Stephanie Turenko, Toronto
For the past month, Kosa Kolektiv, the Toronto-based Slavic urban folklore collective, has successfully run several pysanka workshops. Starting in 2010, the ladies of Kosa began raising money for Pysanka orphanage, a home for girls two hours outside of Lviv. Over the years, Kosa Kolektiv’s Pysanka Project has successfully raised thousands of dollars to aid Sister Romana in the building of her beautiful orphanage. Kosa has visited the orphanage several times in the summer and winter to visit the girls and hand-deliver gifts. The collective continues to add more successful workshops each year for all ages and nationalities.
This year, Kosa has lead workshops in various communities: St. Vladimir Institute, St. Nicholas Church, The Kosa Studio, Articulations in the Junction, Needlework in Hamilton Delmanor Senior Community, and in Warkworth, Ontario. The proceeds of some of the pysanka workshops are going to the Mennonite Central Committee’s Ukraine Emergency Response initiative whose services help displaced families due to violence and conflict. MCC is currently providing emergency food baskets for displaced families from Crimea.
Specifically MCC is providing food support for children from an orphanage in eastern Ukraine, who have been displaced to Kiev by the conflict. MCC is also providing shelter assistance and heating fuel for displaced people in the Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovk regions.
In addition to traditional dying workshops, Kosa member and artist Olenka Kleban led Natural Dye Workshops where she taught participants how to create their own dyes using items from nature. To see a video of the process, visit http://www.thestar.com/news/2015/04/09/how-to-make-ukrainian-easter-eggs-with-natural-dyes.html
To learn more about Kosa Kolektiv, visit www.kosakolektiv.com.
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