Matvey Solovyov, jubilee exhibition, 2017

The most impressive were the chessmen, designed by Matvey. As it usually runs in Kings Bay Library meetings, artworks as posted on the walls, but here – they were on the desks, since they were all about chess. Besides chess, there were other works of Matvey and Nina. Some chessmen look like classic, and some are really funny. For example, some are designed as little cups with figures inside, some – like frogs with chessmen atop.

Some chessmen set vary in color, instead of traditional black and white, one party is green – one is golden let’s say. Some chessmen are made of dreidels. Some chessmen are shown even as champagne bottles. They were made from buttons, from paper clips. No limit for fantasy and creativity. Lyudmila Shamis, with her crafts made of straws – also participated in this expo. Some of the works were made jointly with her. As usual the conference room, used as an exhibition venue was full of people. Then was a special address of his younger brother, who remember Matvey’s gift when he was around 10 years old, and Matvey already served in Army in Russian Far East. It was a toy gun, but no it didn’t shoot, it was just a gun-shaped flashlight. You pull a trigger, and light goes on. It was crafted out of wood, with room for batteries and light bulb.

No one was an artisan in his family, neither mom nor dad. They were just simple working-class representatives. However, grandfather was a shoes designer.

Matvey was an electric engineer, and as a combination of craftsmanship and engineering, heave built an electric menorah. And more and more chess was demonstrated.