the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg celebrated the 233rd anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America
On July 2, the U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg celebrated the 233rd anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America. A formal reception was held in the Modern Art Gallery on Krasnoarmeiskaya 32 for invited guests.
The Fourth of July event was celebrated with a photo exhibition entitled “California Dreamin’”, featuring the works of California resident Victor Feinberg. Mr. Feinberg is married to Alexandra Feinberg, a native of Yekaterinburg. Born in 1960 in Zimbabwe Mr. Feinberg grew up in South Africa before moving to California in 1990. He transferred his early love of photography and nature to capture the beauty of southern California where he now makes his home. Although working in the aerospace industry he devotes much of his time to photography and exhibitions. Currently he serves as a consultant at the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography located in Santa Barbara. His photographs can be found in many private and corporate collections around the world.
"California Dreamin’” is a personal exhibition of a very private place in the public imagination of America. California is the West Coast, where the sun rises over the Sierra Nevada range and sets on the Pacific Ocean. When a new nation conceived in liberty fulfilled her manifest destiny, California was the end of the road for hundreds of thousands of settlers traveling west in “prairie schooners” across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains of the United States of America. California represented their dreams come true, a chance for a new life, a new liberty far from the crowded cities of the East Coast where a hard-working man could find happiness and prosperity in open, unclaimed land.
California lured the Spanish and the Russians to build forts for trading with Native Americans who brought them a rich variety of furs from the forests and ocean. The discovery of gold in Sutter's Creek launched a Gold Rush of fortune hunters who eventually settled and built a great Golden State out of orange groves. Later, immigrants from Eastern Europe started the film industry, building fortunes out of dreams of fame and glamour. Today, Hollywood not only manufactures the American dream for export around the planet but also trained a former American president and California's present governor to live in the public spotlight. If California were a country, its economy would rank as the tenth largest in the world today.
The endless summer of southern California's balmy climate launched another American dream of the ideal life of leisure. California became America's "Magic Kingdom" when Walt Disney built Disneyland so that children and parents could have fun together. The Mamas and the Papas immortalized the dream of a warm paradise with their song "California Dreaming." The Beach Boys also recorded two versions of this song and celebrated California’s surfing sub-culture with many memorable tunes such as “California Girls”. California has become America's playground, where you can surf and ski in the same day; where you can sail your yacht to Santa Catalina and drive your sports car to Santa Barbara in the same weekend.
The new venue for the traditional July Fourth reception was well received. The surrounding photographs of California gave the event a relaxed atmosphere and the guests enjoyed celebrating the Independence Day with American colleagues and Consulate staff. The Consulate is grateful to Mr. Victor Feinberg and the Modern Art Gallery for making this a very special anniversary.