Ukrainian weaver honored by NEA (09/26/99)

Ukrainian weaver honored by NEA

WASHINGTON - "In 1949 Eudokia Sorochaniuk arrived in the United States, having fled with her family from Ukraine to escape the Nazis during World War II. With her she brought her husband, her daughter and her talent for weaving Ukrainian textiles," reported the Philadelphia Inquirer in a story headlined "Local folk artists get NEA heritage grants."

For 50 years Mrs. Sorochaniuk has been embroidering, weaving, collecting and teaching Ukrainian folk art. This year the National Endowment for the Arts has recognized her achievements with a National Heritage Fellowship, the country's most prestigious honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Mrs. Sorochaniuk, 80, lives in Pennsauken, N.J., where she makes costumes for her husband's dance and music group. She has also demonstrated her work at festivals, and by teaching in folk arts apprenticeship and school programs. During a recent visit to Ukraine, she also helped teach many of the artistic skills she has so carefully conserved.

She is well-known among aficionados of Hutsul folk art, including Lubow Wolynetz of The Ukrainian Museum and Roma Pryma Bohachevsky, choreographer and director of numerous Ukrainian folk dance groups in the northeastern United States.

Along with the prestige of being selected as one of 13 master folk artists from around the nation, she will also receive a $10,000 grant. She hopes to use the money to publish a book on the art of nyzynka embroidery.

Mrs. Sorochaniuk and other 1999 recipients of the title of National Heritage Fellows will be honored on September 28 during a special ceremony in Washington in the Gold Room of the Rayburn House Office Building. Bill Ivey, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will present awards to 13 artists from 12 different states in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments as master artists, teachers, innovators and protectors of cultural heritage.

Two days later the Heritage Fellows and their works will be presented at the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University.

Mrs. Sorochaniuk joins a host of talented artists and tradesmen from around the United States, including Irish-born Mick Moloney, a resident of Philadelphia for nearly 27 years, who has been called the Renaissance man of traditional Irish music; Haitian drummer Frisner Augustin, who has taught at Columbia University and New York University; Zakir Hussain, an Indian tabla drummer since childhood; Jimmy Godbolt of Hanson, Mass., who tap-danced for Duke Ellington and Count Basie; Lila Greengrass Blackdeer, a basket-weaver from Wisconsin; and Mary Louise Defender Wilson, who maintains her Sioux storytelling heritage in Shields, N.D.

"The Arts Endowment's National Heritage Fellows are outstanding artists and individuals who have dedicated their lives to preserving, reviving and celebrating this country's living cultural heritage," said Mr. Ivey. "By proudly honoring their many contributions to music, dance, storytelling, and the creation of functional items of beauty, we also pay homage to the communities that have inspired and nurtured their work."

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