Shelota

The distance to Verkhovazhye (the district's administrative centre) is 57 km by road.[3] Afoninskaya, Makarovskaya, Fofanovskaya, Maloye Pogorelovo, Stepanovo, Chavrovskaya, Yakuninskaya, Gorka-Nazarovskaya, Dresvyanka, Garmanovo, Doroninskaya, Tatarinskaya, Denisovskaya are the nearest rural localities. It is located in 160 km from Vologda along the M8 highway, the distance from Moscow is 490 km.

The relief was formed in the area of the penultimate Moscow glaciation. The relief is of an erosional-glacial character.*

Coniferous vegetation predominates. The district is rich in useful herbs: Ivan-chai (rosebay willow-herb), Tavolga (meadowsweet) and others.

Fauna is typical for the northern part of Russia: elk, brown bear, wild boar, wolverine, white hare, pine marten, badger, wolf, fox; birds - wood grouse, ptarmigan, black grouse, hazel grouse. In rivers and lakes there are salmon, nelma, bream, pike perch, perch, luce, etc..

Shelota is the name of the area mentioned in historical documents (list of the Dvina lands) since 1471.

In June 1858, the Emperor Alexander 2 rode along the old Arkhangelsk tract. There is information about the impressions of Alexander 2 of the area he saw. “On the way to the next Nikiforovskaya station, before reaching the Shelota Volost government, there is a large mountain, from which a long and sloping descent into the valley begins. The Emperor ordered to stop and, getting up in the carriage, admired the picturesque view. From here, a wide outlook opened up with settlements and villages scattered here and there, whitewashed churches with their high bell towers and spitz shining brightly in the rays of the morning sun, the Vaga River meandering in a bright, silvery ribbon, forests, fields and arable land." The view that opened up to His Majesty on the way along the Vaga River impressed the Sovereign Emperor so much that he then drove to the village of Smetaninskaya with an open top of the carriage.

Currently Shelota is a central rural settlement as part of Verkhovazhsky District of Vologda Oblast.

An expedition was held at the territory of Shelota for filming of the "Sashka" movie. It is the story of a 12-year-old boy Sasha, who dreams of getting on the inside of a local gang of hooligans.

Since 2017, with the support of non-profit organizations, the "Shelota - Point of Attraction" project has been organized in which the Shelotyans and people who are interested in rural life hold cultural and social events.

Such events include:

1. International Ceramic Festival in Shelota

The founder of this festival is Stepanova Svetlana Anatolyevna. The event is international; guests from various Russian cities and countries such as Germany, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon attended.

2. Restoration of the Trinity Church and Trinity Festivities

In 2017, 5 bells were cast for the future bell tower with private donations. And in 2020, master Georgy Fedyaevsky restored the stained glass window on the main facade of the building.

3. Various concerts and lectures

4. Cultural tourism

5. Attracting volunteers to develop Shelota.

The following traditional and artistic crafts are presented in Shelota: Ceramic craft (Shelota is famous for its International Ceramic Festival, which attracts ceramists and guests from different cities and countries. And in August 2020, the Shelotyans became the first owners of a wood-fired ceramic kiln), Pottery, Weaving, Embroidery, Lace-making, Carpentry, Painting.

2017

The Ceramics Festival in Shelota became international in its first year: then ceramists Heida Nonnenmacher and Peter Wichmann , as well as a metal artist Martial Herbst came to the Russian North from Germany. Ceramists Alexander Gladky, Tatyana Vereshchagina and Svetlana Zhuchenko, as well as artists David Plaksin and Zoya Malyarenko, came to Shelota from the northern capital. Tatiana Gorbatova, master of the Somov school of ceramics, arrived from Verkhovazhye.

During the 7 days of the festival, the participants painted a variety of pottery, built a kiln for coal burning of ceramics, held master classes on three types of burning, including coal, paper and raku, and also exchanged experiences in organizing art exhibitions and charitable events. Local craftsmen taught guests to weave salt shakers from birch bark and make a traditional amulet doll.

In addition, the guests of the festival visited the Alekseevskaya Fair in Verkhovazhye, watched a performance at the Orthodox Art Theater, tasted pies from the Russian stove and took part in folk festivities.

2018

The second Ceramic Festival was held together with the non-profit organization Center for Cultural Programs “Culture and Peace”.[5] This time, guests from Syria, Lebanon and Yemen came to Shelota to get acquainted with the Vologda outback and tell about the culture of their countries. Ceramists from St. Petersburg, the Arkhangelsk Oblast and Verkhovazhye, as well as wood master Oleg Arseniev and the folklore ensemble "Radonitsa" from the neighboring village of Lipki were invited to the festival.

During the festival, the participants made a sculpture for fire burning “Shelotyanka”, the image of which was inspired by traditional northern motives, held a raku firing and a master class on making products on a potter's wheel, and also listened to a lecture by Ikhlas Alfakih, an artist and lecturer of sculpture at Damascus University about modern technologies of modeling from polymer materials. One of the days of the festival was dedicated to Arab culture: the quests tried tabbouleh, kabsu and coffee from a copper coffee pot, wrote their names in Arabic script and learned to dance the Syrian national dance. Then it was the turn for local residents to tell the Arab guests about their native culture. The program of the “Russian Day” included valiant amusements, ditties, round dances and a lunch with dishes of traditional Russian cuisine.

2019

The third international ceramic festival was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Verkhovazhsky District and the 75th anniversary of Tatyana Vasilyevna Gorbatova, the keeper of the Somov craft. The festival was attended by ceramists from St. Petersburg, as well as guests from Moscow and Verkhovazhye. A special guest of the festival was Emily Slide, an international communications specialist from the United States, who lives most of her life in Germany and is fond of Russian culture.

The participants of the festival got acquainted with the technology of lace production, traditional wooden architecture and the life of the Russian North, visiting museums in Vologda, Semenkovo and Verkhovazhye. During the six days of the festival, everyone saw how to set up a loom, learned how to weave from birch bark and sculpt Somov whistles from clay.

The heart of the festival was the fire sculpture “Singing Tree”, which the participants created jointly based on the traditional Somov toy. They sculpted it from a special clay with the addition of chamotte: small particles of already burnt clay, which give the clay its reinforcing properties. On the final day of the festival, after three days of air drying and seven hours of drying with a gas burner, the ceramic sculpture was burned. This spectacle became even more impressive due to the fact that the sculpture exploded and “the birds flew from the singing tree”. Perhaps because the 60-kilogram sculpture was not dry enough due to weather conditions. the festival participants and local residents celebrated the experience gained with champagne and homemade panna cotta with wild berries.