Eggstravaganza: Celebrating Easter with Slavic art classes, festivals
Katherine Mansfield
Lawrence Kozlowski continues the tradition of palm weaving, taught to him by nuns in elementary school, during the 16th annual Eggstravaganza in Uniontown in March. Kozlowski, of Monroeville, sold palm and pussy willow branches, which were traditionally used in Slavic countries to celebrate Palm Sunday.
Katherine Mansfield
Sharon Tyborowski Hachman, of New Kensington, spent the Eggstravaganza painting eggs with acrylic paint, a tradition she鈥檚 carried on from childhood. This was the egg artist鈥檚 second year participating in the Uniontown festival.
Katherine Mansfield
Acrylic paint on egg is Sharon Tyborowski Hachman鈥檚 spin on Easter egg tradition.
Katherine Mansfield
Joseph Borytsky talks all things Polish art at the 16th annual Eggstravaganza in Uniontown March 26. The artist showcased his paper cut artworks, pictured here, alongside Polish drop and pull, silk print and pysanky eggs.
Katherine Mansfield
Joseph Borytsky uses the Polish technique of drop and pull to create brilliant, textured designs on eggs of all kinds. The Fairchance artist enjoyed sharing his creative process with Eggstravaganza attendees.
Katherine Mansfield
Egg art resources and other Lenten season decorations were available for purchase at the Eggstravaganza.
Katherine Mansfield
Along with traditional Ukrainian pysanky and Polish drop and pull eggs, Joseph Borytsky also handcrafts silk print eggs like these, which were displayed during the 16th annual Eggstravaganza in Uniontown last month. For more, please see PAGE C1.
Katherine Mansfield
Lois Winslow cuts small pieces of palm leaves, which she often uses to add textured design to dyed eggs. Winslow showcased a variety of egg art techniques at the 16th annual Eggstravaganza in Uniontown March 26.
Katherine Mansfield
Lois Winslow sits among her art pieces, including traditional Ukrainian pysanky and Trypillian style eggs. Winslow, a retired math teacher, has been teaching the art of pysanky classes in her hometown of Perryopolis since 2000.
Michael Yanchek demonstrates ways to remove wax from pysanky eggs, to reveal the completed artwork, at Peters Township Library on March 2. About a dozen eager learners crafted pysanky eggs and learned the tradition's history during Yanchek's two-part workshop series.聽
Ellen Murphy concentrates on writing in wax on her pysanky egg during the workshop at Peters Township Library in early March. Murphy enjoyed learning the art form, poked fun at her progress and joked that "unless it's your job, people should have fun and go with the flow."
A woman writes in wax on her egg during the pysanky workshop at Peters Township Library, led by artist Michael Yanchek.
Katherine Mansfield
Erika Sweka and her grandparents drove about two hours from their home in Sykesville, Pa., to Uniontown for their first-ever Eggstravaganza at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church. 鈥淢y grandpa got a flyer from our church and he wanted to come,鈥� she said, making her first pysanky egg. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really nice.鈥�
Isabella Luick, 7, makes her own pysanky egg during the 16th annual Eggstravaganza at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church March 26. Luick and her mother, Synthia Luick, led pysanky classes during the event.
Katherine Mansfield
The Terrible Egg stands tall among silk print eggs, made by Joseph Bortysky of Fairchance, at the 16th annual Eggstravaganza in Uniontown March 26.
In the weeks leading to Easter, people of all backgrounds and beliefs gather inside local libraries and churches to learn the art of pysanky, a centuries-old egg decorating tradition revered for its rich colors and intricate designs written in wax on egg shell.
