Ukrainian Batik Egg Tradition Alive in Arlington

With all the news coming out of Ukraine these days, it's amazing to realize that the Ukrainian diaspora around the world is far larger than the population of Ukrainians in Ukraine. And all over that diaspora Ukrainians create what they call Pysanky: the beautiful batik eggs associated with Easter. They've also been teaching their neighbors how to make Pysanky. That's how I, Tina Brand, 25-year resident of Arlington, MA, learned to make these Ukrainian batik eggs when I was a kid in Minnesota. 

Every Spring for the past 52 years, I have created Pysanky. My designs often deviate wildly from the traditional patterns resulting in ‘modern Pysanky.' It takes forethought -- or really good luck –- to put down wax lines on a curved surface, one color after the next, light to dark. And you don’t really get to see what you’ve done until after you add the last color, usually brown or black, and then melt off the wax.” And it can take many days to make an intricate Pysanka (singular of Pysanky), even well over a week in the case of an ostrich egg. 

Batik eggs are an impractical medium because they are so fragile. And they're difficult to display in a way that lets you appreciate how the pattern unfolds around the whole egg. There is no bottom or base on a decorated egg and sometimes the polar views are not only completely surprising but even more compelling than the equatorial views.

To solve this display problem, I am working on a short film featuring the eggs. The film will explore some of my most inventive and beautiful eggs from all angles, including a time-lapsed demonstration of the entire Pysanky creation process. Stop action, GIF animation, and video editing software can stitch together photographs of an egg from many angles so its image can be moved and twirled on all axes, hands free.

Abbott Imaging Creative Services in Somerville, MA is helping me with this film project and we expect to complete it in April 2015. Currently I'm running a crowd funding campaign to help with expenses. Take a look at the video: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tinabrand/into-the-ovoid-explores-beautiful-ukrainian-eggs-i

If you would like more information about this topic and to see a gallery of more of my batik eggs, please visit http://intotheovoid.com/.