Tucson residents perpetuate Ukrainian arts (09/09/01)

Tucson residents perpetuate Ukrainian arts

by Bogdan Chulovskiy

TUCSON, Ariz. - The sunny, warm and healthy climate of Arizona has become home to many looking for relief from medical problems. Among these have been a number of Ukrainians who continue their native traditions in the world of folk art.

Stephan Tkachyk, Zenon Korytko, Vole and Anna Skibicky, and Justyna Nahorniak are local artisans and parishioners of St. Michael Ukrainian Catholic Church in Tucson. All have contributed their artisanship to the church since the Rev. Basil Buchek became pastor in August 1998.

Mr. Tkachyk, a World War II veteran, was born into a peasant family in the village of Stoyaniv in the Lviv region of Ukraine. He is the only surviving son of five. The Soviets shot his mother and older brother; one perished in Siberia after 10 torturous years; another died near Stalingrad; and the fourth died in Ukraine four years ago.

Upon returning from a prisoner of war camp in Rimini, Italy, he lived in Chicago, and afterwards in Santa Clara, Calif. When asthma and other allergies threatened his health, he moved to Tucson. Deeply religious, Mr. Tkachyk and his wife, Trudy, organized the first Ukrainian Catholic church group, and the first liturgy was celebrated in the Morozowsky home in 1979.

In 1980 a fellow parishioner, Michael Melnykovych, purchased two acres of land, and other parishioners bought the adjacent three acres with its building. This currently serves as the chapel/church and priest's residence, and has been part of the Chicago Eparchy since 1985. Mr. Tkachyk participates in many local fairs and events, where he exhibits his beautiful carvings on wooden plates, crosses and jewelry boxes - all traditional Ukrainian art. He began his woodcarving while prisoner of war, and continues his talented work to this day.

Mr. Korytko, one of four children, was born in the village of Trynka, Lviv region, in 1935. His grandfather was the parish priest in the village of Choloyiv, and his father, Ivan, painted icons. From the age of 6 he went along as his father decorated church ceilings and walls.

Mr. Korytko emigrated to the United States from a refugee camp in Badverizhofen, Germany, where his father had made the first iconostas and icons for the dining room where divine liturgy was celebrated. When the camp closed in 1947, the iconostas was moved first to a Dutch monastery then to a museum in Belgium.

His father and his uncle, George, did woodcarving to help earn a living, and began teaching Zenon and his brother the art of woodcarving and icon painting.

In 1949 the family moved to Pittsburgh, then to Dunkirk, N.Y., where Mr. Korytko finished high school and went on to study architecture at the university. His education was interrupted by the Korean War, in which he served for four years. He then concluded his architectural studies and moved to Denver, where he met and married Mary Mliak. Due to a heart condition, he moved to Tucson in 1992.

Mr. Korytko now also serves as cantor at St. Michael's. He returned to woodcarving with the encouragement of Mr. Tkachyk, and belongs to the Tucson Woodcarvers Club. His many projects include wooden plates, jewelry boxes, crosses and album covers in the traditional Ukrainian Hutsul style - all inlaid with gemstones and pearls. His father has also passed his knowledge on to his two daughters, Lesia and Zenia.

Mr. Skibicky comes from Zhovkva in the Lviv region of Ukraine. He began his woodcarving career in his late 60s, when he became acquainted with Mr. Tkachyk and Mr. Korytko, who introduced him to woodcarving. Together this threesome has created some wonderful artworks for the church. In 1996, Mr. Skibicky became a winter resident of Tucson and a participant in annual exhibitions.

Mrs. Skibicky, born in 1933 to Petro and Teklia Nohacz in Zolotnyky, Ternopil region of Ukraine, immigrated to the United States in 1951, and lived in Chicago and Madison, Wisc. She received her very first Ukrainian Easter egg (pysanka) as a gift after nearly 12 years in the states, and felt drawn to the art; she now exhibits her works in Tucson shows.

Mrs. Nahorniak was born in the village of Sychiv, Stryi region of Ukraine; she lost her mother at the age of 8 and father at 12. Life took her to Germany, Belgium and then to the United States, where she settled with many other Ukrainian immigrants in Chicago. In 1995 she came to live with her daughter Luba in Tucson.

She made her very first Easter egg at the age of 8, when a neighbor gathered several children and showed them the art of decorating eggs. Now 82, Mrs. Nahorniak churns out around 1,200 pysanky annually, using various types of eggs, including chicken, goose, ostrich and dove. Her pysanky are found in the collection of the pope, the Ukrainian Museum in Chicago, in private collections in Australia, Canada and the United States, and also in "Pysanka," the world's only Easter-egg museum which opened in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine in 2000.

During her lifetime Mrs. Nahorniak has decorated more than 10,000 Easter eggs, with no two being identical. Her design is born as she begins each egg - she uses no other resources for her designs. Her daughter Vera has inherited her talent with pysanky and has her own exhibits, while daughter Luba produces masterful tapestries, some of which have taken 15 years to complete and captivate viewers with their colors and beauty. Mrs. Nahorniak displays her talent at local shows, and eagerly instructs students in the art of pysanky.

| Home Page |