Caroline Jardine has been creating Pysanky, a symbolic form of Ukrainian Easter egg art, since she was old enough to continue the tradition passed down through generations of women in her family.
“In ancient times, Ukrainians made Pysanky to honor spring’s arrival after the harsh Ukrainian winters. They later became a Christian symbol,” the 26-year-old artist and teacher said. “When Joseph Stalin was in power, he all but completely eradicated the art form in his attempt to eliminate all religions. A handful of brave women made Pysanky in secret, risking their lives to ensure the survival of this tradition.
“While I order the dyes online and can have them at my door in three to five business days, my Busha Magda’s [great-grandmother] process was slightly more laborious. She made her dyes with natural materials, using beets to make reds and violets and onions for yellow hues.
“Pysanky are a symbol of bravery. When I make them, I am connected to my ancestors. I am honoring their strength and resilience.”
Jardine, whose art can be found at carolinejardine.com, was one of several artists who shared creations for this Easter Sunday Magazine page.
Dani Herrera, who creates art from repurposed paper, fabric, even dryer lint, used decorated paper and glue to create her eggs. Her work can be found on Facebook at paperDENIMart.
Mary Gaynier is a local paper cutting artist who also uses materials found at home to create her egg pieces. Step-by-step instructions can be found on her Facebook page, Mary Gaynier The Art of Cutting Paper.
Greg Justus did a take on a traditional religious egg, and also decided to be a little unconventional with his hedgehog creation.
“People always want to decorate eggs vertically so I thought I’d try to get their minds going a little by doing one horizontal,” he said. His work is at artofjustus.com.
Artists Mary Jane Erard and Josh Zetzer took a different approach to the task, creating 2-dimensional egg art that spoke to their methods: Erard created a landscape painting; Zetzer said when he thought of an egg, he pictured something inside of it. Their art can be found at maryjaneerard.fineartstudioonline.com and joshuazetzerart.weebly.com.
First Published April 12, 2020, 3:28 a.m.
