BRATTLEBORO-In connection with the exhibition "Contemporary Ukrainian Folk Art: The Matrix of Resilience," currently on view at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC), Ukrainian ethnographer and folk art curator Sophia Sushailo will lead a tour of the exhibition followed by a panel discussion with three of the exhibiting artists.
The event, "Art Talk: Live from Ukraine," will take place on Saturday, May 17. It will begin with an in-person exhibition tour at the museum at 1:30 p.m. The panel discussion, which follows at 2:30 p.m., is a hybrid event, which audience members may attend in person or via Zoom. Artists Tetyana Konoval, Hanna Oliynyk, and Rustem Skybin will join via Zoom from war-torn areas of Ukraine where they live and work.
Sushailo says her work with Ukrainian folk art and artists is driven by a passion to amplify their messages of joy, hope, and love.
"For many reasons, the artists cannot physically be here in person with us," said Sushailo, who grew up in Ukraine and now lives in New Hampshire. "My work is to ensure that their voices are heard. The technology exists for them to join us virtually so that we don't have to be bound by the limitations of war."
Sushailo, who has curated and designed cultural and educational exhibitions and workshops throughout New England, explained that Konoval, Oliynyk, and Skybin work in traditional art forms as a way to resist the erasure of their ancestral home and cultural heritage.
"Despite Ukraine's tumultuous history and the systematic cultural genocide inflicted by colonial authoritarian regimes, seeds of hope have continued to germinate among artists," Sushailo said. "Folk art is a powerful testament of cultural self-determination and the right of a nation to exist. Rooted in ancestral memory, the vibrant artwork in this exhibit projects the artists' hope for a bright and colorful future."
The exhibit features ceramics, paintings, embroidery, and Pysanky egg decoration created using traditional and innovative folk art techniques.
On view through July 6 in the museum's Ticket Gallery, the exhibition includes polychrome-glazed Crimean-Tatar ceramics; paintings created in the Petrykivka style, using the kotyachka brush made from real cat fur to enable fine and intricate strokes; the traditional and modern art of egg decoration known as pysanky, and long, rectangular Cossack embroideries woven to symbolize life's journey.
Admission to the Art Talk is free. Advance registration is optional, and walk-ins are welcome. To register, visit brattleboromuseum.org or call 802-257-0124, ext. 101. Please note that the gallery where the exhibition tour will take place requires visitors to climb three steps.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.