Sharon Yourk

When Sharon Yourk sits at her work table, the calm and relaxation that comes with the deep concentration of working on her Pysanky eggs makes the world recede into the background.

“You don’t sit down to do an egg if there’s any tension, or if there’s anyone around who is real chatty,” she says.

“And if you plan on answering the phone or the doorbell, forget it,” she adds with humorous honesty.

The object of her attention is a white egg. When she eventually declares it finished, the egg will be a masterpiece of intricate and delicately patterned designs in several colors.

This art is called Pysanky (pronounced “PES’-en-kay”), commonly referred to as “Ukranian eggs.”

Although originally a Pagan tradition thousands of years old, long before people were Christianized, Pysanky eggs have become associated with Easter. This is not only because of their colorful designs, but also because the personalized eggs were given as gifts in the Spring around the time of Easter, when the rebirth of life was celebrated, by anonymously hiding them in a doorway for the recipient to find.

Most people think they are just pretty Easter eggs decorated with random designs and pictures but in fact, each line, stroke and curl actually is part of the symbols that tells a story about a person’s life.

“The eggs originally represented a person’s entire life from birth to death,” Yourk explains. “Each symbol means something.”

Among the myriad of symbols used, the most popular has always been the star, which symbolizes success.

“The star is one of my favorites,” Yourk says. She also gives other examples.

“You can put stairs, which are the stairs up to heaven; the rams horns are for strength; the dots are for the many tears that were shed; the wheat for fertility; the pyramids for the places of worship. There is something for every phase of a person’s life.”

Colors are important as well, such as the yellow, which traditionally symbolized a successful harvest, and wisdom. Green referred to Spring and rebirth of nature. A color combination with black and white represented protection from evil.

“All the lines, colors – everything on the egg -- meant something,” she says, “even though it doesn’t (seem to) have rhyme or reason.”

Today, most of the Pysanky eggs we see are really just colorfully decorated for eye appeal and enjoyment.

Pysanky eggs have no common relationship to the decorated wood eggs that are of another folk craft category. Yourk says she has never done wood eggs because it would take another whole set of wood carving tools to do that, and also because “these keep me pretty busy.”

Yourk is a walking encyclopedia on Pysanky. It is a skill she has been practicing for more than 20 years, ever since she married her Ukranian husband, Bodie, whose grandparents were the first generation to come to America from the Ukraine.

“I never knew about the eggs until I got married,” she remembers.

“My mother-in-law would make them. And she would be throwing some of these eggs away because she said ‘they were not good, they were flawed.’

“But they were gorgeous, so I would be going through the garbage, picking out these eggs because I thought they were too beautiful to throw away, and she thought I was nuts.

“I showed an interest in it and she liked that, and I finally got up the nerve to ask her if she would mind teaching me.”

Over the years Yourk came to realize that “the ones she threw away, that I cherished, were because she had done it so long and had it perfected, that when she saw flaws they were unacceptable to her.”

So Yourk doesn’t throw many of her eggs away because of a perceived flaw. From experience, she has realized that others do not see a tiny flaw in the design, they only see the beauty of the whole egg.

Yourk taught her daughter and her nephew, at an early age, how to create Pysanky.

“So, we have carried on the Ukranian tradition,” she says. “It’s a good thing to hang onto, and we want to keep it going.”

Yourk, who is an associate at Gridleys of Fountain Hills, as well as being a special assignments photographer for the fire department, looks forward to the relaxation of creating the eggs when she is home from work.

It’s impossible to make Pysanky eggs quickly, or by mass production. As with any work of art, they are created one at a time, and it can take a week or more to work through all the steps to completion.

And now for Yourk, who has honed her skill at this art for so many years, “the time is in the waiting (between steps),” she says.

Yourk can create her designs freehand, and only uses rubber bands to delineate the quarters of the egg for uniform designs. Beginners can start by drawing their designs on the egg with a pencil first.

Any strokes of the pattern that are to remain white when the egg is finished are applied to the egg first, with hot black wax. This is done with a kistka -- a funnel-shaped writing tool. Today, electric kistkas are available, which speed up this process.

The egg is then dipped into the first shade of dye, the lightest shade to be used, such as yellow.

Yourk emphasizes that she uses special dyes that are not edible, “because the colors are stronger and more intense,” she says.

When the dye has dried completely – often overnight – more of the design can be drawn with the wax over that light shade – the parts that are to remain that color -- to cover and protect it from the darker dyes to come. It is then dipped in the next darker color and dried again.

This alternating process is continued until the egg is completely covered with the desired patterns and colors. Sometimes eight dyes are used.

At this point the egg will be entirely coated with layers of black wax from drawing the layers of designs, and must be removed by carefully exposing every inch of the egg briefly to a candle flame and then gently wiping the wax away.

The egg then receives three coats of varnish.

In the final step, each end of the egg is pierced with a pin, and the insides are blown out.

Yourk gets orders for her eggs from all over the world, and also has them on display at Gridleys where, in the past, she has done demonstrations on the technique of Pysanky. The eggs sell at $25 and up, depending on the selection of designs.

Is there a “most popular” design pattern?

Yourk thinks there are as many choices as people, and says, “No two eggs are the same, no matter how hard you try. But the individuality and uniqueness is part of the charm.”

For more information, contact Yourk at Gridleys, 480-837-1090.

This artist was featured April 2006.