Masters

A weaver from Bohuslav, Kyiv region, creates traditional mats from wool on an old loom with her skillful hands. The master finds it especially comfortable working on this device because it was made by her husband many years ago.

An artist from Chernyhiv region together with his wife have been working with rye straw for more than 25 years. They weave hats, decorations and everyday houseware. The couple have mastered the art of straw weaving by themselves and now they are teaching children in the Center of children’s creative work.

Vasyl is a well-known Ukrainian musician playing kobza, bandura, violin and flute. He is a participant of many ethnic festivals in Ukraine and abroad. At the same time, Vasyl Buyanovsky is known as a talented master in creation of musical instruments.

No evening gatherings and vechornytsy (revels of young people) in Ivan Honchar museum in Kiev can do without this master. Ms Holovnya works there as fabric restorer and teaches all the willing people to ornament the Easter eggs with colorful guardian signs.

She is one of the most famous among the Kyiv pysankars who has devoted her life to the revival of this ancient classical art. The master stands to the traditions and copies thousands of pysankas from a catalogue issued in the XIX century. Her exhibitions have taken places not only in the Ukrainian cities but ...

Rayisa Pavlenko weaves all the traditional oberegs (guardian talismans) used by Ukrainians in the olden times. Pompous didukhs (kinds of trees made of different cereal ears as symbols of wealth) of the master have gained especial fame.

Embroidered ties, bow-ties and men’s kerchiefs for tail-coats long ago became personal business cards of this Kyiv artist representing her creative work. These accessories for business clothes Tetyana has developed herself. She sews them from cross-stitching canvas and decorates with traditional patterns.

An artist from Kirovohrad is a master of tapestry-making. Beside gobelins of high quality she is also famous for bright dolls weaved from threads. These dolls she invented herself in 2000 and received a certificate of authorship for them.

The artist creates gobelins the same way as paintings are made: usually, an appearing idea is realized in a sketch which is later implemented using real material. The only difference with painting is that the work is made not using paints but threads on a special frame...

This national artist makes embroideries and toys. She is ready to speak for hours about the family of her dolls in which every one has its own purpose. According to the master, creation of these dolls is hard and very serious work that needs love and understanding of its aim...

He is the one who has managed to catch the melody of raindrops and is able to play it even on a dry day. From cow-parship stems (Borshchivnyk or Borshchovyk in Ukrainian) the artist creates ancient musical instruments, in particular – doshchovytsyas...

The artist knows nearly everything about straw and its creative transformations. She works with golden rye stems both at work and at home. From them, she weaves oberegs (guardian talismans) reach in images and teaches others this craft...

Dolls – motankas created by this master can now be found in eight countries of the world. Two of them are in Africa: in Ethiopia and South African Republic. The artist does not keep a large collection of motankas at home. She makes them either to orders or as presents...

This master of embroidery has created a real cult of such simple everyday things as bookmarks (to make reading more entertaining) and cases for cell phones (to communicate with more pleasure)...

The master is a representative of Ivano-Frankivsk region – a territory where the traditions of bead weaving have survived since XIX. The master creates decorative "fabrics" from tiny beads: gerdans (open-work collars made from beads), sylyankas (strings of beads), belts, ties...

A carver from Kyiv creates powerful bulls and horses from wood. Earlier he used to make furniture and think that no one needed toys. But once he made several works for an exhibition and started to get numerous orders for toys...

A special place in this artist’s creative work belongs to Ukrainian folk musical instruments. Ceramic ocarinas, whistles and khykhychkas – all the instruments that have reached us from great antiquity and used to be widespread in many nations...

This master is the founder of a new direction of creating motanka dolls. Wire, threads, patches of fabric is all Ms Matsella needs for making her original dolls. With pleasure she teaches girls and even boys this craft at the master classes that she often conducts in different museums and schools of the Ukrainian capital...

The floor in the house of this master is covered by wooden sawdust instead of a carpet. This is the result of the creative work of Ivan Prykhodko who cuts guardian angels out of willow, as well as different symbols of the divine spirit – birds and odd magical animals...

This Kyiv master challenges the whole world in everything concerning clay and fights for the truth. He creates after his heart’s call but never forgets about Ukrainian traditions...