My Favourite Quote of the Day

"I could do this all day!" exclaimed Nick (see him in the photo below). What was he doing? Writing pysanky, of course, at my 15th annual Discover the Magic of Pysanky workshop at the Ukrainian Community Centre. It was a perfect day to be inside warm and cozy writing pysanky on this cold, rainy March afternoon. A nice complement to Spring Break and it warmed my heart to see moms and dads, boys and girls, grandmothers and grandkids, girlfriends, and families enjoying a Saturday afternoon together.

Thanks to Tom for helping to make it an eggs-ceptional event, and to Millie for all the set-up.

Today's bonus — the volunteer ladies in the kitchen had homemade perogies for take-out! Yum-yum.

For more photos of this event see the Baba's Beeswax flickr album here.

Pysanky to bring you luck

To channel the luck of the Irish this month, I made these non-traditional designs with the pysanka technique writing lucky charms of shamrocks, rainbow, pot of gold, and leprechaun to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day.

Now that that’s done I’m ready to put on something green, go to a parade, drink some Guinness, feast on corned beef and cabbage, and search for a 4-leafed clover.

Wishing you the luck o’ the Irish, too. Cheers!

Everything Old is New Again

Drawing on my experience in teaching pysanky to kids since 1991, I've been creating free student activity sheets that are being used in classrooms everywhere. Teachers and students alike have been my inspiration, as has my playful mascot Guy Kistka (created by artist and teacher Marcia Moroz).

Hi, I'm Guy Kistka

After accumulating several of these teaching aids in three languages (English, French and Ukrainian) it became obvious to me that they should be combined into one handy book—hence the publishing of Pysanky 4 Fun : A Collection of Trilingual Activities 4 Kids, ISBN 978-1-897253-46-5.

This book is free and can be downloaded from www.babasbeeswax.com.

The pages in Pysanky 4 Fun : A Collection of Trilingual Activities 4 Kids are different from those in Pysanky on Paper : An ActivityBook for Children (Baba’s Beeswax 1997, ISBN 978-0-9681922-0-7), and include drawing, colouring, word search, writing and puzzle activities.

Let me know how you are using these in the classroom, or with your kids or grandkids.

Celebrating International Women's Day my way

I'll be celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8, 2018 my way — writing pysanky with the ancient mother goddess, a Ukrainian water spirit, as the motif. The berehynia with arms upraised was believed to be the source of life and death. Other symbols perched on a curl are given an s-shape with wings, often with a crown on the head. Sometimes the berehynia has become abstracted and is represented by a plant vazon (tree of life).

A symbol of Ukrainian freedom, she has been heightened to the status of a national goddess hearth mother and protectoress of mother earth. There is a berehynia monument in Kiev, Ukraine at Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in the centre of the city. It sits on a column with a figurine of a woman with guelder-rose branch in her arms. 

These are my representations so far with more to be written.

Sharing the Love of Pysanky

I’m so lucky to live in the mild climate of the West Coast. I’ve already spotted hellebores and snowdrops pushing through the garden as if to say “Hello, spring is coming!”. That signals to me that it’s time to start making pysanky. I love pysanky, so what better time than to celebrate Valentine’s Day by getting out the beeswax, kistka and dyes. Don’t you love the vibrancy of red?

Enjoy this photo of my pysanky taken by Donna Bradley.

Valentine's Pysanky

  

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With Family and Friends

February started with our first long weekend of the year, the much-appreciated Family Day statutory holiday today, February 12^th. That marked the eventful annual Family Day workshops in the pysanky studio of Baba's Beeswax where the love of the artform was shared by all. Our perennial attendees were there, along with the added cultural infusion of students from China and Brazil who were amazed with our tradition.  I think they’ll be back practicing for Spring and Easter. Look at how proud they are of their creations!

  

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