Dahmen Barn to host Ukrainian egg decorating class
With many family trees tracing back to Europe in one way or another, Moscow resident Margaret Dibble said she knows a way for people to connect with their heritage and learn about a cultural art form –Ukrainian egg decorating.
The egg, also known as a pynsanka, boasts folk designs symbolizing nature and life. Fortunately for the Palouse, Dibble and a few other community members mastered the art and are willing to share their knowledge with others.
Genie Tran | Rawr
“It’s a chance to try out a traditional craft,” Dibble said. “A lot of people I guess have Eastern European ancestry … The egg decorating is not just in the Ukraine, it’s all over Eastern Europe, so it’s a chance for someone to explore their roots.”
Dibble will hold a Ukrainian egg decorating class 1:30-5 p.m. Sunday at the Dahmen Barn in Uniontown, Washington. The cost of the workshop is $15 for adults and $12 for children. Registration for the class is required by Friday, with a maximum and minimum number of students of 10 and three, respectively.
“If you’ve ever had any interest in Ukrainian eggs, and some people have, I supply all of the materials,” she said. “So you can try it without having to go out and spend a bunch of money on equipment and supplies.”
The process of decorating eggs requires an open-flame candle, hot wax and dyes, Dibble said. The process in which the egg is decorated uses a wax-resistant method of decoration, which she said is traditional and effective in establishing abstract designs on the eggs.
Dibble said she first dipped her toes into Ukrainian egg decorating about 30 years ago as a member of the Washington State University Folk Dancers.
“It’s our main fundraiser,” Dibble said. “We make and sell these eggs, over on the WSU campus.”
Dibble said WSU withdrew support of the group due to a lack of student members, and so the International Folk Dancers of the Palouse was created in its place, which still fundraises using Ukrainian eggs. She said the organization meets 7:30 p.m. Friday evenings in the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse in Moscow. She said meetings are free, open to the public and have many members available to talk to about Ukrainian egg decorating.
Ukrainian eggs are made through the bastik process, which begins with the application of wax on the egg and dipping it into a dye. Dibble said a decorator does this over again until they get the desired look of the egg.
“And then you melt the wax off, and there’s your egg,” she said.
In many European countries, Dibble said it is tradition to shape the wax in a way that creates designs relating to symbols.
“There’s fish, which is sort of a Christian symbol,” Dibble said. “Flowers and trees, their symbol is spring and fertility and life.”
Dibble said she hosted many classes over the years to teach community members Ukrainian egg decorating. Of those people, she said some continue the art and others attend the class for a one-time affair.
“I’ve done them for years for the Unitarian Universalist Church, and also the Girl Scouts, 4H, typically anybody who’d ask me,” she said. “Many of the people who have taken my classes have gone on and bought their own stuff, some of them use it and some of them don’t, but now they know how and they could teach others if they wanted to.”
For Dibble, the class is a pleasant pastime that allows her to pass a crafty skill on to the next generation of artists.
“I’ve been making them for years and years and years,” she said. “I know Dahmen Barn has art classes so I thought, ‘Well, I think I’ll try teaching people here and we’ll see if I pick up a new audience.'”
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More information:
To register for the class, call the Dahmen Barn at 509-229-3414 by Friday.
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Amber Emery can be reached at [email protected]