"Vertep" Nativity at St. Demetrius, Weston, ON

"Vertep" at St Demetrius the Great Martyr Ukrainian Catholic Church 

Two years ago this life-sized Nativity set was installed outside St Demetrius the Great Martyr Church on LaRose Avenue in Weston (Toronto), ON. The figures were written (painted) in the Byzantine iconographic style in Ukraine. 

The Holy Family

Each one was cut out and masterfully placed on the straw-strewn floor of the manger. The cradle of hay between the Wise Men and Mary convinces you this truly is the creche. The illuminated star woven from wheat shines on the Baby Jesus.  

"Христос Раждається - Christ is Born" in lights

I'm very fortunate to drive past this "Vertep" every day. It's a blessing as this Nativity is a daily reminder of why we're celebrating Christmas.

"God is with us!"  

"З Нами Бог!"

Miss December - Fan Wheel Snowflakes

Fan Wheel Snowflakes by Maria Rypan
December 2011 - Toronto Bead Society Calendar

Hard to believe December is here and folks with 2011 TBS calendars are now viewing a flurry of my Fan Wheel Snowflakes! There are a lot of ways to make a few of your own: beadwork kit choices galore; get a pattern for your own creativity;

Snowflakes by Jo-Ann Woolverton, ON

Order a Ukrainian PDF with illustrated instructions;

Intro of Ukrainian PDF 

Get the Russian language Oct 2011 (#10) issue of "Модьній" Bead Fashion magazine, Kyiv. The Fan Wheel Snowflake project is on pgs. 39-41;

“Модньій” Bead Fashion, pg. 39

Follow the English directions on pgs. 90-91 of Kalmbach’s Beaded Ornament for the Holidays and Beyond from Bead & Button; BeadStyle Magazines.

Beaded Ornament for the Holidays, pg. 90 

In the spirit of the season, enjoy snowflakes big & small, beaded or real kind. What a wonder! No two are every alike... Happy Holidays!

T&T Road Trip

For my Summer project for ANPT, I was on a mission to visit T&T Trading, Inc. where I imagined I should find some really neat beads. 

We travelled to Detroit; then 100 more miles to Grand Ledge outside Lansing, the capital of MI. Sooooo how could we miss it??

BEADS trailer parked on grass

Proper signage in a rural setting

BEADS spelt on the roof. Driver stretching legs after a long haul

A quizzical call from down the road determined we needed to turn back to find these landmarks. Moral of the story: Peal open your eyes for BEADS signs in all shapes and sizes.

Found the treasures I came for.

Have you heard of French seed beads? How about millefiore mosaic and drawn chevrons?

 Beadwoven color placement experiment

More variations... Which will it be?

What's new at the Vernissage, Lviv

 Beaded pysanky eggs by Luba Frankevych

It's been a long while since I've shown beadwork, so it's appropriate to follow up the ANPT 'pysanky' article with new sources of beaded eggs. In my short visit to the Vernissage on Aug 26th, I found a lot of fresh new directions for gerdany beadwork. A few craftspeople had beaded pysanky.

I liked Luba Frankevych's display because she meticulously beadweaves intricately-patterned nets around wooden eggs. She's holding the largest egg whose detail can seen in the top left corner above. I purchased the next size down and one more for a keepsake.

Luba shows her largest pysanka

There were several new stands with beadwork. The new trend was three-dimensional florals or mosaic (Peyote) leaves formed into 'kalyna' bunches. The beaded flowers were added onto netted collars, bracelets or used for pendants and brooches. They came in all shapes and sizes with the poppy as the most favorite flower. I purchased the "Kalyna" creation in red on a matte black net in the center of the display board.

Display of Gerdany by Nadia Emelyanova 

Poppy brooches by Valentyna Konkolowskaya

"Gerdany Tour" & Snowflakes in Ivano Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankivsk Region embroidered by Lubov Drohomyretska, 2011

In between visits and further research about beadwork, I had the opportunity to show the "Tour of Gerdany Regions of Ukraine" at the Regional Educational Methodological Center (ОНМЦ) on Aug 30th.

