The research problem of the dissertation is a comprehension of the blacksmithing art of Ukraine, in particular, the blacksmithing art of Kyiv and Kyiv region during the 1970s through to the early 2020s as a product of culture and art, a bearer of the cultural and art values in the context of contemporary sociocultural processes, technological innovations, and economic and political changes. Blacksmithing art is an integral component of the Ukrainian culture, being an embodiment of national self-awareness and national traditions that provides a vast potential for development and is determined by specific historical circumstances. A retrospective analysis of the historical-cultural materials, sources, and facts enabled to reveal the cultural and artistic invaluability of blacksmithing art of Ukraine, to recreate its structural model of development, to devise a methodology for the analysis of the evolutional changes in the functioning of blacksmithing art as a cultural and artistic phenomenon in the sociocultural processes of Ukraine. Blacksmithing craft went through a long way of transformations: from the household craft through the commercialization of craft during the period of decline of the subsistence economy and up to being a market craft and later a genre of art. It was observed that one of the favorable factors for the renaissance and progress of blacksmithing art were the blacksmithing festivals and specialized exhibitions curated by the Union of Blacksmiths of Ukraine and by the Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Donetsk, and Kyiv organizations of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. It was demonstrated that industrial and individually produced blacksmithing art, as well as the works of folk masters, have found their niche in sociocultural and art fields, they are popular and well-received by society. It was confirmed that the ethnocutural factors in Ukrainian blacksmithing complexly evolved from the complete marginalization during the USSR era and up to the active involvement of the legacy of traditional blacksmithing techniques into the art design of the 21st-century blacksmithing pieces. The cultural and historical development of blacksmithing art was highlighted in the context of sociocultural processes, and the cultural and aesthetic components of blacksmithing in the artistic culture of Ukraine were substantiated. It was revealed that depending of the sociocultural transformation, the means and functions of blacksmithing art had undergone significant changes, mirroring the transformations of ideological platforms and art tastes of society. The understanding of the essence of blacksmithing art was broadened and specified: it having a double aim—artistic/aesthetical and applied—allows to stress its double functionality. It was theoretically generalized that blacksmithing art gained its sociocultural value and became an integral part of the artistic culture of Ukraine and one of the domains of creative activity, combining achievements of science, technologies, and art.
