The students in Juls Rathje’s art classes at Genoa and Heritage middle schools have spent the past week diving into Ukrainian culture by taking part in a springtime tradition of decorating Easter eggs known as pysanky.
Decorating them has taken on special meaning this year because of the war in Ukraine; all across the country — including Westerville — artists have been sharing the art to raise money and good wishes for the Ukrainian people.
For Rathje, the pysanky art form project was an opportunity to bring what’s happening around the world into her classrooms.
“It’s a neat process to allow them to share their knowledge, talk about current events while creating something meaningful,” she said. “We’re thinking about them and creating art while we’re thinking about them.”
She introduced the unit to her students on Monday by reviewing what they know about Ukraine, where it’s located on a map and facts about the country.
Dr. Jan Fedorenko, a retired Westerville elementary principal and education coordinator for the Arts Council of Westerville, visited her classes, giving students inspiration for their eggs by showing them the intricate patterns of a traditional Ukrainian dress and pysanky eggs she and other artists created for a recent fundraiser organized by the arts council.
Students also compared the decorated Ukrainian eggs with Polish and Russian ones and how their designs varied. For example, the Ukrainian patterns are more geometric whereas the Polish ones are more floral, Rathje said.
Students sketched patterns on paper before transferring their designs onto small wooden eggs. As they’ve been working on the project, Rathje said teachers have stopped by the classroom to share facts and information about Ukraine.
“It’s been great to have other teachers to engage with and share what they know,” Rathje said.
The decorated eggs, which students completed on Thursday, will be on display in the schools.