You're reading: Artist preserves pysanka tradition

Oksana Bilous lights a candle and uses its flame to heat up the metal tip of a wooden-handled stylus. She then presses the hot metal tip into a lump of beeswax, melting the wax into a small reservoir that feeds the tip of the stylus. Then, with a practiced and steady hand, she starts to draw a design in wax lines onto the surface of a whole, empty eggshell.

These are the first steps in making pysanka – the colorful painted egg that have come to symbolize the Christian festival of Easter in Ukraine and in neighboring Slavic lands, but which still carry the symbolism of ancient pagan myths and culture.

After the first part of the design is etched onto the eggshell in beeswax, the whole egg is dipped in bright yellow paint. Then Bilous etches more of the design in wax, and the egg is dipped into paint of another color. The process is repeated, until, at its end, all of the beeswax is removed, revealing a bright, complex, multi-colored design underneath.

Oksana Bilous shows how to make pysanka in her video tutorial.

 

Bilous, 50, is one of a few people in Ukraine who still make pysankas in the traditional way. It can take her up to a day to create a complex design on a small chicken egg. She works at home in her light, cozy apartment, which is packed with boxes of paint, styluses and jars of wax.

She has had a passion for creating pysankas since her childhood. She says that she never attempted to create original designs, but found she had the patience and skill to recreate even the smallest details found on previously painted eggs. As it turns out, that is an advantage in the world of pysanka painting, as the designs on the eggs are rich in symbols from the past, their meanings handed down through the ages from mother to daughter.

Oksana Bilous shows the collection of pysankas made by her. (Volodymyr Petrov)

 

Bilous enrolled in an egg painting class when she studied at Kyiv’s Drahomanov Pedagogical University. She graduated in 1987, but decided not to become a teacher. Instead, she dedicated her life to creating pysankas.

From 2005 to 2008, Bilous exhibited a collection of more than 2,000 of her works across Ukraine. She has also presented her creations at international handcraft exhibitions in France, Germany, Belarus and Latvia.

After her work caught the eye of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Bilous enjoyed some time in the limelight. But now she avoids politicians and celebrities.

Instead, she makes pysankas for people who appreciate this kind of art, and offers big discounts to those who can’t afford her regular prices. Bilous creates pysankas using chicken, goose, quail and ostrich eggs. The paints she uses are produced in Ukraine and in the U.S. The American paint is of the best quality, she says. The price of a chicken-egg pysanka starts at Hr 250. The average cost of a painted ostrich egg is Hr 2,500.

Now an Honored Master of Ukrainian Folk Art, Bilous reproduces original pysanka designs from almost all of Ukraine’s regions, using sketches she finds in books on pysankas published in the 19th century.

She says that the symbols and designs on the eggs have remained largely unchanged through the centuries, because they have specific meanings.

Oksana Bilous shows the signs at the Easter egg painted by her. The snake is one of the most used male signs. (Volodymyr Petrov)

 

Crosses, as well as the egg itself, represent the sun and the revitalization of nature, as well as the eternal flame of the underworld, Bilous says. She explains that ancient people believed that after the sun sets, it travels through the underworld until sunrise. Because of this dual association with life and death, pysankas were also commonly used as decorations at funerals.

Frequently pysanka designs include a combination of male and female symbols. The image of a vertical cross stands for a man, while one drawn at an angle symbolizes a woman. The most common male symbol is the snake, and the one most frequently used to represent women is the ancient Slavic goddess Berehinya, who was viewed as the protector of the hearth and home.

“My calling is to create a bridge from the past to the future, carrying the ancient symbols on the pysankas from years past to the present,” Bilous says.