The tour of Uzbekistan from May 3 to May 14 was painter Valentina DuBasky’s first visit to former Soviet Central Asia. She said she has wanted to come to Uzbekistan since she toured the Xinjiang Province of western China in the 1980s, when she saw Buddhist cave paintings and other art forms that have influenced her own work.

DuBasky is the founder of the “Art in a Box” non-governmental organization (NGO), which promotes art education and using art to reach across cultures. She has worked on art education projects in Latvia, Estonia, Cambodia, Thailand and the Marshall Islands.

“Art is a great way to build bridges and make new friends,” DuBasky said.

In Tashkent, DuBasky conducted art classes with students at the Kamoliddin Bekzod Institute of Art and Design and at the Sanvikt NGO. Some of the students’ paintings that came out of those classes will be part of an online exhibit through Art in a Box.

“They did some beautiful work,” she said of the students. “They were very well trained and have a strong foundation in painting and drawing.”

DuBasky also visited the Usta-Shogird Ceramics School run by the Rakhimov family of artisans. Alisher Rakhimov taught her about Uzbek ceramics, and she painted a plate with a bird and images of Tashkent and New York using a type of glaze that has been used in Uzbek ceramics since the 16th century, she said.

“Working hands-on in another art form is a great way to learn about it and the expertise that goes into it,” DuBasky said.

In Bukhara, she conducted painting classes at the Art Lyceum, whose students’ work will also be included in the Art in a Box online exhibition.

DuBasky visited museums and cultural sites in Bukhara, Samarkand and Khiva, and she traveled to Navoi Region to see the petro glyphs at Sarmysh Gorge. Throughout her visit, she met with museum directors and other supporters of the arts, and DuBasky said she hoped to work with some of them on future education projects.

DuBasky’s paintings are exhibited regularly at the Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts Gallery in New York and have been on display at nine U.S. Embassies and Ambassadors’ residences through the U.S. State Department’s Art in Embassies program.