistry: reputation is more expensive.
The drawing of the card was first drawn in a special computer program, then the tracks were literally mowed by millimeters in order to repeat it exactly, Dmitry Krylov shares the difficult technology of creating a “green” attraction:
I only drew it for two days. Then he broke it into squares, there are 56 of them in total. On each, the tracks were drawn separately. 3.5 thousand square meters of walkways have been equipped! With information boards.
Near the labyrinth there is a petting zoo where you can scratch a goat or a rabbit behind the ear. There is also a place for a tent camp for spending the night, a trade pavilion, and you can try farm products.
Wandering along the route is designed for an hour and a half. During this time, it is desirable to mark with seals at all control points in order to receive a memorable prize at the exit.
Dmitry KRYLOV and Alexander POZHARENKO.
Will the idea pay off financially? The ticket price for adults is 7 rubles, for schoolchildren - 4 rubles, for children under seven years old - free of charge. The cost of growing corn is 4 percent of the total cost per idea. Most of the money was drawn by the arrangement of regional centers. To break even at the end of the season, you need to sell about 2,000 tickets. "Kukupolis" (the so-called entertainment center in the field) will work until the cold weather.
On his 100 hectares, the farmer does not grow the queen of the fields en masse. And instead of silage from corn, he gives the goats compound feed. Although, most likely, in the autumn this corn maze will face the same fate as the rest of the fields - they will be harvested for silage. To do this, you will need to hire equipment. The farmer doesn't have one.
And HERE, straw creativity is more common in agricultural enterprises. For many years in a row, a competition for the best composition of bales has been announced in the Slutsk region. The initiator is the district committee of the trade union of agricultural workers. The fight is serious: if for the first time there were only six participants, now there are 17! Almost all agricultural organizations of the region. Yes, and they do more than one composition - the more, the higher the chance to become a leader. Last year the victory in one of the nominations was celebrated by OAO Podlesye-2003. This year we are also set to win. Three works are presented to the jury. The process of creating compositions was led by the chairman of the trade union committee, inspector of the personnel department Elena Kharitonchik:
Interest in the competition is great - so many ideas, sketches! To make a composition, you need about three people - for one work this year they even came up with a special frame. It turned out so great! No one can drive past - they stop, take pictures. I've seen so many cars I can't count them. This is the best compliment for us.
We begin to calculate the expense: twenty rolls of straw went to the ship, two more bales - for piglets, about four - for a cow with a calf. However, there will be no economic losses. After the end of the competition, all the straw will return to the farm fund - it will be used for bedding for livestock. The winners, whose names will be announced next week, will also receive prizes. The organizers will give them teapots and sets of mugs. Double benefit.
Making figurines out of straw is an old idea. It was born to attract people to Dazhynki. But gradually the tradition took root in many areas, the compositions stand even after the holiday. In 2013, near the Shklov agricultural town of Gorodets, agrarians installed a steam locomotive. Next to the Round, metal pins were used to create the composition. They strengthened the figures so that the wind would not blow them away. And not far from Orsha, the Moscow M1 highway was decorated with three straw pigs. What driver would not want to stop and enjoy the bright creativity of rural designers?
FREQUENTLY, compositions bring not only aesthetic, but also practical benefits. For example, in the Russian village of Krasnoye, 40 kilometers from Stavropol, a real stadium was made of straw, where children and farm workers who initiated construction now play football. Here you have a field and stands.
The building was proudly named "Zenith Arena". And they built it in just five days - they spent a little more than 40,000 Russian rubles (about $680) and 4,500 bales of straw. Farmer Roman Ponomarev did not lose: the unusual building drew additional attention to the products - watermelons and melons. Judging by how this news was spread by the media and how popular it became on the Internet, the profit will flow like a river. In addition, the real Zenit football club reacted positively to the joke with the name: they supported the holding of tournaments on a straw field and invited its creator to St. Petersburg. They promised to send the ticket.
