On the eve of Easter, the Ukrainian community of Northern California is actively preparing for the bright holiday of Resurrection. For several years in a row, master classes in Easter egg (Pysanka) making and Easter bread (Paska) baking have been held. Easter egg making among young people and women is gaining more and more popularity thanks to active creative individuals and the organizational assistance of individual community members. A vivid example of the continuation of the ancient tradition of Pysanka making combined with the novelty of authorial improvisations is the well-known in “Silicon Valley” circles Easter egg maker, artist and teacher Sofiya Ohorodnyk. An art critic, a textile artist by education, a native of Lviv, she has been organizing master classes in Easter egg making for all comers for the fourth year in a row, and also regularly teaches children the basics of artistic creativity. So, in a dialogue with the artist, the newspaper's editorial staff learned about the specifics of her creative activity.

Mrs. Sofiya, please tell me how your passion for Easter eggs began and do you remember when you first painted a Pysanka?

I painted my first Easter egg (Pysanka) back in 1989 at the Lviv Children's Art School named after O. Novakivsky, where I studied at the time. The passion was so strong that I had to make my first Pysanka myself, using the foil from a used toothpaste tube as a basis. Finding dyes was also quite a challenge. Despite this, the very next year I taught my sister and neighbor to paint Pysankas. Together it's more fun.

Which Ukrainian region's Pysanka do you like the most?

I ask myself this question every year and I can't find a clear answer. They all have extremely interesting and unique moments. If I apply this question to personal creative challenges, then I haven't made friends with the Lemko Pysanka yet, although I like it very much.

Tell me, how does the process of creating a Pysanka usually go for you? By what principle do you build a composition, what elements and motifs of ornaments do you most often combine?

It is difficult to explain this moment, but I see them. Even on a white egg, gradually drawing the lines of division, I already see what the finished Pysanka should look like.

As for building compositions, I like to set my own creative tasks. Last year I wrote a series of Pysankas in which I tried to interpret the floral motifs of embroidery of the Cossack Baroque period. This year, in a series of double Pysankas, I took as a basis the element of an octagonal star, which manifests itself in different ways in the longitudinal strip of a chicken egg and the tree of life (flowerpot) on a quail egg. Thus, each of my Pysankas has a heart ‒ hot, red, from which sprouts of the tree of life, a kindred soul, sprout.

What traditional technologies and materials do you use for painting and what are your own creative achievements as a Pysanka painter?

I use absolutely traditional tools and materials, such as a pysachok (in the diaspora it is called a bone, in English it is a wax pen), wax, dyes. However, I consider my experiments with introducing beads into the background of the Easter egg to be my own. I have never seen anything like it before, so of course I tried to do it. Such moments really excite my creative restlessness.

How do you combine the ancient symbolism of the elements with the thematic and ideological content of the Pysanka?

Actually, this year I used absolutely traditional elements for Pysankas, such as octagonal stars, flowerpots, endless waves, bars or pines, and combined them with completely non-typical Pysanka elements, which, moreover, are formed into completely original ornaments. At the same time, this year my Pysankas also have motifs that are not at all typical for Easter eggs, such as a sailboat, a martin with a pelican, or a trio of chess pieces. Easter eggs were most often written as a gift, putting certain positive wishes into this lace of ornaments. In such an unconventional way, I wish people to enjoy sea views and find peace and tranquility in them, or to always stay on top in any life situation, whether in the role of a chess queen or a rook.

What most often inspires you at the conceptual stage of a painting?

I am inspired by challenges and the search for something new, the opportunity to set a task for myself and answer it in the most diverse and multifaceted way. Before painting an Easter egg, I ask myself what I haven't done before, what interests me at this moment at this stage. It is also important for me to try to find something that no one else has done before, as was the case with introducing beads into the background of etchings on white goose eggs.

Tell us about your charity collection of Pysanka this year, what theme you chose and what your goal was.

Yes, this year, all my Pysankas are charitable in nature. They are a kind of Easter gift to those people who sincerely and with a considerable amount supported my two charity projects back in early February. The first project was to raise funds for special meals for the needs of the Lviv children's hospice, which is cared for by the “Kryla Nadii” (Wings of Hope) charity foundation in Lviv ‒ the city where I was born and which shaped me as a person. The second project is the construction of a new, most inclusive playground for the needs of people of all ages and abilities called Magical Bridge Playground in the town where we have been living for the last three years. All these charity Pysankas have an open "heart" ‒ an Pysanka on a quail egg in the middle of Pysanka on a chicken egg.

What is the significance of Pysanka making for you personally and what are your goals in teaching it to others?

Oh, the moment of creating a Pysanka is an incredibly valuable time for me. It is a time when you can be alone with your thoughts; it is also a time when you can have fun and chat in a pleasant company and teach Pysankas to others. Ever since I was 12 years old, every year I have taught, inspired, and tempted at least one person to make an Easter egg. Perhaps this is another of my inner challenges, but since then I have not missed a single year with at least one new student. For the past few years, this has become my special form of Easter fasting. For this, I donate my time (at least one evening a week during Easter fasting), all the necessary materials, and my experience absolutely free of charge. For the fourth year in a row, we have been actively creating Easter egg beauty within the Ukrainian community of the San Francisco Bay Area.

What has Easter egg painting given you in creative and life aspects?

A large circle of new friends and good acquaintances. Pysankas are something I sincerely love. I can’t paint them all year round, although I start to paint them right after Christmas. It gives me a sense of peace, tranquility, and joy. I guess so.

We conclude our conversation with Mrs. Sofiya with great gratitude for the fact that she brings a large share of aesthetic achievements to the daily life of the local diaspora. And also with gratitude for the fact that she so skillfully combines the traditions of Pysankas painting of our great-grandfathers with the modern everyday life of a technogenic society, once again confirming that the eternity of spiritual meanings always finds a way to be embodied in perfect artistic forms.

Featured top image: Pysankas by Sofia Ogorodnyk, photo by Tetyana Ostroukhova