Theodore, Saskatchewan

Phyllis Marianchuk, a parishioner of the Protection of St. Mary Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Theodore, SK has made hundreds and hundreds of pysanky (Ukrainian Easter Eggs). Phyllis loves her art work: both pysanky and embroidery. She is especially well known for her pysanky.
Phyllis began selling her pysanky locally, charging $5 an egg. As her reputation grew and demand increased, she raised her prices to $8 and $10 per egg, still way below prices charged in big cities. Because Phyllis was strikingly talented and sold at exceptionally low prices, her reputation spread. People would order two or three dozen pysanky at a time. Orders came not only from Canada, but also from the United States.

Phyllis is not only technically good; she is innovative. She tries to make new designs every year. Her sources are varied. She draws designs from post cards and in pysanka books. She creates her own designs. This 86 year old small town grandmother also searches the internet for inspiration. Phyllis writes mostly geometric shapes. She does, however, incorporate poppies, wheat, and fish into her designs.

Phyllis learned how to make pysanky from her mother, who, in turn, learned from her mother. Phyllis uses an electric pysochok or kystka (stylus). Her mother, however, used to make her own writing tools by rolling the copper tab that used to hang calendars. This little tab was soft enough to roll into a little funnel and that could be attached to a stick.

Sadly Phyllis no longer makes pysanky. She had to quit in 2015 because of bad eyesight. But while regular eggs are beyond Phyllis’s ability at present, ostrich eggs are not. Phyllis orders ostrich eggshells online and has made a set of ostrich egg pysanky for her grandchildren.