Turning Back the Pages to the 2008 Pysanka Symposium in Washington, DC

The dawn of a new year is a good time to reflect on the past and make dreams for the future. Tomorrow is New Years Eve according to the Julian calendar, and for the team of pysanky experts at Baba's Beeswax it brings back memories of the First Pysanka Symposium in Washington, DC eleven years ago. It was an engaging immersive retreat for pysanka enthusiasts from all over North America. Pysanky specialists, lobbyists and collectors gathered for the opportunity to meet other pysanka artists, experience presentations from guest speakers and celebrate the art of pysankarstvo. Perhaps it was the catalyst for other cities like Vancouver and Toronto who are now following suit with their own events.

Did you attend the symposium? What memories of it do you have?

Here are several places to check out videos, photos, and links. Do you recognize any people in these images?

1. this link for the newpaper article with photos from The Ukrainian Weekly (No. 17 April 27, 2008) by Olenka and Jurij Dobczansky

2. a photo montage on our YouTube Channel. Check it out here in the Events Playlist and remember to share it

3. if you're a fan of photo albums, we have two on our flickr platform here:

The symposium included the following topics:

Creation, Tradition, Dissemination

Jurij Dobczansky – welcoming remarks
Dr. Andrew Sorokowski – introduction of speakers
Helen Badulak – the life of a pysanka artist
Joan Brander – author’s presentation About the Pysanka : It Is Written!
the late Orysia Paszczak Tracz – the new and old in a new land, the pysanka in North America: from the sublime to the ridiculous

Creation, Collection, Preservation, Exhibition