NEWS AND VIEWS: Embroidery: looking forward (03/07/99)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Embroidery: looking forward

by Tania Diakiw O'Neill

I always enjoy and welcome the interesting columns that Orysia Paszczak Tracz writes for The Ukrainian Weekly. She draws on her Ukrainian diasporan upbringing and extensive reading about our cultural heritage from Ukrainian sources to write about aspects of our Ukrainian customs, traditions and folklore in a popular, easy-reading style. Occasionally she writes reviews of books dealing with another of her enthusiasms - that of Ukrainian embroidery, among them my own work, titled "Ukrainian Embroidery Techniques - Ukraiinski Stiby."

It was therefore with more than usual interest that I read Ms. Tracz's two-part "unraveling embroidery" commentary on The Weekly's pages (September 27 and October 11, 1998.) The comments I read there are what I know to be the "received wisdom," the concerns and caveats that I, too, was taught and with which I was raised.

In this piece, however, I do not wish to address the comments made in that column. Instead, I want to raise a related topic that has not been addressed in our community, one which has long been of concern to me, and which that column helped crystallize.

Allow me to explain: Like many of you, I grew up on the North American continent, raised by immigrant parents. Our Ukrainian parents and community in America worked hard to impress upon its children the importance of preserving Ukraine's rich cultural heritage. This included the traditional patterns, colors and styles of Ukrainian embroidery. We were taught that changing anything in these embroidery designs could irrevocably change or even destroy the Ukrainian character of the design because, over time, such independent, personal changes in traditional designs would soon destroy not only the reservoir, but also the meaning and the tradition of what made them "Ukrainian." But neither its "meaning" nor what made it "Ukrainian" was specifically defined, except to say that the embroideries were full of meaning and symbolism; that which made them Ukrainian was the specific combinations of those motifs, patterns, and color combinations evolved over time to a distinctively high level in its native environment in Ukraine.

Some of us, including myself, still retain much of that inculcated attitude. Thus, to some extent I share Ms. Tracz's concern about how Xenia Kolotylo's book of charted patterns (or other, similar publications) might be seen, and possibly misunderstood, by embroidery enthusiasts. Such enthusiasts may be from any generation or wave of Ukrainian diaspora - or they might not be Ukrainian at all - in either case knowing little, if anything, of the characteristics, traditions or meaning of Ukrainian folk embroidery within the wider scope of Ukrainian culture and history.

At the same time, however, I do not fully agree with Ms. Tracz's criticisms, nor her interpretation or understanding of what that book is. The title is clearly "Xenia Kolotylo," not "traditional Ukrainian designs." Mrs. Kolotylo never said that she was an ethnographer, nor that these designs are all original folk designs. Rather, they are simply her collection.

So what's the problem? For some, the problem seems to be that this book is neither fish nor foul, neither folk nor original personal creativity. For me, and for many people from whom I've had comments concerning the "unraveling" column, the problem is much greater: our Ukrainian diaspora in North America does not have a forum in which to raise questions, discuss or teach basic, fundamental essential issues concerning Ukrainian embroidery. Currently, there is no community-recognized organization that is primarily concerned with preserving and promoting both solid information and practical advice, one that would determine what should to be taught concerning the knowledge about embroidery that our parents and grandparents brought with them when they left Ukraine for the diaspora.

It is certainly not up to any one person to be the arbiter and guardian of the knowledge and traditions of Ukrainian embroidery; the topic is too complex. Nevertheless, there are still many individuals in our midst who know something of value about Ukrainian embroidery. Some of these people teach or have taught, some have been published in single or group works, some may have informally studied Ukrainian ethnography and embroidery, and some simply know their own, native embroidery from their youth in Ukraine (and these can be an important resource). However, we have failed to come together to combine our knowledge and understanding of what we know, and what we still need to know.

Meanwhile, there is a strong, popular, business-like organization in the U.S.A. with a stated membership of 20,000 - the Embroidery Guild of America Inc. (EGA), and there's a matching association in Canada, the EAC. These organizations offer various correspondence courses to their members, including a few courses on some aspects of (ostensibly) Ukrainian embroidery. Who knows how knowledgeable the authors of such courses are about the topic of Ukrainian embroidery that is taught in these courses?

Thus the question arises: Where is our Ukrainian embroidery organization? Who, what organization, what representation do diaspora Ukrainians have capable of speaking to the concerns and questions that such "teachers" and courses may raise in the minds of those concerned with our Ukrainian embroidery heritage? To my knowledge, no Ukrainian organization currently exists of people knowledgeable in Ukrainian embroidery that is prepared and willing to address such questions, nor has the ability to present a collective, unified, authoritative resource to our diaspora community of embroidery enthusiasts, much less to the American (non-Ukrainian) community of stitchers who are also indeed interested in, and willing to pay to learn about, Ukrainian embroidery.

