Local Teacher Designs Wood Art Replica of Vegreville’s Famous Pysanka

Local Teacher Designs Wood Art Replica of Vegreville’s Famous Pysanka

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

What do you get when you combine science, construction, and creativity? Kendall Warawa.

He explains how the project all came together and some of the details involved in the design and compilation of the wooden masterpiece. “I wanted to create an exemplar for students, so I decided to make a Pysanka!

Kendall Warawa holding his replica pysanka at Pysanka Park in Vegreville.

(David Sen/Submitted Photo)

I have roughly 10-12hours into the making of this 2 1/2’ x 2’ piece, from picking up paint swatches at Home Hardware, to visiting the Pysanka to pick the correct shades of yellow, cutting all 434 pieces, painting them with a whitewash technique so that the wood grain would show through and then getting everything perfectly straight as I glued them into place.

A first for me with this project was bending wood. Normally in construction we are looking for clean lines and straight boards. But this time I intentionally cut a piece of wood and bent it around the outside as a border. In order to do so, I soaked the wood in water for a day to soften the wood and then used clamps to form it into the final shape.

Kendall Warawa holds up paint chips to the original pysanka to make sure he has a perfect colour match.

(David Sen/Submitted Photo)

It was a really fun project and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I am excited for students to draft their designs and create their own works of art.”

Kendall exemplifies passion, precision, and imagination. Those attributes and skills illustrate more than anything that anything is possible when you decide to be creative and resourceful.

The pysanka now has a place of pride in the lobby of Vegreville Composite High School and is a gift that will remain in existence for the current and future generations to appreciate.

A photo taken during the assembling of the replica.

(Kendall Warawa/Submitted Photo)