Dynamic Women: A Spotlight on Ukrainian Canadian Visual Artists

Thursday, March 10, 2022
7:30 PM 9:00 PM 19:30 21:00

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Thursday, March 10, 2022
7:30 PM – 9:00 PM (ET)

A virtual panel discussion brings International Women’s Day to every day with an engaging dialogue with Ukrainian Canadian visual artists. Join this discussion about the challenges and gains of women in visual arts and the role their Ukrainian Canadian heritage has had in their journey.

Moderator:

Roxolana Janischewsky–Martin, VP Kumf Gallery

Panelists:

Anna Bucciarelli
Olenka Kleban
Marta Iwanek
Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn

MEET THE PANEL:

ROXOLANA JANISCHEWSKY–MARTIN
Born and raised in Toronto, Roxolana Janischewsky-Martin has a BA (University of Toronto) and an MBA in Management (University of Miami) and over 20 years of management, sales, and recruiting experience in the staffing industry. Living, working and raising a family first in South Florida and then in Boston, MA, she was always an active member of civic and professional associations, as well as the Ukrainian community. An avid art collector, Roxolana has studied art history with a focus on European and Ukrainian art, and travelled the world visiting the great museums and architectural treasures.

Roxolana recently returned to Toronto. She has been a UCAF Board member and VP, Governance since May 2018; currently, she is Chair of UCAF’s Strategic Planning Committee and serves on the Search and Fundraising committees.

The Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (UCAF) KUMF™ Gallery is a registered, not for profit charitable organization and the cornerstone of Toronto's and Ontario's vibrant Ukrainian Canadian visual arts community for more than 45 years. It is dedicated to serving the Ukrainian-Canadian community, as well as the community at large by exhibiting and fostering an understanding of art, preserving and collecting quality art works. UCAF seeks to highlight shared experiences, bridge cultures and enhance our understanding of the world through art.

UCAF's Permanent Collection reflects the Ukrainian-Canadian community, stewards its visual arts heritage and preserves an important part of the community's history for the benefit of future generations. UCAF regularly exhibits the Permanent Collection at KUMF™ Gallery and participates in art lending exchanges. Currently, UCAF's permanent collection holds more than 900 artworks from national and international visual artists of Ukrainian heritage.

Find out more:
kumfgallery.com
Facebook: @ukrainiancanadianartgallery

ANNA BUCCIARELLI is a professional illustrator, primarily known for her designs of Canada's most stunning collectible coins, treasured for their rarity and craftsmanship. Anna’s unique style is infuenced by her training in classic Ukrainian folk art called Petrykivka, focusing on intricate floral and plant motifs. She brings together various forms of traditional media, including gouache and watercolor, and introduces digital elements that bring delicate, exquisite detail to her designs. Anna’s family came to Canada with the recent wave of Ukrainian immigration in 1997, and she received Canadian citizenship in 2001. As a child in Kyiv, Anna received comprehensive training in traditional Ukrainian folk art. Since moving to Toronto, she continued her artistic pursuits, producing commercial illustrations for internationally known brands, as well as public artwork that incorporate elements of Petrykivka painting. In addition to Canadian silver and gold dollars, her artwork appeared on Starbucks holiday cups, New York Times’ bestselling book covers, and colorful murals on the streets of Toronto.

Since 2019, Anna has expanded her practice to include social media and virtual art education, with over 100,000+ followers on Instagram, Youtube and Facebook. In 2021, she received a grant from the REACH Mentorship / Residency for the Arts to preserve and advance the tradition of Ukrainian folk art painting by adapting Petrykivka techniques for the digital era. This led to the launch of brand new YouTube channel, offering lessons on the folk art techniques of Petrykivka. Through this initiative, Anna hopes to raise awareness about the cultural and historical heritage of Ukrainian folkart and ensure that Petrikivka painting style lives on in the digital age.

Find Anna Bucciarelli’s work at annabucciarelli.com
Instagram: @anna.m.bucciarelli Facebook: @nnabucciarellistudio

OLENKA KLEBAN is a mouldmaker, sculptor, pysankar, and community singer of narodnij holos. Leading in the arts comes in the form of encouraging others to get involved in the arts. From technical support to collaborative problem-solving, the basis of Kleban's mission is to find ways for people to see how they can contribute to their community. Her philosophy towards art is rooted in the idea that it is the labour of rituals that draws people together, creating circumstances of shared identity and acceptance. In young adulthood, Kleban found her path to maintain her Ukrainian-Canadian upbringing by working with grassroots arts-organization kosa kolektiv, first from Toronto, and now from abroad. Her decade of work with kosa kolektiv was focused on sustaining her own humanity as a person of ancestral circumstances, and as a result, supporting others people's humanity in the same way. Ukrainian folk art has been a way to keep in touch with the depths of what life can be, by way of communal song, craft, dance, and feasting. Kleban's foundation in folk art practices has helped her through her career as an arts-worker, understanding the benefits of approaching all work with an understanding of cultural nuances. Today she works as a Visitor Experience Associate at Mingei International Museum in San Diego, makes pysanky and teaches plant-dye methods for pysankarstvo, and produces bells in cast bronze and iron. She serves as a Cultural Director of House of Ukraine San Diego, and is a member of Folk Camp Canada.

Find Olenka Kleban’s work at olenkakleban.com
Instagram: @olenkakleban

MARTA IWANEK is a Ukrainian Canadian documentary filmmaker and photographer. She is a graduate of the journalism program at X University and the photojournalism program at Loyalist College.

Her work examines community and family through the lens of identity and memory - what do we gain from them, and what happens when that connection is lost.

She is a three-time Canadian National Magazine Award winner and her work has also been recognized by Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the Canadian Journalism Foundation, the Magenta Foundation, AI-AP, News Photographers Association of Canada, National Press Photographers Association and she was a participant in the Eddie Adams Workshop in Jeffersonville, New York.

Her work has been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBC, NBC Left Field, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, The Canadian Press, the Toronto Star, CTV, and Maisonneuve.

Find Marta Iwanek’s work at martaiwanek.com
Instagram: @martaiwanek

LARISA SEMBALIUK CHELADYN views life through the lens of an artist. She completed her BFA in Art & Design from the University of Alberta in 1981 and has enjoyed a successful career as a painter and illustrator for over 40 years. Her work has garnered national and international acclaim – she is best known for her watercolour paintings, digital animations, and children’s book illustrations. In 2016, Larisa returned to academia to complete an MA in Ukrainian Folklore - focusing on Ukrainian material culture particularly embroidery. Her thesis was inspired by the pioneer artisans who created Ukrainian Canadian embroidered pillows; her research culminated in the creation of Embroidered Memories, a touring exhibit. Larisa is now working towards a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta. Her research focus in on how ethnic identity was visualized in Ukrainian Canadian Comics. She is illustrating her dissertation, which will be presented as a digital graphic biography of the Winnipeg based artist/illustrator Jacob Maydanyk. Larisa is also currently working together with artist Theo Harasymiw to create a legacy mosaic from the 6000 printing blocks salvaged when the Winnipeg based Ukrainian language publisher, Trident Press closed its doors in 2018.