鈥淓very east-central European country has an egg tradition of some nature,鈥� said Michael Yanchak, a retired Peters Township police captain who teaches pysanky art at Peters Township Public Library each March. 鈥淚 believe people should have an understanding of what goes on in some of the other countries. In the Pittsburgh area, there are a lot of people who have east-central European ties. People come in all the time and go, 鈥極h, my grandmother used to do that, my bubba used to do this.鈥� I enjoy sharing it, which is why I do it the way I do it.鈥�
Yanchak learned pysanky from his father, of Ukrainian descent, who spent the weeks before Easter Sunday melting crayon wax over the family鈥檚 gas stove and decorating eggs with rich, waxy colors. Eager to have his own eggs included in the Easter blessing basket, Yanchak poured his energies into learning the art form.
Decades later, he is a regular attendee at regional retreats, conferences and festivals, and passes on tradition through workshops and lectures at the library.
Yanchak鈥檚 classes are part history lesson, part art lesson. Over the course of two, two-hour hands-on sessions, attendees learn to measure eggs, gain understanding of the process and apply theory.
鈥淚f you leave here with the ability to measure, relatively accurately, on an egg and can look at an egg design and go, 鈥極h, I can do that鈥� 鈥� then we鈥檙e good,鈥� Yanchak laughed.
Those who attended Yanchak鈥檚 pysanky workshops this year learned all that and more, including Ukrainian folklore 鈥� so long as mankind creates pysanky, an evil monster will remained chained, unable to destroy Earth 鈥� and art symbolism. On March 2, eight women showed up, eggs half-done, having been waxed and dyed several times the week before, ready to finish their masterpieces.
鈥淚鈥檝e always liked these. I鈥檝e bought them, I have a few at home that, they鈥檙e just beautiful,鈥� said Ellen Murphy, of Nottingham, gently writing with wax on her egg. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e like, to me, works of art. They鈥檙e like snowflakes, they鈥檙e all different, so they鈥檙e beautiful. It鈥檚 a talent, definitely a talent, that people have to do this.
鈥淏ut I can鈥檛 do it,鈥� she added with a laugh, 鈥渂ecause I don鈥檛 have a steady hand.鈥�
The hardest part of pysanky art, many agreed, is making straight lines using the kistka, a wax stylus that vaguely resembles a pencil with a pointy, beeswax-filled tip where the eraser ought to be.
鈥淭hey seem straight,鈥� said Katie Gaynor, of Cecil, lightheartedly noting that upon closer inspection, some are slightly crooked.
But that鈥檚 no matter; from a short distance, all the eggs are striking, layers and layers of colorful, delicate detail.
鈥淭he best part is taking the wax off. You can see it all coming together,鈥� Gaynor said.
Gaynor attended Yanchak鈥檚 class with her self-proclaimed 鈥渞ide or die crafting friend鈥� Dionne Simpkins, also of Cecil, who has tried everything from quilting to pysanky with her bestie.
鈥淲hen somebody says, 鈥楬ave you ever?鈥� we can say, 鈥榊eah,'鈥� Simpkins laughed. Pysanky, she said, is 鈥渁n equal amount of enjoyment and challenge.鈥�
Even seasoned artist Jan Pini, a member of the McMurray Art League who said she鈥檚 never met a medium she didn鈥檛 like, appreciated the challenge of creating pysanky.
鈥淚t鈥檚 harder than I thought it was going to be,鈥� said Pini, a first-time pysanky egg decorator. 鈥淲ax doesn鈥檛 want to behave, and it鈥檚 not very forgiving, but it鈥檚 fun. I have a newfound respect for anybody who can do this and make it look good.鈥�
Pysanky is an art form that does take practice, and patience, Yanchak conceded, and there is so much to it that he now offers a separate lecture and Q&A series to workshop attendees. Sometimes, he even answers questions off the metaphorical clock.
鈥淓very once in a while, I find people who continue to do it,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ne year, I did the class. (After), I鈥檓 having dinner with the guys one night and I get a phone call. She goes, 鈥楳y daughter made this really great design, and she鈥檚 got a blob of wax sitting in the middle of the egg. How do you take that off?'鈥�
Those are the moments that make teaching rewarding.
