Visitors to a Ukrainian cultural museum in Saskatoon will soon be able to see work from a Chatham artist.
Bernie Hrytzak was commissioned by Ukraina Museum to create a cover for the organization’s donor book. Using wood inlay patterns and different colors of abalone material, he incorporated different elements of Ukrainian culture into the design.
Hrytzak, who is originally from Saskatchewan, will show the piece and speak at ARTspace in downtown Chatham on April 7 at 7 pm before he sends it out west. The event is free and open to the public.
The work features a Tree of Life design surrounded by other features from Ukrainian culture, including a braided style of bread placed below the tree.
“Whenever there is Ukrainian dancers … during the first dance they do, they come up to the stage as part of the dance and they present a bread, which is called a kolach,” Hrytzak, who has Ukrainian ancestry, said.
“That is a welcoming thing to the people there. I wanted to represent that.”
Hrytzak also worked in the type of cloth used to present the bread and stalks of wheat along the side.
Noting the design was supposed to be abstract, he decided to put flowers in place of the leaves on the Tree of Life.
“The flower has actually got yellow pedals and a bluish centre,” Hrytzak said. “That represents sunflowers, which is the national flower of Ukraine.”
For the border of the cover, Hrytzak said he spent a lot of time working out a pattern using red, black and white colors found in Ukrainian culture. However, he realized it didn’t complement the rest of the piece when he put it together.
On the advice of a museum official, he toned down the patterns for the inner and outer borders.
The process of the commission began in July last year and Hryrtzak started working on the cover in October. He sent the design out in November to be cut using a laser cutter to begin the wood inlay process.
“It’s still a very laborious process,” he said. “I inserted all of those (inlays) and the trick is to make sure the level is the same because I want it to be just like glass once it’s finished.”
Some of the work is similar to constructing a guitar neck, which requires about 35 coats a lacquer, he said. The abalone veneers incorporated in this piece is the shell-like material commonly used for guitar fretboards.
Hrytzak imported the different colors of veneer from New Zealand, which he said has the best quality in the world.
Although Hrytzak’s Ukrainian ancestors came to North America in the 1880s, he said he still feels connected because “the culture is just in you.”
He noted the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February has made him think about the importance of this work.
“Perhaps the situation in the world enhances the need for museums,” Hrytzak said. “Without our culture, what do we have?”