ARTS FOR AMATEURS : Brush With Wood-Painting, Ukrainian Culture

During the long, freezing winters, the Ukrainian people used to huddle around the stove that traditionally warmed the family living room and take cheer from the brightly painted furniture that seemed to warm the bleak and cheerless days.

This traditional Ukrainian art, known as petrykivka , or wood painting, will be taught by artist Zenovia Wrzesniewski from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 25 and Dec. 15 at the Ukrainian Art Center in Los Angeles, 4315 Melrose Ave., Director Daria Chaikovsky said.

“You don’t need any particular skills and all the materials will be furnished,” said Wrzesniewski, adding that the only thing participants need is a little patience.

“The classes will be very small so that I can work with each person individually, and we will begin by painting a medallion that you can either wear around your neck, or put on your Christmas tree.”

Wrzesniewski said there are a few brush strokes that she will teach and then she will show how to work on the wood that she will have already prepared for the students. The technique, also known as tole painting, can be used to make decorations as basic or elaborate as the individual artist wishes, she said.

“In the Ukraine, we used to paint our furniture, our walls, the floors and all other wood surfaces, as well as plates, bread boxes, gift boxes, cups and our shelves, in order to bring vivid color and brightness into our lives,” she said.

As the former Zenovia Iwanchuk, born 63 years ago in the Ukrainian town of Lviev, near the Polish border, she and her parents left during World War II on an odyssey that took them to displaced-persons camps in Germany, Switzerland and England, and eventually to Canada.

“Ukrainians love bright colors because they make a bold, affirmative statement and we are a positive people,” said Wrzesniewski, who met her husband, Bohuslav, now an Orange County aerospace engineer, in a Ukrainian youth group in Toronto. Since the couple came to Southern California in the late ‘60s, Zenovia Wrzesniewski has tried to perpetuate the skills her artist mother taught her, most recently by teaching at the Ukrainian Art Center.

She said that the tole painting will open up a whole new avenue of personalized Christmas presents for the participants to make. “You can do jewelry or paint on an appropriate wood surface,” she said. “Actually, you can decorate anything made of wood with the tole technique.”

Zenovia Wrzesniewski’s daughter, Adriana, plans to take another art center workshop in which Ukrainian musician Volodymyr Sukhiy will give a beginning class in the bandura , a 14th-Century instrument with 20 to 60 strings that Adriana says sounds like a mandolin.

“I have always loved the sound the instrument makes,” she said, “and since it is part of my heritage, I am going to give it a try.”

The music class is a four-day session held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. beginning Saturday and continuing on Nov. 25 and Dec. 9 and 15.

According to Chaikovsky, who is in charge of the heritage program for the center, students may either bring their own instrument, if they have one in the family, or rent one from the center.

In addition to the petrykivka and bandura classes, there will be instruction in pysanka , the centuries-old Ukrainian wax technique for decorating eggs. The technique can be used to make Christmas decorations and tree hangings, Chaikovsky said.

There will also be a two-day class in embroidery that will include cross-stitching, Chaikovsky said.

For those wishing to learn more about Ukrainian arts and crafts, there will be an open house from noon to 5 p.m. Dec. 2 at the center. The event will feature an exhibition of oil paintings and graphics of Ukrainian historical themes by Vitaliy Lytvyn, who was born in the western Ukraine and lives in Toronto. Another exhibition will feature the work of doll maker Valentina Solo, who began creating regional Ukrainian dolls to support herself when she emigrated from the Ukraine to the United States, Chaikovsky said.

The petrykivka class will be offered Nov. 25 and Dec. 15 for $25 per session. The bandura will be taught in four sessions, Saturday, Nov. 25, Dec. 9 and 15 for $45. The embroidery class will be offered in two sessions, Nov. 17 and Dec. 9, for $35. The pysanka class will be offered Nov. 17, Nov. 25, Dec. 9 and Dec. 15 for $25 per session. All classes are held between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Ukrainian Art Center, 4315 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles. For information, call (213) 668-0172.