In 2013 the Ukrainian American Archives & Museum of Detroit was asked by the Detroit Historical Museum to organize an exhibit about the Ukrainian diaspora in Detroit. They were allocated an exhibition hall, and given free reign as to themes and subject matter.  Chrystyna Nykorak, the museum director, decided to make pysanky the focal point of the exhibit, which also included a general introduction to Ukraine, the history of Ukrainians in Detroit, and a gallery of traditional Ukrainian costumes. She invited me and two other Detroit-area pysankary, Arnie Klein and Roman Seniuk, to participate.

The photos on the following pages are from that exhibit.  We had approximately 1300 pysanky arranged in 11 display cases.  More than half were mine.  The pysanky were both traditional and diaspora, and encompassed the pysanka traditions of all the regions of Ukraine as well as the diaspora in Detroit.  I have divided the photos up by display cases, and have included the text from my exhibit guide.

The Hutsul pysanky occupied half of the display case pictured above; they were from the collections of Kalyna Mykolenko and Arnie Klein.  I’ve shared photos of that display below.

If you wish, you can download the materials I wrote about pysanka symbolism and motifs.  That material was included in exhibit posters, and incorporated into the museum’s Spring 2013 and 2016 Newsletter (available for purchase here).

Symbolism and Motifs