Ukrainian Revives Easter Egg Art
Viktor Olevich
By TIM VICKERY
.c The Associated Press
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Inside a ramshackle Soviet-built apartment
building not far from Kiev's gold-crested onion dome cathedrals,
Galina Ivanets bends over an egg, transforming it into a tiny,
brilliant piece of art.
``Pysankarstvo'' - the art of painting Easter eggs - has enjoyed a
renaissance as part of the religious and cultural awakening in
post-Soviet Ukraine following decades of state-sponsored atheism.
Although associated with Easter, which is celebrated on Sunday in
mostly Orthodox Christian Ukraine, the eggs are sold year-round.
Back in the Soviet era, Ivanets was an economist working for a huge
state enterprise. But she says the Chernobyl disaster 16 years ago
robbed her of her health, leaving her unable to work.
But it left her time to rediscover the art, which dates to ancient
times when eggs were considered symbols of the origin of life. With
the advent of Christianity, the art of making decorated eggs, or
pysanky, came to symbolize the spiritual renewal associated with
Easter.
``Making pysanky brought sense to my life,'' Ivanets said.
Ukrainian Easter eggs are made by drawing patterns and symbols with
beeswax using a wood-handled stylus with a brass tip. Melted wax drips
through the tip onto the egg, which is then soaked in bright dyes. The
wax-dye process is repeated as many as seven times - one for each
color - to create a design.
Artists heat the wax over a flame one final time before scraping it
away to reveal the brilliant, multicolored egg. They then poke holes
at both ends, blow out the egg and thread a string through. The entire
process takes anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days, depending
on the intricacy of the design.
In some families, the tradition is passed from generation to
generation. But Ivanets became a pysanky artist by accident.
After a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in April
1986, spewing radiation, she became too sick from diabetes and a
nervous disorder to work. In the economic turmoil that followed the
1991 Soviet collapse, she had to find a way to earn money from home to
buy insulin.
One day in 1992, when showing an Australian friend around Kiev,
Ivanets happened upon a woman demonstrating egg-coloring at the first
meeting of pysanky artists since Ukraine's independence.
When Ivanets sat down to try her hand, a television crew filmed her,
thinking she was the artist. She ended up on television as a egg
artist before she even knew how to color eggs.
``It was a message,'' she said.
Encouraged by her 10-year-old daughter, Olesiya, Ivanets taught
herself how to make pysanky from library books showing pictures of
regional designs.
``When I started, I didn't know any special designs or symbolism. I
just used my imagination,'' Ivanets said with a grin.
A year later, she went to a local boutique and saw eggs she'd sold for
$1 going for $5. Today, she is one of Kiev's most sought-after egg
artists. Pysanky usually sell for about 25 U.S. cents on the street;
her eggs sell for upward of $10.
Ivanets spent three days making a pysanka to be given to Pope John
Paul II, a heavenly white goose egg with a gold cross and ribbon
motif. Red dots sprinkled throughout the design symbolize Mary's tears
during Jesus' crucifixion
``The design came to me as a sudden inspiration,'' she said.
Ivanet's ``workshop'' is the family room and kitchen of her apartment.
When she works, even the family cat is sent out.
``I have to work alone,'' Ivanets said. ``If anyone comes in or
something disturbs me, it destroys the spirit of the egg and I must
throw it away.''
05/04/02 05:10 EDT