COUNTYWIDE : Ukranian Egg Artistry Is Kept Alive

When Zenovia Wrzesniewski was forced to leave the Ukraine during the Bolshevik revolution after her father was sent to Siberia, she left behind many things that were precious to her.

But she was able to re-create at least one thing from her homeland. The ingredients were simple and she knew them by heart: a spout from an aluminum can, a stick, a piece of string, melted wax, dye--and patience.

From these items, Wrzesniewski fashioned a kistka, a tool used in pysanky --the art of creating Ukrainian Easter eggs. Wrzesniewski, a Santa Ana resident, now uses her kistka to teach pysanky at workshops that she conducts throughout Orange County.

“It is a very unusual art form,” she said. “Once you learn it, it is very tranquil.”

Pysanky is an ancient art which began as a pagan tradition of thanking the gods for the sun, Wrzesniewski said. When Christianity came to the Ukraine in AD 988, the ritual was absorbed and the pysanka was likened to the tomb from which Christ arose.

Though many pysanka designs are intricate and eggshells are fragile, Wrzesniewski said that anyone can learn the art form.

She said her students have included everyone from children to people with physical handicaps. One of her proudest recruits was a 94-year-old women who was brought to class by her 76-year-old daughter.

Although the ingredients needed to decorate the eggs are simple, the process can be quite complex. A technique similar to batik is used in which hot wax is applied to the egg through a hollow brass cone with a pinhole opening at one end. Areas that are to remain white on the egg are covered with wax.

The egg is then dipped in a series of dyes, with a wax coating added to preserve each successive color.

Wrzesniewski said that her pysankas made from ostrich eggs have sold for up to $300. Chicken-egg versions sell for $12 to $20 each, she said. Faberge eggs, some of which are decorated with jewels, sell for much higher prices.

Wrzesniewski said her goal is to get people to both learn the art and understand its significance. In Orange County, she has teamed with La Palma resident Linda Mudlo so that they can increase the number of pysanky lectures, classes and shows offered in the area.

Mudlo, who learned pysanky from her grandmother, said the art form is “a special link to your past.”