Anzhelika Jaghinyan

Anzhelika Jaghinyan is an Armenian artist, painter, embroiderer, and teacher at the National Center for Aesthetics Vanadzor subdivision, named after Henrik Igiryan. As an artisan involved with the My Armenia Program, a project funded by USAID and implemented by the Smithsonian Institution, she has presented at the My Handmade Armenia Festival in Yerevan.<br><br> ?I was born and raised in Vanadzor, Armenia, and all the women in my family are doing art and crafts. I inherited it from my aunt, mother, and grandmother. Art is an inseparable part of our lives. My work is connected with my mother. She is everything to us: the initiator, the inspirer and the driving force.<br><br> "All my life is connected with the National Center of Aesthetics, first as a student and later as a teacher. In this center, we teach girls embroidery/needlework, carpet-weaving, batik, drawing, puppet making, and applique work.<br><br> ?By teaching, I try to preserve disappearing types of needlework and painting techniques. I would consider the work incomplete, if we could just show girls how to hold needles and sewing. Children should be able to interpret their work after they finish it. Classes in embroidery groups begin with teaching Armenian miniature painting, and we try to raise children with national spirit. I want every child to get an after-school aesthetic education, so they grow up to become good people. In order to work with children and raise a strong generation, we should put a lot of kindness in our work and be kind to each other.<br><br> "The great Armenian painter Minas Avetisyan is a source of inspiration for my paintings and applique work.?