Attentive audience listens to the Gerdany intro, ОНМЦ

This was followed by a Master Class on making my famous Fan Wheel Snowflakes. I translated the instructions into Ukrainian with an overview sheet and brought the necessary materials. 

Сніжинки – кришталеві віяла, автор дизайну Марія Рипан, м. Торонто, 2011

It was nice to to have young students and esteemed bead artists in the Master Class.

Maria threads SoftTouch .010 by Softflex on a fine needle

My cultural liaison, ethnomusicologist Oleksandra Turyanska, checks progress by professionals Oksana Belehaj and Maria M. Chulak 

Success! Going home with a finished Snowflake!

Lubov Drohomyrecka, Maria, Halyna Drohomyrecka of Liubava, Maria M. Chulak pleased with the afternoon's Gerdany presentation and class

"Tour of Gerdany Regions" started at UM-A, Ohio

These presentations premiered at the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland on Aug 12th. Luckily for me, The Hnatiuk Collection was on exhibit in the Gallery where I was to hold my Gerdany Workshops on Saturday.

 The Hnatiuk Collection Exhibit with a gerdany workshop setup

 Kilims and 'Keptar' vests from The Hnatiuk Collection

I attended the opening of the Hnatiuk Museum in Livonia, MI in the late 1990s. So many artifacts and treasures crammed into a walkout home basement was an unforgettable sight! I was just getting into beadwork and fascinated by a showcase with shelves full of gerdany. These photos start off my Beadwork Photo Album.

'Sorochka', The Hnatiuk Collection

Kudos to UM-A Curator, Aniza Kraus, for the dramatic display of a selection of embroidered 'sorochky, keptari and kilims'. By focusing on the production of the fibers and materials, the exhibit was educational. The UM-A published a book using The Hnatiuk Collection as the basis for scholarly articles on textiles from the XIX & XXth centuries with 400 great photos for reference.

Friday night at the Rypan "Movies", UM-A

My PowerPoint presentation was held in the Museum main room on Friday night. The "Ethnographic Region Tour" was a hit for the North American viewer. It was a great intro to the "Gerdany Regions" of western Ukraine. Here the viewers saw an ethnographic region map introducing multiple slides of gerdany beading from different regions. They could get an appreciation for the various styles of beading, colors and motifs.

Learning different styles of gerdany-making at UM-A

There were two contemporary beadwork Gerdany Workshops on Saturday. 

Maria helps Jennie Bochar learn how to bead

Best treat for me was the collection of beadwork Jennie brought for Show & Tell. Among the gerdany, there were her Baba's pieces brought over when she was 16 years old. I never say such a tiny Lemko 'kryza'!

 100+ year old 'kryza', J. Bochar Collection

'Kryza' details, J. Bochar Collection

More Ukraine Travels

Trident ('Tryzyb') in lights, Kyiv, Independence Day 2011

I had an opportunity to visit Ukraine again immediately after Bead Fest in Philadelphia. Traveling through different time zones via Paris made it possible to arrive in Kyiv on Aug 24th, Independence Day. This was the 20th anniversary, an important milestone, but a strain was felt after a tumultuous day of celebrations.

20th Anniversary of Independence commemorative stamps

The timing of this trip was perfect because it gave me another opportunity to personally photograph new regions of Ukraine for my ongoing photo essays. While preparing a new "Tour of Gerdany Regions in Ukraine" PowerPoint, I thought it would be nice for viewers to tour all of the country to better appreciate the regional differences. "Ethnographic Regions of Ukraine" came together quickly using most of my own photos from various visits to half of Ukraine.

Premiered together with "Ethnographic Regions", Aug 2011

Here was my chance to add Crimea and the Black Sea, as well as the scenes along the drive back to Kyiv.