EUDOKIA SOROCHANIUK
Ukrainian Hutsul Embroidery & Weaving
Eudokia
Sorochaniuk has played a critical role in keeping Hutsul culture vibrant
in both the Delaware Valley region and Ukraine. From the time she left
her home in the Carpathian mountains following the Soviet takeover during
World War II, she determined to preserve Hutsul traditions, and her success
at that goal was recognized in 1999 by the National Endowment for the
Arts when it awarded her a National Heritage Award.
For Hutsul folk culture, nyzynka and weaving were basic to the folk costume of men and women for both daily and festival clothing. In the Hutzulshchyna region of the Carpathian Mountains, where Eudokia was born in 1919, almost everything -- fabric, leather goods, coats, etc., -- was made at home until the Soviets collectivized the rural area.
Looms
were a standard fixture in Hutsul homes, and girls learned these arts
as a regular part of family life. However, from the time she was a little
girl, Eudokia had an uncommon zeal for perfecting her skills in nyzanka
and weaving. "Nyz," is a painstaking process which produces
a rich decoration. It is worked first from the reverse of the cloth with
the background color, following the weft. Then the brightly-colored design
is stitched on the right side of the material. Eudokia began learning
the art at the age of about six, and would sometimes pilfer thread from
her older sisters so she could practice. She mastered loom weaving quickly,
and in her early teens was accepted as apprentice by a master weaver in
her town. After finishing a three-month course of study in two months,
she was asked to join other master weavers in a shop in the town of Zhab'ye.
War and the threat of cultural annihilation created a new context for Eudokia's dedication and gave it greater urgency. During World War II, Zhab'ye was pulled back and forth between the German and the Soviet armies. When the Soviets finally won the region, Eudokia and her husband, Dmytro, took their daughter and crossed the Carpathians into Hungary. In 1944, they went to a displaced persons' camp in Germany, where they would remain for five years. In 1949, the Sorochaniuks came to America and settled in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Eudokia quickly got a job in a garment factory where she worked at a sewing machine all day. Nevertheless, she asked Dmytro to build a loom for her, and every evening she would spend two hours working on her beloved folk arts. Over the years, she has created hundreds of exquisite items, including all of the costumes worn by the dancers in Dmytro's group Cheremosh Hutsul.
One
of the most important products of Eudokias work are the "recordings"
of nyzynka designs which she began in the post-war camp. In addition
to the three rough cloths on which she recorded nyz patterns while in
the camp, she has several big albums, each thick with fabric pages which
provide beautifully-stitched examples of over a hundred designs. These
she has diligently recorded over the fifty years that she has been in
New Jersey.
Her dedication to this task is so well known that Ukrainians all over North America continue to send her scraps today. Each page shows a nyzynky design, one half of which is stitched in the traditional colors and the other half in black and white so that both the counted-stitch pattern and the traditional colors will be visible to learners. Eudokia prides herself on careful finishing and the small, deft touches that make a work completely pleasing. She takes pride in making the small changes that will improve a design and show her own craftsmanship, but she takes a fairly conservative approach to innovation, always working with the frame of tradition. Recently these albums have been documented in Eudokia's book Nyzynka - Embroidery of the Hutsuls.
Her weaving is equally exquisite. Once settled in the U.S., Eudokia asked Dmytro to build her a loom so that she could resume her weaving. She began teaching other women in the community, and Dmytro eventually had to build not only several more looms but an entire room to accommodate them and the dozens of apprentices that Eudokia has had. Though in recent years some of these apprenticeship have been supported by grants from the New Jersey and Pennsylvania arts councils, it is her love for her culture, her artistry, and her community, rather than a desire for payment, that has motivated Eudokia. She and her husband are widely known and respected for their talents and contributions to the culture. They have participated in innumerable public programs, both for the community and the public. They are often sought out as consultants about Hutsul folk culture, and they continue to share their knowledge and skills today.
Perhaps the most significant result of Eudokia's devotion to preserving her culture has come during her recent visits to Ukraine. True to her expectations, the folk traditions, considered by the Communists to be a sign of Ukrainian nationalism, were obliterated by the Soviets. But when the young women there met Eudokia and saw her work, they eagerly sought her help in learning the embroidery and weaving, and she has, in turn, eagerly taught them and sent designs, materials, and instructions to them. Her story might be said to end with this remarkable achievement -- saving these arts from destruction in both Ukraine and the United States - but anyone who knows her knows that Eudokia will continue to achieve in her teaching and her artistry until her last day!
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