THE THINGS WE DO...: A burst of beauty and heritage (08/10/03)

THE THINGS WE DO...

by Orysia Paszczak Tracz

A burst of beauty and heritage

"Nyzynka - Embroidery of the Hutsuls/Hutsulschyna v Nyzyntsi," by Eudokia Sorochaniuk. Pennsauken, N.J.: 2002, 284 pp. ISBN 0-9717886-0-X, $65.

This book is a pleasure just to hold and enjoy, even without opening the beautiful cover. And when you do, lush, perfect nyzynka embroideries fill your eyes. So good for the artistic and folk-loving soul!

"Nyzynka - Embroidery of the Hutsuls/Hutsulschyna v Nyzyntsi" by Eudokia Sorokhaniuk is a very important book. To this reviewer's knowledge, it is the first book on either side of the ocean devoted completely to the distinctive nyzynka style of embroidery. The cover is elegant, and the 272 color plates are so perfect that you can see each strand, each fiber of the fabric.

Mrs. Sorochaniuk, a native of Zhabiie, has devoted her life to the textile arts of the Hutsul region. She weaves and she embroiders; her work is very much a part of her very being. Over the years in America she and her husband, Dmytro, shared their knowledge and their art with the Ukrainian and American communities. They are the force behind Cheremosh, the Philadelphia Ukrainian Hutsul Society.

The bilingual Ukrainian-English book begins with a biography of Mrs. Sorochaniuk by Dzvinka Martiuk Zacharczuk. The reader learns about her involuntary, difficult and yet successful journey from her beloved Carpathians to America.

Lubow Wolynetz follows with an introduction on the Hutsuls and their life, art and beliefs. A Hutsulka herself, Ms. Wolynetz knows this field inside out. Her many exhibit catalogues for The Ukrainian Museum in New York, and other works, have no equal when it comes to her exceptional manner in presenting Ukrainian ethnography in its many facets.

The fine design of the book is by Mrs. Sorochaniuk and Maria Rosola Panczak, the translations by Xenia Panczak Zacharczuk, Stefan Makuch and Eryna Cvikula-Korchynsky. Techni-cal preparation was by Natalie Panczak Firko.

The plates follow. The burst of beauty and color is amazing. The designs are in one color, black or burgundy, or one half of the design is the solid-colored base, while the other side is filled in with multicolored threads. Many plates show the two sides, the front and back, of the fabric, with the front of the fabric on one side and the back on the reverse.

And the embroidery is perfect. Because the stitch goes up and down every strand of the fabric and is geometric, there is no place to hide mistakes. This is perfection. We see variety in the same design appearing side by side in black and in burgundy. Each looks different. I have always been on the lookout for diagonal nyzynka designs, and have found quite a few in this book.

Perhaps the author did not think it was necessary, but I would like to have seem more information included. There is no identification of designs. Are they all from one village, or county, or from a wider region?

As with all folk arts, the designs are geographically quite specific. The different nyzynka stitches are not identified, even though the variations are shown.

And, for those embroiderers who want to be accurate, it would have been so helpful to have the color numbers of the DMC threads given. The harmony of Hutsul colors is unique, and just any red and any yellow do not go together.

Mrs. Sorochaniuk mentions that in the Carpathians the women would each select the colors as they wished, and there were no rules. But they were home, and felt that sense of color in their bones. I will find myself matching the thread strands to the plates, or referring to Nancy R. Ruryk's classic "Ukrainian Embroidery Designs and Stitches" (Winnipeg: Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada, 1958 - still available from Ukrainian Voice in Winnipeg), which does list the thread numbers for each design.

Then I will see if they match the ones in this book. For someone who does not know how to embroider nyzynka, a page or two on the technique would have been helpful.

But this is not a how-to book, nor is it for a beginner, although the few extra pages would have made it complete. It is important that the book is bilingual, because we need to get our heritage out there into the mainstream. It makes a fine gift to non-Ukrainian embroiderers and book lovers.

Various textile magazines such as Threads, Piecework, Fiberarts and others should be made aware of "Nyzynka" - and should review it. Mrs. Sorochaniuk is known in the arts community, having received The National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts in 1999.

Mrs. Wolynetz concludes her essay: "This publication, a collection of nyz embroideries so lovingly preserved, unearthed and brought back to life is like this flame in the high pastures revived by an ancient ritual in the spring through the efforts of one person - Eudokia Sorochaniuk."

Mnohaya lita to the author, and may she follow up with a book on weaving, as well as her memoirs.

The book is available from E. Sorochaniuk, 7967 Grant Ave., Pennsauken, NJ 08109. The price of $65 includes shipping.

| Home Page |