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Vol. 9, No. 27, Tuesday, April 15, 2014
MICHELLE PINON PHOTOS
These stunning creations are the handiwork of Andrew resident Mary Fedun. The 82-year-old artist has been writing eggs for many decades and takes great pleasure in sharing her many talents with family, friends, neighbours and customers.
Pysankas, a labour of love Even though Mary Fedun says she’s “slowing down”; all signs indicate otherwise. Mary has a full pot of mashed potatoes and cheese on the kitchen table, ready for perogies. She has already made various other Ukrainian dishes for Easter, and has beautfiul psyankas on the dining room table, and is in the midst of a new pettipoint creation featuring chickadees and lilacs. She just finished a painting for her granddaughter, and taking me on a tour of her home to see some of the other completed handmade projects that are on display. Hundreds of hours worth of work have gone into her projects, and the 82-year-old pauses long enough to point out some of the challenging
and intricate details of each piece. Even though the 82year-old Andrew resident has had both knees and a hip replaced, a hernia operation and many other physical challenges, she doesn’t let any of it stand in the way of her projects. She can’t say no, and lends her time and talents to many different undertakings and people in her family, dear friends and neighbours. “I wrote a lot of eggs in my time,” says Mary, who always took whatever spare time she could find, to create new and different patterns. In the early years, she would fashioned her own kiska, and later on she bought an electric one. “I usually go by patterns, but I made my own too,” points out
Mary, as she holds up one of the black and white eggs that has her own pattern imprinted on it. “I just eyeball it. Because I’ve been doing it for years and years and years, it just comes to me.” Even though perfection has eluded Mary, her creative eye, attention to detail, intricate patterns, and beautiful use of colours is simply
amazing to behold. She has sold hundreds of pysankas over the years at various sales and farmer’s markets, and is happy to share them with other people who usually give them away as gifts to loved ones. Clearly, no matter if it psyankas, perogies or pettipoint, Mary leaves her indelible mark on all of them.