In general, Russian agrarians from the south are cunning for fiction. Not only that, in Rostov, races on tractors "Belarus" are held annually. A week ago, Yuri Belykh, a machine operator from Krasnodar, drew a giant logo of the Belarusian computer game World of Tanks on the field using a tractor. The size of the unusual image is 216 by 158 meters. It can even be seen from space. By the way, the mechanic himself plays "tanks" with the children and dedicated his work to the seventh birthday of the game.
An unusual reaction to this from our military. The logo of the famous game was drawn by… tankers at the training ground near Borisov. According to Senior Lieutenant Dmitry Poznyak from the 72nd Guards Joint Training Center of the AFRB, he and his colleagues approached the command the day before with an idea and received approval. Drawing 300 by 200 meters was completed by two T-72 tanks. The image can be seen from a plane flying to Moscow.
BY THE WAY
In Kyiv in May, at Eurovision, one of the fan zones was equipped with ... straw. They made fences out of it. We listened to performances right on the bales. Also, just a pile of straw was brought to the square, into which the children “dived” with pleasure.
TO THE POINT
This year, mazes created in corn fields appeared in 25 places in the Czech Republic. Most of them occupy one hectare of territory. The largest is two hectares in Brno. Created a unique route plan. It is held according to a special entertainment and educational program. Visitors receive a game card at the entrance. In the process of passing, they write down guessed passwords. With their help, they learn the key phrase, and the one who does it faster wins a prize. You can also go through the maze with your smartphone. You need to install an application and a program for reading QR codes. If you get lost, there are corridors next to the paths that lead back to the entrance. In autumn the field is mowed.
Every year, unusual compositions made of straw appear in the fields in Belarus in front of Dozhinki. The idea is not new: straw figures can be found in Germany, Poland, and even Japan. Belarusian agricultural creativity pleases motorists.
Many cannot pass by, stop cars and take pictures against the background of straw people, cows, roosters and tractors. To be honest, we couldn't resist either.
Straw figures of a man and a woman in national costumes near the village of Ilyanskie Khutory in the Vileika district of the Minsk region.
As a rule, straw figures reach a height of several meters and can be seen from afar. The theme of compositions is usually devoted to agriculture. You can meet cows, and roosters, and combines with tractors. However, on the roads of the Myadel and Vileika regions, there are also national motifs in the straw art. Imagine a pair of giant Belarusians in national costumes in the middle of a field. However, why imagine, if our photo report clearly demonstrates this.
A fervent straw shepherd with cows near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
A cheerful caterpillar made of straw near the village of Sosenka, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
The princess and the castle near the village of Pashkovschina, Myadel district, Minsk region. Castles are also a favorite theme of rural designers. A couple of bales of straw, windows and a cardboard roof - consider the castle ready.
A rooster and a hen near the village of Starinki, Vileika district, Minsk region. 
Composition with a tractor in Myadel, Minsk region. 
What combine can be on the field without a combiner? Another figure in Myadel, Minsk region. 
A colorful bear near the village of Lukovets, Vileika district, Minsk region. When you see such compositions, you think with regret that they are short-lived and sooner or later will disappear from the field. Until the cold sets in and the heavy rains begin, there is still time to capture yourself against the background, for example, of such a giant bear.
Composition near the village of Shelkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
Hares near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
Composition near the agricultural town of Svatki, Myadel district, Minsk region. 
A family couple made of straw on the road from Vileyka to Minsk. 
Castle in the Minsk region. If you, like us, are not indifferent to agricultural creativity, then send photos of this year's straw figures with a note where they are located and an indication of the authorship of the photo by e-mail [email protected] We will definitely make another photo selection.
Straw Art Festival- one of the most original holidays, which takes place annually in rural areas of Japan. Farming communities in Kagawa and Niigata prefectures put on original exhibitions of giant straw sculptures left in the fields after the harvest.
Perhaps one of the most famous straw sculptures in the world was installed a couple of years ago in the Dutch town of Nieuwerkerk. But the Japanese can boast of a whole zoo: macaques, elephants, turtles and even sharks - you won’t see anyone at the festival.
