I immigrated to Canada from Ukraine. I came to this distanced land chasing a dream of building the family and contributing to local communities with my knowledge and talent. Shortly after immigration I had my two children and actively engaged with art. As years passed, I was longing Ukraine. I felt an urge to express myself authentically. I started unfolding the years of memories from back home – my childhood, my art studio, the local markets where I wandered around fascinated by Ukrainian artisans. And slowly, the symbols started appear on the paper – the flowers, the birds, and the berries. It was Petrykivka! The vibrant Ukrainian folk art, recognized by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013. Practicing Petrykivka nourished my artistic practice. I felt more connected to my inner self and more curious of my surroundings here in Canada. Oakville is a beautiful place to live in. I love to wander around on the trails, local parks and flower beds, taking lots of pictures and then painting them in the studio.
I was honored when in 2025 I received artist fund from Town of Oakville, administrated by Oakville Art Council. I always wanted to learn more about Petrykivka and share this art form with others, but I newer quite had a time. Motherhood and immigration were shaping the direction of my art in a way that was very difficult to explore new directions. I was trapped in routine work, commissions and workshops, without having a time to do what appealed me. Receiving the funding from Town of Oakville allowed me to spend time on researching the Petrykivka techniques, materials and tools. But most importantly – the rich history of this folk that is over 200 years old! Starting as a way of decorating home walls originally, Petrykivka travelled to paper cards and then to all the possible household items! The Petrykivka plant in Ukraine was producing over 80 types of household items with Petrykivka designs at the time then it was closed due to Russian invasion on 2022. Initially the art of the common people, Petrykivka shaped itself into branding, fashion, contemporary art. It became a cultural symbol of Ukraine. Exploring and practicing Petrykivka is my path to self-discovery and belonging.
Besides learning Petrykivka myself thanks to the Artist Project Fund I was also able to connect with Oakville Community through Petrykivka. At the beginning of this project, I was not sure if Petrykivka will find it’s home in Oakville. Will people like it? Will they be curious? Do I have enough knowledge to talk about this folk art so people will want to learn it themselves? Will it be easy to teach Petrykivka to someone who is not Ukrainian? All these questions were challenging me from sharing this beautiful art with public. However, I took the chance and collaborated with Achev Center for Newcomers in Oakville and offered four Petrykivka workshops to anyone who wanted to learn it. I did not know if it will be Ukrainian people or not. In fact, I was unsure if anyone will be interested at all. But thankfully with the great support of Achev the word of Petrykivka spread around Oakville and we had a great attendance during all four workshops. In fact some of the participants came to all the four workshops and significantly enhanced their Petrykivka painting skills.
When I was planning this project, my goal was to share Petrykivka with Oakville community. Little did I know that Petrykivka will unite hearts. People of different backgrounds were practicing Petrykivka, admiring the bold strokes, learning about natural symbols of kalyna and onion flowers. People loved using fingers instead of paintbrushes. They were improvising, adding their own stories and imagination into the paintings. They shared the stories from their own experiences with Petrykivka or with other art and craft. But most importantly they all shared their own reflections. They shared their own stories from back home. Their hopes and concerns. Each time we gathered the room transformed to the place of healing, belonging and understanding. Everyone felt welcomed and heard. This made me think that when we immigrate to Canada we not only bring ourselves – we bring thousands of years of traditions before us. We bring our ancestors voices. We bring our culture, our heritage. And our traditions do not need to live separately. By practicing each other’s traditions and art we can all unite in one strong community. We can share our own worlds and learn about others. We can unfold the layers of struggle we went through to immigrate to Canada. For many of us the path was not easy. It was teamed with disconnection. With loss of heritage. I truly believe that we all can rebuild our identities. We can all find the belonging. We can all find our community when we all unite.
Once the four Petrykivka workshops were done I wanted to accomplish even larger impact on Oakville’s community. The possibility of bringing the folk Ukrainian art performed by common people for centuries into the gallery settings was heartwarming for me. I wanted to promote Petrykivka to larger audience so more people can experience it. Therefore, I decided to collaborate with the participants for public exhibition at Queen Elizabeth Park Community Center in Oakville. Some of the participants allowed me to keep their works. I collected beautiful paintings from participants and added my own paintings and submitted the exhibition application for Town of Oakville. Together I submitted ten best artworks. (Of course, we had much more and it was not easy for me to choose the best ones!) I was thrilled to hear back that the selection committee was impressed by Petrykivka art and accepted our exhibition proposal for summer 2027 at QEPCC Oakville corridor gallery. Now it is time for me to frame the artwork and curate this collective show.
Thank you to Town of Oakville and Oakville Art Council for supporting this project.
Petrykivka project helped me understand who I am, connect with new people and share this Ukrainian folk art to Oakville’s community. Now I am inspired to paint even larger scale paintings in Petrykivka style, explore deeper the symbolism behind it and create more public art projects where community members can learn and connect with Petrykivka. If you are in Oakville please visit Petrykivka exhibition in QEPCC corridor gallery in summer 2027 and get inspired yourself.
