"Iskry"/"Living Embers": an exhibit of the art of Orysia Sinitowich-Gorski (04/16/06)

"Iskry"/"Living Embers": an exhibit of the art of Orysia Sinitowich-Gorski

by Maya Gregoret

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center at St. Katherine Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Arden Hills, Minn., in the vicinity of Minneapolis/St. Paul, hosted a fascinating exhibit of the art of Orysia Sinitowich-Gorski, a well known artist in the Ukrainian community in Winnipeg, on Saturday and Sunday, April 1-2.

The exhibit was attended by members of the Ukrainian community of Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding areas. Oleh Gregoret, president of the Cultural Center, introduced the artist and Dr. Alexandra Pawlowsky, professor at the University of Manitoba, who assisted in organizing this exhibit.

The focal point of the exhibit was the artist's striking artistic homage to the 1932-1933 Holodomor/Famine-Genocide in Ukraine through her work of the same title. In opening the exhibit, Maya Gregoret lit candles to honor the victims of the genocide. Dr. Pawlowsky then acquainted the audience with Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski's art.

The artist has already had a large and successful solo exhibit at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center Oseredok in Winnipeg, and has taken part in a number of group exhibitions in that city. It bears noting that Winnipeg is the historical hub of Ukrainian Canadian religious, social and cultural life and activity. Several other art exhibits are planned in Canada and the United States in the near future.

Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski was born and grew up in Hafford, Saskatchewan. She developed her artistic talents on the lap of her dear father, Hryhoriy, a descendant of the talented Hutsul family Sinitowich. After graduating as a medical technician, she met and married Dr. Bronislaw Gorski. His medical career led them to Winnipeg, where their children, Khrystia, Tamara and Antos, grew up involved in the activities of the large Ukrainian community.

And this is where Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski found a venue for the expression of her artistic talents. She studied under renowned artists Taras Korol and Nic Bjelacic.

The artist is a third-generation Ukrainian Canadian, yet, as evident in her art, she remains closely tied to the concerns and realities of her ancestral homeland and the Ukrainian diaspora. At the same time, however, she is integrally involved with mainstream issues that supercede the boundaries of ethnicity.

Executed primarily through the media of oils and acrylics, some of her pieces reflect a realistic, "photographic" style. This is particularly true of the portraits that depict, for example, the powerful religious figure Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky. They are, however, also representative of the cultural and ethnic diversity of North America, for example, "Chief Phil," a portrait of Chief Phil Fontaine (grand chief of Canada's Assembly of First Nations), "Leo's Windows," a portrait of Leo Mol (world renowned sculptor and artist), "Pas de Deux," a portrait of prima ballerina Evelyn Hart (formerly of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet).

Other works employ a mixture of impressionistic and avant-garde styles. This is particularly true of those works that intermix the ideals of human rights and her Ukrainian heritage: for example, the artist's aforementioned "Holodomor/Famine-Genocide" (striking images of the victims of the genocide of 1932-1933) and "Democracy?" (a demonstration on the streets of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, completed in 2003, an ominous precursor to the Orange Revolution of 2004 and the events that continue to affect Ukraine and Ukrainian politics even today). Her "Arise, Ukraine!" spurs the Ukrainian nation to take further strides towards achieving permanent democracy.

The same tendency toward the avant-garde is reflected in one of her most recent pieces, "Manitoba Mosaic." This piece portrays, through the emblems symbolic of Ukraine (trident), Manitoba (bison) and Canada (maple leaf), the symbiotic unity of Canada's multicultural landscape. There are also examples of pastoral scenes from Ukraine and Canada, the glory of the Ukrainian icon and the serene beauty of still life.

The exhibit also belies the artist's whimsy of spirit. This is evidenced in her "5 a.m.," a colorful depiction of the rooster who awakened her every morning during her childhood years. It is also so very visible in her series of some 50 miniature colorful pen-and-ink caricatures, originally created on scraps of paper as a weekly weekend farewell for her co-worker, which interweave humor, fantasy and reality.

Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski and Dr. Gorski have three children and two grandchildren. Their son, Antos, with his wife, Robyn, and their son, Aiden Christopher, who live in Lansing, Iowa, were also present at the exhibit in Arden Hills, as was the Gorski's daughter Tamara from Canada. The birth of their first grandson inspired Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski to create a painting especially for Aiden, titled "Sunflowers," representative of the Ukrainian, Canadian and American landscapes that reflect all of Aiden's ancestral roots.

Ms. Sinitowich-Gorski presents her art under the name "Iskry"/"Living Embers." Some of her pieces are featured and can be viewed at www.iskryart.ca.

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