#06. Traditional Designs & Natural Dyes - Anna Kotlina - Tuesday July 21st - 3:30pm-5:30pm

Workshop Summary:

Anna Kotlina from Kyiv, Ukraine is offering this engaging workshop where participants discover the beauty and symbolism of authentic Ukrainian pysanka! In this hands-on workshop, Anna Kotlina will guide you through the process of using traditional dyes and age-old design techniques to create your own pysanka masterpiece. Learn about the history, meaning, and methods behind classic motifs, how to achieve vibrant color results with natural dyes, and tips for achieving fine lines and balanced patterns. This workshop is perfect for both beginners and experienced egg artists who want to deepen their understanding of Ukrainian tradition and artistry.

What is provided:

• Everything will be provided.

What to bring:

• A manual kistka

Maximum Class Size:25

Workshop Fee: $40 CAD per student
Please bring $40 CAD in cash, placed in an envelope with your name and the instructor’s name written on it, to the start of class. 

About Anna Kotlina:

I have been making Pysanky for 17 years. Zoya Stashuk taught me at the Kyiv Palace for Children and Youth in the "Maysternya pysankarstva" (Pysanky writing Workshop). During my studies, I participated in the city and all-Ukrainian competition-exhibition "Pysankova Veselka" (Pysanky Rainbow) 2012-2014, the exhibition "Kryshtaleve Dzerela" (Pure Dews) in Kyiv, in the events "Present a pysanka to the Museum" in the The Ivan Honchar Museum National Centre of Folk Culture, Kyiv, in the competition-exhibition "Pysanka" 2013, Kolomyia. Scholar of the Presidential Scholarship for Young Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine for 2016, Decree No. 128/2016. 

I also began to share knowledge of Pysanky making at master classes and led a group "Maysternya pysankarstva"(Pysanky writing Workshop) at school No. 286 in Kyiv and a group "Handicraft workshop" at the club at place of residence "Young Hearts". 

Later, I headed the "Maysternya pysankarstva" (Pysanky writing Workshop) at the Kyiv Palace for Children and Youth, where I taught for 4 years. 

Repeated participant in the annual exhibition at the National Union of Folk Art Masters of Ukraine (2014, 2017-2021), exhibitions at the Center for Ukrainian Culture and Art 2018-2019 Co-organizer of the International Ethnographic Competition of Children's and Youth Creativity "Pysanky Rainbow" 2018-2021, online 2020 and 2021 

I have a YouTube channel called "Anna Kotlina Pysanky Ukraine" 

I have an online and printed self-published publication. 

I have been actively helping in charity events since 2010 and organizing charity events for various categories of the population from 2016 to the present day. 

After the full-scale invasion of russia, I actively participate in charity auctions, where the lots become Pysanky and I donate my Pysanky and postcards to foreign fairs. 

On July 29, 2023, I organized a team and together we set the Record of Ukraine “The largest number of Pysanky painted with hot wax on Hoverla”, in total, we managed to write 43 Easter eggs. Among them are Pysanky from every region of Ukraine. In 2024, I donated part of the Easter eggs written on the mountain Hoverla to the Museum of Pysanky writing in Kolomyia and to the USA for a charity fair to raise funds for camouflage nets. 

Co-organizer of the online exhibition of Pysanky for the Independence Day of Ukraine in 2024. For this exhibition, I wrote out Pysankys from Odessa and Sumy regions and researched data on Easter eggs in the Luhansk region. We focused on presenting Easter eggs from specific settlements in certain regions of Ukraine, although previously Pysanky were grouped by historical and ethnographic regions. My contribution to the exhibition:https://pysankyclub.com/page-3#f3a79d18-78e0-46e8-812a-dcee0d322ccd 

Currently, my Easter eggs live in 13 countries around the world, in Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, the USA, Finland and Denmark. 

Subscribed collections: 

●Easter eggs from the album "Ukrainian Folk Ornament" by Olga Dragomanova-Kosach;●Easter eggs from the 1st and 2nd editions of "Southern rusian Folk Ornament" Chernihiv and Sumy provinces by Pelageya Litvynova; 

●Easter eggs from the Odessa region from Serhiy Kulzhynsky's publication "Description of a Collection of Folk Pysankys"; 

●A collection of Pysankys with crosses from the collection of Erast Binyashevsky;

●Collections of Pysankys with forty triangles, trees of life, bereginya, Easter eggs painted with natural dyes with infinity.