The arrival of springtime for some means that the Easter holiday will be coming soon, and this means it's time to decorate some eggs! Most people think of decorating eggs as buying a simple kit at a local grocery store, but did you know that in some parts of the world, egg decorating is taken to a whole different level? The Ukranian traditional art form of decorating eggs, called Pysanky(pronounced PIH-sahn-kih), dates back for centuries. The photograph above, shows some of the many beautiful eggs decorated by New York City-based Pysanky artist Sofika Zielyk. Her hand painted eggs have been housed in many exhibits and museums all around the world. While most Easter eggs are typically dyed with just one solid color, Ukranian Easter eggs feature complex geometric designs and floral patterns. The word Pysanky, is derived from the verb, "pysaty," which means "to write," so Pysanky technically means "to write on eggs." The decorating technique is a wax resist, or "batik" method that uses layers of wax and different colors to achieve the end design. First, the design is drawn on the egg with pencil. A small hole is then drilled into the egg to allow the innards to seep out. Wax is then applied on the lines with a tool called a kistka, and then the egg is dipped in the first dye color. The wax seals off the lines so that they remain free of the dye. New wax layers are added with the egg being dipped in different colors with each additional layer of wax. Once dry, the wax is melted off with a candle, revealing the final design. The technique is often taught and passed on from generation to generation in families. You will find these eggs throughout many parts of Europe, but the art form is quickly becoming well-known and recognized in many other parts of the world.
You can click here to watch a short National Geographic film about the process of creating a traditional Pysanky egg.
If you'd like to learn the stories of a few Ukranian Pysanky artists and see their amazing artwork, click here to read a 2022 news article from the Toronto Star. In Canada, 1.4 million residents identify as being of Ukranian decent, which make it the largest diaspora(the spread of people from their homeland) in the world, other than Russia.
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On a side note(from a previous blog post in January), the Beatles painting, Images of a Woman, that was put up for auction at New York's Christie's Exceptional Sale, sold for 1.7 MILLION dollars. You can learn more about it here.
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