Аnna Nepyivoda

PYSANKA 16.04.2013 - 20.05.2013

Anna Nepyivoda, a teacher at the M. Boichuk Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts in Kyiv, represents the culture of Hutsuls, an ethno-cul-tural group of Ukrainian highlanders who for cen-turies have inhabited the Carpathian mountains. This culture is often associated with the colorful and sophisticated craftsmanship of their embroi-dery, carpet weaving, and egg decorating. Born in the village of Vyzhnyi Bereziv of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast (province), she started learning traditional embroidery and carpet weaving at a young age from her mother. Anna is a graduate of the Folk Arts College in Kosiv of Ivano-Frankivsk oblast and the Institute (now Academy) of Applied Arts in Lviv. There she obtained her skills in the craft of leatherwork and pysanka (Ukrainian painted eggs) making. While academic art is a basis for her everyday professional activities as a university teacher, she believes that to refine the delicacy and fascination of original folk art is her spiritual commitment.

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To this end, Anna has managed to revive pysanka designs that have almost disappeared in her local community. Each vil-lage in the Carpathians had its own patterns, its own symbols, meanings and rituals for decorating eggs. These customs were preserved and passed down from mother to daughter through the generations. However, up to 1980s the art of the pysanka was nearly forgotten in Anna’s native village of Bereziv. The last pysanka artisans had already died and all pysanky were sup-plied from other communities. Though of high artistic value, they did not reflect the original designs of her village. Anna, at that time, a student of the Institute of Applied Arts, managed to revive pysanka traditions of Bereziv. She obtained her basic knowledge in pysanka ‘writing’, as the designs are not painted, but written with beeswax, from other students and spent a few years improving her skills. At the same time, she collected old Bereziv pysanky or rather their fragments as eggshells are frag-ile, investigated relevant literature sources, and made a series of reconstructions based on oral information.

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The symbolism of the egg represents both na-ture’s rebirth (ancient tradition) and rebirth of man (Christian tradition). The most important symbols used on pysanky in the Hutsul region in-clude: triangles, which symbolized clouds or rain; quadrilaterals symbolized a plowed field; spirals (the mystery of life and death) and dots represent-ing stars. The Pysanka has also a plenty of floral and animal motifs. Some of them symbolize:

• Sun protects from sickness, bad luck and the evil eye;

• Stars symbolize life, fortune, and growth; • Tree of life is a symbol of eternity of the

world: roots in the dirt – the past, trunk and crown – the present, sky – the future; leaves and branches symbolize immortality, and strength and persis-tence; and

• Flowers express the female principle de-noting wisdom, elegance and beauty.

Unfortunately, once widely-spread Hutsul crafts are disappearing under the pressure of cheap mass production. Though their positions are still strong, the danger of ‘erosion’ of authen-tic designs and coloration is serious. Anna focuses her efforts on the preservation of Hutsul pysanka traditions. At the same time, she believes that further evolution of a tradition through its new interpretations is one of the pillars for the tradi-tion’s survival. It was Anna’s idea to create and materialize her own, but rooted in the tradition, pysanka designs, as well as graphic works based on pysanka motifs. Therefore, Anna considers her mission not merely in preservation and re-vival of ancient traditions in her own works but also in strengthening public awareness of these is-sues through advice to women in her community, teaching her students, and exhibiting her art.

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16.04.2013 - 20.05.2013Monday - Friday, from 10 am to 5 pm (excluding holidays)

Fulbright Program in Ukraine 20 Esplanadna Street, Suite 904, M “Palats Sportu”, Kyiv

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