In 1948 Chetkov joined his family in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. It was to prove one of the formative decisions of his life: here he met his first mentor, Vladimir Eifert who saw the true artist in the young man. For three years the renowned art historian taught Chetkov everything he knew, before sending him off to art school in St Petersburg. In that city and later Moscow also he thrived, despite a near-fatal brush with brucellosis and the negative attentions of the Communist Party. After graduating he became the chief glass artist of the 1BBW glass factory, a role that was to inform his art in wonderful ways.
Courtesy Kenneth Pushkin: 'Boris Chetkov in his own Words'.
Additional research: Hermione Crawford