On August 6, 2020, O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum hosted “Art event on the sculptor Viktor Frenchko’s birthday”.
    Viktor Frenchko (1949 - 2019) a famous Ukrainian sculptor. Was born on August 6, 1949 in the village of Pidzamchok, Buchatskyi district, the Ternopil Oblast. A member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. A laureate of the Regional Award in Fine Art and History of Art named after Oleksandr Osmerkin in the nomination “national tradition” (2009). The first laureate of the Municipal Art Award named after Borys Vintenko (2018). Studied at Kyiv State Art School named after T.H.Shevchenko (1964–1967); after the graduating from it, entered Kyiv State Art Institute, now the National Academy of Visual Art and Architecture, to the Department of Sculpture to the studio of the People’s Artist of the USSR, the academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR Mykhaila Lysenko. In 1973, got the Diploma with honors and was assigned to work to Kirovohrad Art-Industrial Plant of the Art Fund of the Ukrainian SSR. Since then, lived and worked in our town, where he created many works in different genres of monumental art –sculpture compositions, portrait sculptures, monuments, memorial signs, memorial plates. A member of the regional and all-Ukrainian art exhibitions. His works are kept in Kirovohrad Regional Art Museum, now the Museum of Arts, O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum, private collections in Ukraine and abroad.
    Artists, journalists, workers of culture, and worshipers of his works came to remember the well-known artist. The guests enjoyed watching the films “Special gift – plastic thinking of the sculptor Viktor Frenchko” (2018) and “Images of coryphei of Ukrainian theater in the creative work of the sculptor Viktor Frenchko” (2020) prepared by the widow of the sculptor, Liudmyla Frenchko – a teacher and head of the creative club “Natkhnennia” of Kirovohrad Music College, a laureate of the Regional Award in Fine Art and History of Arts named after Oleksandr Osmerkin in the nomination “study and history of arts”.
Then the guests shared their memories of the expert of monumental art, master of stone and metal Viktor Frenchko. Merited Artists of Ukraine Andrii Nadezhdin in his speech highlighted an interesting art aspect of sculpture compositions by Viktor Frenchko in the context of the history of development of Ukrainian visual art in general and monumental art in particular.
    Liudmyla Frencho was emotional when telling about her husband, his creative searches. She came to the event with her daughter Yuliia. Besides, Liudmyla Frenchko has recently presented the museum with a sculpture “On a walk. Artist Volodymyr Ostroukhov” by Viktor Frenchko. The work as well as the bas-reliefs of the artist Oleksandr Osmerkin and the architect Yakiv Pauchenko, and many other works from the family collection comprised the exposition presented during the event.
    The themed exhibition was completed by format photographs by the member of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine Oleksandr Shuleshko from the series “In the Sculpture’s Studio”, which was presented for the first time in 2016 during the museum original cultural and art project to Artsist Day in the creative studio of Viktor Frenchko on 23в, Dvortsova Str.; and the main event was the presentation of the catalog “By the language of plastics: Viktor Frenchko on life and art” within the museum project “In the Artist’s Studio”. The museum director presented several catalogs to Liudmyla Frenchko.
    The sculptor Hryhorii Savchenko, who currently works in this studio, shared his memories about his colleague and suggested to organize “Museum of Sculpture” in this premises, which could become a landmark of our town.
    Colleagues and friends of Viktor Frenchko has been communicating for a while, remembering him as an artist, as an incredibly kind, decent person, looking through the album. The chronicle of the sculptor’s life starting from the studentship, active creative work, which resulted in numerous works, was prepared by the artist’s widow Liudmyla Frenchko. She hopes that the album would be published and become an acknowledgement of the talented sculptor Viktor Frenchko.