Rochester Ukrainian creates 2,000 pysanky for new millennium

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The new millennium now has an official egg-decorator.

Maria Wowk, 73, set out two years ago to produce 2,000 pysanky as symbols of new life in commemoration of the coming epoch. This monumental undertaking has been completed, and Mrs. Wowk's home, is now teeming with gorgeous works of art.

The Ukrainian immigrant was inspired in her effort by seeing Pope John Paul II on television, urging his followers to make spiritual endeavors.

Now what does one do with 167 dozen painted eggs? "I really don't know what," said the artist, a great-grandmother and member of St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Irondequoit, N.Y.

Her husband, Demetrius, said, "I still cannot believe what she has done."

Mrs. Wowk recently purchased two six-foot-long conference tables so that she could display all her pysanky - no two of them alike.

The Gannett News Service featured a story and photo of the prolific pysanka-maker.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, November 14, 1999, No. 46, Vol. LXVII

| Home Page |