This year, among the most memorable sculptures, one should note a shark with an open mouth, whose jaws looked really intimidating, as well as a friendly wallaby kangaroo, in the bag of which the children who came to the holiday could sit. Note that even the scary predators in straw guise looked very friendly. In addition, if desired, it was possible to climb a ship and a tank, the sculptures of which were also made by local craftsmen.
Luckily, the sculptures are solidly built, following the same pattern as the thatched cottages. At the base is a wooden frame, and on top it is covered with dried stems. Thanks to this, the audience could feel safe without damaging or breaking the wonderful structures.
Of course, the Straw Art Festival is a wonderful event that is pleasant to visit on a warm Sunday afternoon with the whole family. Positive emotions and a sea of impressions for children and adults are guaranteed! Perhaps the idea of an original holiday can be adopted by our farmers.
Every year, unusual compositions made of straw appear in the fields in Belarus in front of Dozhinki. The idea is not new: straw figures can be found in Germany, Poland, and even Japan. Belarusian agricultural creativity pleases motorists. Many cannot pass by, stop cars and take pictures against the background of straw people, cows, roosters and tractors. To be honest, we couldn't resist either.
Straw figures of a man and a woman in national costumes near the village of Ilyanskie Khutory in the Vileika district of the Minsk region.
As a rule, straw figures reach a height of several meters and can be seen from afar. The theme of compositions is usually devoted to agriculture. You can meet cows, and roosters, and combines with tractors. However, on the roads of the Myadel and Vileika regions, there are also national motifs in the straw art. Imagine a pair of giant Belarusians in national costumes in the middle of a field. However, why imagine, if our photo report clearly demonstrates this.
A fervent straw shepherd with cows near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region.
A cheerful caterpillar made of straw near the village of Sosenka, Vileika district, Minsk region.
The princess and the castle near the village of Pashkovschina, Myadel district, Minsk region.
Castles are also a favorite theme of rural designers. A couple of bales of straw, windows and a cardboard roof - consider the castle ready.
A rooster and a hen near the village of Starinki, Vileika district, Minsk region.
Composition with a tractor in Myadel, Minsk region.
What combine can be on the field without a combiner? Another figure in Myadel, Minsk region.
A colorful bear near the village of Lukovets, Vileika district, Minsk region.
When you see such compositions, you think with regret that they are short-lived and sooner or later will disappear from the field. Until the cold sets in and the heavy rains begin, there is still time to capture yourself against the background, for example, of such a giant bear.
Composition near the village of Shelkovshchina, Myadel district, Minsk region.
Hares near the village of Shikovichi, Myadel district, Minsk region.
Composition near the agricultural town of Svatki, Myadel district, Minsk region.
A family couple made of straw on the road from Vileyka to Minsk.
Three-meter straw figures - Grandfather and Grandmother - are located at the entrance to the agricultural town of Zhirovichi, Slonimsky district. The compositions on the margins have become a kind of symbol of the holiday of village workers. Already according to a good tradition, they are installed along the route.
In the faces of the established figures near Zhirovichi, many saw the familiar features of famous people of Belarus - Alexander Lukashenko and the head of the Presidential Administration Natalya Kochanova, writes racyja.com. 
When the GS correspondents arrived at the place in order to ask the figures passing by if they really reminded them of famous people, the artist was already changing the images of the straw sculptures - he was painting Grandfather's beard.
One of those present (did not introduce himself) explained to the journalists that the work had not yet been completed and it was desirable that the journalists filmed it when everything was done.
“We still need to attach the hair, then everything will be ready,” the workers explained.
- And who came up with such images, who made them, who installed them? - journalists asked a question.
- This is folk art, such figures from straw are now installed every year near Dozhinki, almost every farm or enterprise. These images were painted by a local resident Vyacheslav Kopytko, he worked as an artist in college, - those who put the straw images in order supported the conversation.
Zinaida Otoka, a worker at the Zhirovichi College, sewed clothes for the figures - a skirt, a scarf, and pants. According to the woman, more than ten meters of different fabric went into everything.
Correspondents of "GS" asked the artist why he is remaking the image and is it true that someone noticed the similarity of Grandfather with the head of state.
I don't know, it doesn't look like me! Here someone blurted out - now redo everything, - the man noted.
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