Instead, we seem to still be in the "cottage industry" stage for dealing with this topic, especially when compared to the kind of organization, cooperation, and marketing skills used by the business-like EGA and EAC (and also Europe, which has similar embroidery guilds).

I believe we should and can have a Ukrainian Embroidery League (UEL) on this continent (and perhaps later, when we are stronger and better organized, a wider-ranging Ukrainian Craft and Arts Association.) Such a UEL could address and resolve diverse questions such as:

1) What is the significance and meaning of Ukrainian embroidery to Ukrainians in the diaspora, and to Ukrainians in Ukraine?

2) What are the meanings of the signs and motifs in the traditional designs?

3) If changes are made in patterns, their use or application, how are these to be viewed in relation to those of traditional Ukrainian embroidery?

4) Determine and define what qualifications, what base of knowledge is required for a person to be considered qualified as a "master," a "teacher" or a "craftsman" (denoting different levels of abilities and achievement) in various areas of competence in Ukrainian embroidery?

5) What can or should we say, for example, about the design shown in the Kolotylo book on pg. 67 which, as Ms. Tracz stated, looks "Middle Eastern or Oriental, or something, but certainly lack(s) 'Ukrainian-ness'?"

[About this question, I'd like to share the following information: This exact pattern, shown as a design using only black and red colors, without the extra colors Mrs. Kolotylo applied to the pattern, is shown in both a Ukrainian diaspora pattern booklet from 1948 (by St. Kruk), and in a 1975 book released by Dover Publication titled "Charted Folk Designs for Cross-Stitch Embroidery - 278 Charts of Ancient Folk Embroideries from the Countries along the Danube" by M. & A. Foris, and includes the information that the pattern is "an unabridged and unaltered republication of the work originally published by Sebaldus Verlag, Nuremberg in 1950, under the title "Susann Folk Cross Stitch Charts."]

It is my opinion that it has only been since the mid-1940s that the "preservation without changes" traditionalism has been institutionalized. Previously, on native Ukrainian lands, Ukrainian village women often created new variations based on older designs by varying some placement of stitches or colors, or both, often thus developing a "new" design. And if, within her close community, such a design was accepted and admired by her neighbors, then that design was continued, copied and itself slightly altered, to the next woman's creative desire. Yet all this was based within that community's stylistic parameters. And if the new variation of color or pattern was not accepted by fellow and/or neighboring villagers, then it was not repeated, not imitated, and it eventually died a natural death, a form of natural selection.

I am sure that the experiences of her youthful days in Hutsulschyna, and later in Bukovyna, influence Mrs. Kolotylo's perceptions and her embroidery work. The fact that she changed parts of known designs is within long-standing tradition in Ukraine. I am not sure, however, that I, having grown up in the American environment of Ukrainian diaspora rather than a Ukrainian village, could so readily or confidently make changes in known, or even unfamiliar, designs. And worse yet, we Ukrainian embroidery enthusiasts live too far apart to be able to be that mirror, that much-needed close community of embroidery-knowledgeable people from which we could all benefit so very much. Without an organization like a Ukrainian Embroidery League, we in the diaspora have no chance to have such a community for guidance and for encouragement.

There are many subjects concerning Ukrainian embroidery (and other folk arts and their traditions) that need to have a place where they can be discussed within such a community, or league. This league can be a united force for Ukrainians who are knowledgeable, as well as those who are interested in learning and teaching our actual ethnic embroidery heritage and history, and including practical "how to" lessons/courses.

This organization might also become a publishing resource for books about Ukrainian folklife, ethnographic monographs or cooperative works, which today have no actual support structure nor publishing resources. These efforts could be supported by the income from the more popular activities, such as the "how to" courses and publications. Such an organization could also provide the platform and resources for supporting and publishing valuable works on subjects related to these fields.

This organization must be established as a businesslike, non-profit entity, since it will probably need some community support during its start-up period. But, once established, this organization needs to be able to both support itself, its essential working personnel and also a periodical. It will have to establish a strong marketing and distribution network to reach more people who live outside established Ukrainian communities, whether in the U.S. or in Canada. In a relatively short period of time, it should also be able to publish, market, distribute and sell informative works on various aspects and topics concerning Ukrainian embroidery. By making membership open to everyone, and by also publishing in English we can expect a much larger base of support than if we keep it limited to the Ukrainian-literate part of our community.

In time, it may also become a wonderful complement to, and cooperative effort with, those guilds, ethnographers and organizations in Ukraine who could both contribute and benefit from such a league in diaspora. I see this Ukrainian Embroidery League as all-inclusive, not limited to North America, but available to anyone who can read either Ukrainian or English. I also hope to see such Ukrainian embroidery leagues arise on other continents, eventually corresponding and cooperating with each other.

Perhaps then, such well-intentioned yet seemingly embattled-feeling Ukrainian embroidery enthusiasts as Xenia Kolotylo would not feel they are the last, dying bastion of a valued traditional craft-art tradition.

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