The tray “Forest Lake” represents one of the traditional directions of the Nizhny Tagil tray painting art. This is a genre scene that was created using the multi-layer painting technique. The tray was designed by Irina Vasilyevna Reshetova, a master of lacquer painting on metal, in 2004. Such trays, featuring landscapes or genre scenes created using the technique of multi-layer painting, appeared as early as the mid-18th century. These were paintings, created on iron instead of canvas.
Irina Reshetova was born in Nizhny Tagil in 1968. After graduating from a technical and vocational school, she worked as a tray painter at the Emalposuda (Enamelware) factory from 1987 to 1989. She joined the workshop’s creative team and designed ornamental compositions.
Irina Reshetova studied the trays of 19th-century craftsmen extensively. Based on their works, she designed her own compositions, enriching them with new elements. For her unique works created during this period, Irina Reshetova was awarded a bronze medal at the All-Union Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy. Between 1989 and 1997, she worked with various creative enterprises and later became a freelance artist.
In the early 2000s, Irina Reshetova designed a series of trays depicting Ural landscapes. Among them were “Forest Lake”, “Golden Autumn”, and “Weeping Willows.” The artist often traveled to the countryside around Nizhny Tagil where she made studies and plein-air sketches. She was constantly improving, refining, and detailing her compositions. Over time, she created an idealized image of Ural nature.
Irina Reshetova’s trays have been praised not only by her colleagues, experts, and connoisseurs of the Nizhny Tagil tray painting art but also by art critics in Moscow. She was commissioned to create a series of landscape trays for the State Historical Museum. In 2007, Irina Reshetova received a first-degree diploma and an audience choice award at the “Landscape and Genre Scenes” tray painting competition in Yekaterinburg. In 2011, Irina Reshetova became a member of the Union of Russian Artists. In 2017, she was awarded the honorary title of the Master of Folk Arts and Crafts of the Sverdlovsk Region.
