Friday 29 April 2022

The Art Of Tradition, Peace And Generosity

I had not heard of the Ukrainian Artist Maria Prymachenko until a few weeks ago. She lived from1909 - 1997.Born into very humble circumstances, and self taught, her paintings were inspired by the traditions of her native culture, and motivated by a desire to spread love, peace and joy. She never sought to make money from her art- but gave away her pictures . She was recognised by Unesco, and admired by Pablo Picasso. You can read lots about her here  Or just watch this brief video.

Here is a collage of some of her cheerful, colourful art- some rural scenes- and some crazy,  fantastical rainbow coloured beasts.
Kirsten read about her whilst she was looking for an idea for her next piece of stitching for the Postcard Project - and was especially sad to realise that 25 of her lovely paintings had been destroyed when the Russians set fire to one of Ukraine's Museums. One of Maria's paintings "A Wild Chaplun" was put on postage stamps in 1999 [I cannot find out what sort of animal a chaplun is, though, maybe Maria made up the name...]

Kirsten has embroidered this, in the most incredible detail, as the stamp on one of our postcards. I think it is utterly stunning
We are both enjoying stitching this collaborative project - the challenge to learn new techniques, and the freedom to find subjects which are relevant to our lives and to the world around us. I am so glad we are working on it together! 




13 comments:

  1. Fascinating art work and very clever stitching.

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  2. My goodness!!! That is incredible!!!

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    1. I think this woman deserves to be mentioned in school art lessons - I can see a wet Friday afternoon being cheered up by a class full of children creating their own colourful fantastical creatures

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  3. Lovely paintings! How sad that some of them have been destroyed by the war!

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    1. It IS so sad - we continue to pray for peace.

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  4. Those are lovely examples of folk art. As Bless says how sad that they've been destroyed...but the work that Kirsten has done is excellent. You are both producing some amazing work. It will have to be exhibited!!

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    1. Thanks FD. Not sure about exhibiting though!

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  5. What delightful, colourful paintings and Kirsten has done a great job of reproducing the stamp.

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    1. I wish I'd been able to get a better photograph of the stamp - the intricate details [like the word Ukraine] are fabulous

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  6. How amazing! Ta for introducing me to this Ukrainian artist and sharing some of her wonderful work.
    You always find such interesting things to blog about!

    Hugs - Barbara Anne

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