#pysanka

[squeakowl]

Intricate and Beautiful Ukrainian Egg Decorating Styles

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Made by master pysanka artist Oleh Kirashchuk from Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk.

A war veteran, Oleh fought at Debaltseve and Stanytsia Luhanska in Ukraine's defence against the russian invasion.

[vintage-ukraine]

Pysanka collection of the Kharkiv Historical Museum

[claypigeonpottery]

a little fox kiln god. the pot she’s holding can be used as a bud vase 🌷

I’m planning something experimental for this one. I have a kistka for decorating pysanka-style easter eggs. a kistka is basically a pen that draws fine lines with hot wax. so I’m going to try using it for a wax resist effect and draw some patterns on this kiln god

hopefully the glaze won’t run over my nice fine lines lol

[dontforgetukraine]

The unique Ukrainian tradition of decorating Easter eggs, pysanka, has officially joined the @/UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage! —MFA of Urkaine

[allthedesiredusernamesaretaken]

... easter eggs ...

A pysanka is a Polish-Ukrainian Easter egg, decorated with traditional folk designs using a wax-resist method

[temnashafa]

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

>>> Це моя репродукція картини

"Звір гуляє"

від Марії Приймаченко

>>> This is my reproduction of the painting

"The Beast Walks"

by Maria Priymachenko

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

[artwithmurrs]

Not OC related, but I managed to pump out a Mouthwashing themed pysanka at class last night! I wish I made Anya’s hair purple and Curlys eye blue so there was more contrast, but womp womp, I’ll know to do better next time! :D

[hopemushrooms]

Pysanka! I made dyes using onions skins and beets and they really worked out! I love the deeper, redder color I got on the egg that was dipped in the orange dye (onion skins) before the brown (beets).

And yes, one of them has shape notes on it, of course. 😉

[bialbovi]

Aww, it's baby's first pysanka 🥰🥰 I am OBSESSED with the process because it's fun and feels magical, but like if I make more for the sake of artistic experimentation, I'll have nowhere to store them ahahah;;;

Tbh, yesterday's attempt was far less successful because I didn't count some things in and fumbled the pigment but the test was worth it

[nuno-thekitten]

Me and mom's first pysankas! For this year's Easter :3 (which is today for us!)

[squeakowl]

Pysanky by Sofika (source)

[sonyaheaneyauthor]

Pysanka - Ukrainian Easter Egg - at the British Museum

[vintage-ukraine]

Illustration from Ukrainian Pysanka by E.Biniashevskyi, 1968

[cachien]

i don't have anyone else to talk to about this so i'm putting it here

my newest obsession is pysanky

i can't think about anything else like i haven't hyperfixated like this since 2018 when red vs blue randomly took over my life for a year until i was homeless anyway

i wanted to do like a cutesy little easter craft i could give to people as gifts and everything i found at first on instagram was like. for little kids? like handprint bunnies and whatnot. and then i remembered my german mother in law showing me these beautiful hand-painted eggs her mother (who lived on the german-austrian border) had made and had sold many of at holiday markets in germany and i was like "hmm maybe i can make fancy eggs, i'm not that good at painting tho"

and i came across pysanky and just spiraled

now i have this adorable little pysanky kit that came with a hand-written note from a lovely ukrainian woman. it comes with a few sample designs, 10 dye packets, three traditional wooden kistkas, and lots of instructions. i've been watching pysanky videos all week. (there's a different name for the artform as opposed to the product, pysanky i believe is the product? idk i should be better than this)

but anyway. ANYWAY. all of that to say. i just worked on my first layer of applying wax to areas of the egg i want to be white and this is after prepping the eggs yesterday which was a pain in the ass bc we blew them out by making little holes and then lung-power (i've learned there are easier ways). but there's just this like. insane beauty in doing all of it as traditionally as possible. like it's this ancient cultural tradition that i honestly have no ties to, no bloodline, no heritage, i don't even have a friend from eastern europe or ukraine (which is where pysanky is believed to have originated). but it speaks to me like the mountains and the moon and the wind and there's this beautiful legend about how the evil of the world is kept at bay as long as there are still people making pysanky every year, these little sun talisman incredibly intricate folk art eggs, and i love it so much.

more updates to come later!

[dontforgetukraine]

Sofika Zielyk, a ethnographer and folk artist, is a first-generation American who has maintained her roots to Ukrainian culture. She created The Pysanka: A Symbol of Hope project as a "reminder of resilience, cultural preservation, and the power of art to uplift in times of hardship."

“There's a legend that says as long as people are creating these eggs, the world will continue to exist. And I thought this will be my answer to the aggressor, that we will continue to exist,” Zielyk said.

With this project, Zielyk has used social media to invite and encourage anyone to create their own Pysanky using time-honored patterns and methods. These handmade pieces were then gathered at the Ukrainian Institute of America to form a unified art exhibit and installation that is ever changing as more eggs arrive.

The Pysanka originally symbolized the rebirth of nature after a long winter, with the yolk representing the sun. Through this art installation, the pysanka has been adopted as a powerful emblem of defiance against Russian aggression as well as the rebirth of Ukraine after war.

When asked if this installation will ensure Ukraine's continued existence, Zielyk responded:

"This installation of the pysanky tradition is a metaphor for the Ukrainian people themselves. They and the tradition have gone through wars, serfdom, famines, artificial famines, occupation by other countries, and yet have flourished in spite of all this. Ultimately, it shows the aggressor that we were here in the past, we are here now, and we will continue to be here."

Eventually, all the pysanky donated to the installation will travel to different areas of Ukraine affected by war.

They will be incorporated into the same ancient rituals that our ancestors performed thousands of years ago: put in beehives, buried in the ground, placed on graves of children murdered during the war.  But this time, the rituals will be performed not with the intent of hastening the return of the sun god after winter, but for the rebirth of a nation from the ashes of war.

You can send your empty, traditionally decorated pysanky to:

C/O The Ukrainian Institute of America 2 East 79th Street New York, NY 10075 USA

For more information about the project and the history of pysanky, please visit the articles below.

From Tradition to Resistance: Ukrainian Pysanky as Symbols of National Survival

The Pysanka: A Symbol of Hope