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About
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My family immigrated only two generations ago from Ukraine and we were lucky enough to be able to survive Saskatchewan's harsh winters, as not everyone could. Often, Canadians' origins are made up of a number of ethnicities, however I am 100% Ukrainian-Canadian. As with all immigrants, adaptation became an essential skill to learn. The Wasylyshen family kept up our Ukrainian traditions, including making pysanka (Ukrainian Easter Eggs), while embracing new ones through the collecting of Saskatchewan First Nations and Inuit art. Like every artist's work, the more it is practiced, the more the art evolves. By the time I moved to British Columbia over 7 years ago, my pysanka and First Nations art exposure formed a conversation of their own, that I call "West Coast Trypillian". The Trypillian tribe of Ukraine practiced art as a language, with each design and symbol holding meaning and a story - very similar in concept to Aboriginal and Inuit art. Eggs represent re-birth in most cultures around the world. However, eggs break, so I have continued this conversation on a more modern and practical surface - the cradled panel or mdf. This art is my expression of the progressive nature of cultures merging in Canada, my interpretation of our modern multicultural Canadian art; and just as each pysanka starts out a white canvas, the egg itself, to which black wax is applied. Keeping this tradition, each piece of art is only black on white, (*no white paint is used in the painting). A fusion of function and invention, yet not easily defined. I thank my family for encouraging such a patience-based skill. Each piece is a unique dance suggesting the traditional Trypillian but also showing one artist's adaptation to, and embracing of a new generation, and culture. Laura Wasylyshen
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