When I entered the Gyumri Aslamazyan Sisters Art Gallery and saw the paintings hanging on the walls, I could not believe that these works had been painted by the little girl standing in the huge hall, almost lost in the crowd of Gyumri beau monde who were wandering around to see the works.
The girl with one left hand that produced those pictures is Ophelia, who is also the only Gyumri-based beneficiary of FAR’s Gulamerian Scholarship. Ophelia was raised in the Gyumri Children’s’ Home, as her parents abandoned her right at a very young age. All of the emotions from her adolescence could be traced in the pictures: loneliness, and brief moments of joy gradually transforming into hope and a feminine spirit.
Harold Gulamerian himself was in the art business, and I can’t help but thing that ties between strangers are not always coincident. Ophelia benefitted greatly from the Gulamerian scholarship. When she was of age to attend University, Ophelia’s caretakers were not able to afford the tuition payments of the European Educational Academy Gyumri. Ophelia was fortunate to be selected for the Gulamerian scholarship. As they say, a talented person is talented in many areas: despite her trouble childhood, Ophelia has grown to be a strong woman who is a not only a successful student of the International Relations Department of the Academy, but also a talented artist and a sociable young lady. The Gulamerians and Fund for Armenian Relief are so proud to have provided someone like Ophelia with the opportunity to discover her talents.
The atmosphere at the exhibition was very jovial, and FAR is thankful to all people who assist such gifted children with special needs. At the exhibition, FAR presented Ophelia with a book containing prints of works by Leonardo da Vinci, and the FAR teamed wished her success in her future artistic endeavors. According to a Gyumri-born writer and philosopher Gurdjieff: “A tree springs from the ground, but it is not created by the earth. A grain is necessary.”