Ukrainian Fundraiser Calendar

by Darlene Polachic

Martin Hryniuk, first vice-president of Musée Ukraina Museum's board of directors, with the new calendar. - Photo by Darlene Polachic

For the past four years, Musée Ukraina Museum Inc. has produced calendars to sell as fundraisers for a new museum facility. Last year's calendar featuring Ukrainian centenarians raised $26,000. This year the spotlight is on Ukrainian artists and artisans.

Martin Hryniuk is first vice-president of Musée Ukraina Museum's board of directors. He says the organization has been raising funds for several years and now has about 60% in hand out of a goal of $3.6 million.

"We were grateful to receive around $500,000 in provincial government funding," he says, "and this spring we received a gift of $350,000 from the Dr. Stephen and Michelene Worobetz Foundation. Dr. Worobetz was the Commonwealth's first Lieutenant-Governor of Ukrainian ancestry."

The Worobetz Foundation gift was designated for the establishment of an Archives centre within the new museum.

"There is so much information coming from old churches and halls that are being lost," Hryniuk says. "Having an archives centre will ensure that these records are preserved and saved for generations to come."

The target date for breaking ground on the new museum site is Summer 2009. The facility will be constructed on a property on Avenue M between 20th and 21st street. "We're building there because we want to stay in the historic area of Saskatoon," Hryniuk says. "We value the multiculturalism of the Riversdale and Pleasant Hill districts because many of our people settled there in the early days and established their churches and organizations there."

The 2009 Musée Ukraina Museum calendar celebrates Ukrainian artists throughout the province.

"We know there are many Ukrainian artists in Saskatchewan who are not adequately recognized," Hryniuk observes. "The committee felt this would be a good way to celebrate these people and their art forms, and encourage others within our community, especially the young people, to recognize and appreciate them. Artists often work in relative obscurity."

In order to find artists and artisans to feature in the calendar, the committee put out a call through the Ukrainian community inviting people to identify the people they knew to be significant artists. "In so doing," Hryniuk says, "we found some incredible treasures."

One is 90-year-old Helen Kushner who lives in Moose Jaw. Kushner is a painter who began sketching at a very early age. As she perfected her art form, the family used her drawings of flowers to decorate their simple home in the Mountain Road district of Manitoba. As a little girl, Kushner had the unique opportunity to help renowned Manitoba painter Jacob Madonyk who was hired to do iconography in their church. Madonyk would draw outlines of the ornamentation and Helen would fill them in paint.

Another artisan featured is woodcrafter and sculptor Stan Wychopen who lives in the Battlefords. Wychopen is best known for his meticulously and authentically detailed Concord stagecoach replicas which have over 2,000 handcrafted parts. He was also responsible for the carvings on the iconostasis of All Saints Ukrainian Catholic Church in North Battleford.

Edward Diakow grew up in the Dobrowody district northeast of Rama. As a young lad, he longed to play the violin, and cut and sold wood to earn the $14 he needed to order his first violin from the Eaton's catalogue. Later in his life, Diakow began building violins from do-it-yourself instruction books. His hand-crafted masterpieces include other instruments and furniture, as well.

Johanna Bidulka of Prud'homme is a master wheatweaver. She grows her own blackbearded wheat, harvesting it with scissors to keep the shafts straight and unbent. Demand for her work is so strong that she had to open a craft store on the Bidulka farm.

Doris Sawchen of Wynyard is a juried potter who is renowned for her Trypillian and wheat motif pottery. She is one of the few Ukrainian Canadian potters to create Trypillian style pottery from prairie clay. Trypillian is an ancient design style that originated in western Ukraine.

Stained glass artist Harvey Heshka grew up south of Canora. His artistry can be found in the windows of many churches and public facilities in Saskatchewan including St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church, Sherbrooke Nursing Home and Mount Royal United Church in Saskatoon.

The 2009 calendar sells for $20 and, as usual, the purchaser's name is entered in a daily draw for cash prizes that total $11,990.

"Each day of the week a name is drawn for a specific cash prize," Hryniuk explains. "The name is then put back into the mix, making the person eligible for future cash prizes." Draws are done monthly.

Hryniuk says calendar sales have grown each year. "There's a lot of interest and excitement," he says. "People have been calling for some time, asking if the 2009 calendar is ready."

"The calendar serves several purposes," he adds. "Not only does it raise funds for the new museum and bring awareness about our artists, but it has been a real inspiration for the young people we sent out to interview and photograph these people. They came back so positive. The most exciting thing for them was getting to meet the artist in their own environment, and hear how they got started in their art and who inspired them.

"As for the artists, they are humbled at the recognition. These are unassuming people who work at their craft, often largely unnoticed. We are very proud of them."

To purchase a calendar, contact Musée Ukraina Museum at 244-4212 or Patricia Mialkowsky at 260-9119.

Article and photo appeared in Saskatoon Sun, December 28, 2008 under headline Celebrating artists and artisans: Fundraiser proceeds go towards archives museum. Reprinted with permission from the author.