Ivanka Demchuk
Kateryna Kuziv
Natalya Rusetska
Kateryna Shadrina
Hlafira Shcherbak
Ulyana Tomkevych
Lyuba Yatskiv
Khrystyna Yatsyniak
Ivanka Demchuk Kateryna Kuziv Natalya Rusetska Kateryna Shadrina Hlafira Shcherbak Ulyana Tomkevych Lyuba Yatskiv Khrystyna Yatsyniak
East Meets West pays tribute to 8 innovative women icon makers of Ukraine, a land where East meets West, a nation at the historic continental divide, where Europe confronts Russia, and the Latin and Byzantine worlds collide and converge. These 8 artists, students of a new school of iconography in the West Ukrainian cultural center of Lviv, have achieved recognition in a religious art genre traditionally dominated by men.
Now Open in the Main Gallery
thru August 21
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Learn More About the Art of Icons
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East Meets West
This video, presented by the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, presents a historic overview of Lviv, Ukraine, the cultural arts center where the 8 artists of this exhibit live and create these contemporary renderings of ancient icons.
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The Virgin Who Shows the Way
This video, presented by the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, contrasts the historical icon known as “The Virgin Who Shows the Way” with contemporary renderings by icon artists Lyuba Yatskiv, Natalya Rusetska, Ivanka Demchuk.
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The Transfiguration
This video, presented by the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection, compares and contrasts historical icons of The Transfiguration with renderings presented in this exhibit by Lyuba Yatskiv, Kateryna Kuziv, and Hlafira Shcherbak.
Meet The Artists
Ivanka Demchuk
(b. 1990, Lviv, Ukraine)
”Creating icons means “implementing the best aesthetic achievements of our time, so they are closer to our modern perceptions.”
Kateryna Kuziv
(b. 1993, Lviv, Ukraine)
“Icon painting must be appropriate to the present day. It should not be an historical artifact but something living to which a person can connect. In this form it is able to visually proclaim the Gospel as an icon is intended to do.”
Natalya Rusetska
(b. 1984, Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine)
“The icon hides a secret of the unknown. Icon-painting for me is a process of interpretation, based on what I read, see, and feel. Everything that surrounds me might urge me to create a new work”.
Kateryna Shadrina
(b. 1995, Ukraine)
“I want to make art that makes sense and the language of icon painting is meaningful and comprehensive. Some say the icon is a spatial boundary between the visible and invisible world—in which case, the study of sacred art is not just exciting but a great responsibility.”
Hlafira Shcherbak
(b. 1995, Sevastopol, Ukraine)
“My art is about feelings and experiences, a dialogue and process of co-creation with viewers in all their differences, creating a sense of integrity in the presence of God.”
Ulyana Tomkevych
(b. 1981, Lviv, Ukraine)
“Painting an icon is a special conversation with the Lord and with myself. It is a time for rethinking the Bible stories and the Ten Commandments in the context of modern human life because the Bible is timeless. I think, first of all, that God is Love and Mercy. My daily icon painting helps me to live my life with this understanding.”
Lyuba Yatskiv
(b. 1977, Lviv, Ukraine)
“For me, what is most interesting in icon-painting aesthetics is the dynamic plasticity of drawing. I would never start working with a prepared, predefined concept. It is a line of drawing that prompts the development of a certain image. You only need to listen to it, feeling its vivid motion and subtle plastic nuances. Having said this, I do work within the iconographic canon, though I never know what the outcome will look like.”
Khrystyna Yatsyniak
(b. 1994, Ivano-Frankivsk)
While Khrystyna prefers to work in a muted palette of grays and earth tones, she sometimes incorporates rigorously geometric Ukrainian folk art patterns in bright red into her paintings.
About the Exhibit
The intermingling of cultures and faith traditions in the regions at Ukraine’s western border has given rise to a style of sacred art unique in the Christian World, rooted in Ukrainian Greek Catholicism, a branch of the Catholic Church that embraces the Eastern Orthodox form of worship and the veneration of icons.
Suppressed in the Communist era, Ukrainian Greek Catholic culture has experienced a renaissance since Ukraine became an independent nation in 199l and pursued a course of democratization and integration with Europe, now in jeopardy as Russia moves to reassert control over the country.
One powerful expression of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic cultural renewal has been the development of a new school of iconography in the West Ukrainian cultural center of Lviv, not far from the border with Poland.
Eight graduates are represented in this collection of 26 icons. They have trained in the theological and artistic canons of iconography. They bring a modern perspective to ancient religious symbols, experimenting with different mediums, unusual painting techniques, and color palettes to create contemporary variations on time-honored themes. And they have pushed the boundaries of this conservative sacred art form in ways inspired by both modern art and folk traditions.
About the Curator
East Meets West is curated by John A. Kohan, art collector, writer, and former Time Magazine foreign correspondent to Russia. John describes himself as a "modern art lover who is on a pilgrimage to rediscover the majesty, meaning, and mystery of sacred art."
He is the owner of the Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection and directed the Art in the Sanctuary exhibition program at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church in Delaware, Ohio. John’s resume includes a co-authorship of Beauty Given by Grace: The Biblical Prints of Sadao Watanabe, with Sandra Bowden and Makoto Fujimura. You may remember seeing the work of Sadao Watanbe, a previous exhibit held in the Kairos Gallery in 2013.
“When international artists translate traditional themes of Western religious art into their own culture idiom, they give us a unique opportunity to see images that have become all too familiar to us in fresh and provocative ways.”
Additional Resources
Read John Kohan’s story of discovering these iconographers in an essay titled On the Border of East and West: Searching for Icons in Lviv in Image Magazine.
Hear more from John about living a life immersed in sacred art and about becoming a collector in this insightful interview.