When he isn鈥檛 teaching pysanky, Yanchak is an active part of the art community. He recently set up shop at the 16th-annual Eggstravaganza at St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church in Uniontown, where hundreds gathered March 26 to watch live egg art demonstrations, create their own masterpieces and indulge in homemade pirohi.
鈥淚 started out doing Ukrainian eggs, but everybody in this area does Ukrainian eggs,鈥� laughed Joseph Borytsky, of Fairchance. 鈥淢y ethnic background, my father came from Poland, and so I started doing the Polish drop and pull wax relief on goose eggs and chicken eggs. The traditional way, you take your pinhead, dip it in your wax, take your white egg, then drop and pull, drop and pull. (The design) would be flat. I came up with the idea of coloring the beeswax. I started dropping the colored beeswax on the egg, which gives it three dimensions.鈥�
The method gives Borytsky鈥檚 drop and pull eggs unique texture and sets those eggs apart from his traditional Ukrainian pysanky eggs. The Fairchance native also enjoys other Polish arts, like paper cuts, or wycinanki. Throughout his decade-spanning art career, Borytsky鈥檚 works have been displayed at such renowned institutes as the Pittsburgh Cathedral of Learning, the National Czech and Slavak Museum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and The Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.
At the Eggstravaganza, 鈥淭he Terrible Egg,鈥� a very Yinzer piece, stood proudly next to an egg decorated in a portrait of the Madonna and Child.
鈥淭hese are silk prints,鈥� he said, gesturing at the photograph-type egg. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just something different.鈥�
Different kinds of egg art make the annual Eggstravaganza such a wondrous event. While Bortysky displayed traditional Polish art, other vendors showcased Ukrainian pysanky, and others, like Sharon Tyborowski Hachman of New Kensington, sold bright, spring-themed eggs decorated with acrylic paint.
鈥淚 came as a spectator,鈥� said Tyborowski Hachman. 鈥淟ast year was the first year I participated. My mom, she painted eggs when I was younger and I just sort of carried on the tradition.鈥�
Several egg art traditions graced the table of Lois Winslow, a retired Connellsville High School math teacher and Perryopolis resident who delights in all forms of egg decoration.
Unlike many who grew up with kistka in hand, whiling away winter carefully drawing with wax, Winslow did not grow up crafting pysanky.
鈥淚 was a teacher. A lady came in one day and showed me some of her eggs she made in Bonnie鈥檚 (Balas) class. I was enthralled,鈥� said Winslow. 鈥淚n 2000, I taught my first class in Perryopolis and I鈥檝e been teaching (pysanky) ever since.鈥�
Along with traditional pysanky, Winslow creates Trypillian eggs, a wax writing technique that borrows American southwest art color palettes and motifs. She also dyes decorated eggs with onion skins, and crafts marvelous pieces by wrapping chicken eggs in a rich, lovely handmade Japanese paper.
鈥淚鈥檝e gone to different retreats. They have various egg artists there I didn鈥檛 know about. We appreciate all types of egg art,鈥� Winslow said.
Also on display at the Eggstravaganza: palm art, by Monroeville palm weaver Lawrence Kozlowski, who fashioned roses and other designs from palm leaves.
Kozlowski explained that traditionally, Palm Sunday was celebrated in Poland, Carpathian Ruthenia and other Slavic countries with pussy willow branches, the first tree to bloom in springtime. American churches mark the occasion with palm leaves, per biblical accounts, and immigrants took to the custom, he said.
鈥淧eople began to weave them into beautiful designs. When we do this, we keep the memory of those people alive. When we do Easter eggs, make the pierogis, make bakery goods, those people live again and again and again,鈥� Kozlowski said.
The Rev. Vasyl Symyon, of St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church, said it is important to share traditions like Ukrainian pysanky with Eggstravaganza attendees, some of whom are outside the faith.
鈥淚t is our inheritance, the richness of our culture. Through those traditions people can discover our church,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he church is still a place which preserves the history of the nation, culture of the nation, tradition.鈥