FORGOTTEN ART OF ANCESTORS

An ordinary wickerwork basket dating from the eighteenth century is the oldest surviving exhibit of this craft in Ukraine. The Vasyl Tarnovsky Local History Museum in Chernihiv boasts an excellent piece of wicker furniture, an armchair made last century in Korop.

Beginning in the second half of the nineteenth century provincial authorities spread wickerwork shops and schools all over Ukraine. Trained by professional instructors, local craftsmen taught the craft to fellow villagers. In the early twentieth century wickerwork in the province of Chernihiv ranked first in Tsarist Russia.

FROM PAPYRUS TO WITHE

Wickerwork or basketry is considered among the oldest crafts emerging even before wood- and metalworking which required special tools. Wickerwork required none and there was always plenty of raw material, including papyrus, bulrush, straw, flax, hemp, reed, willow, hazel bush, willow withe, lime, lilac bush, poplar, pine, and fir roots.

Among the oldest archaeological finds are remnants of mats, sacks, baskets, and plates dating back to fourth and fifth millennia BC, discovered in Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Balkans, and Great Britain. Experts claim that the basic spiral cloth cross, frame, and strip weaving techniques emerged in the Neolithic period. With time and due to the accessibility of raw material and general practicality, ornamental wickerwork spread over the continents, distinguished by the material used. At present, straw, bulrush, and withe weaving are the most popular techniques. In the mid-1980s, the World Council of Crafts sponsored the first international open-air wickerwork seminar-exhibit.

HANDED DOWN BY GENERATIONS

Volodymyr Shlionchyk, a 30-year-old basket weaver from Chernihiv, is known far outside his native oblast. People at the Folk Craftsmen Association will tell you that his works quickly won popularity in the Ukrainian capital. The man inherited the craft from his father and grandfather whom he had helped even as a small boy, making small simple articles for the market. In 1997, after a year of independent work, he became a member of the FCA and now works mostly on commissions from Kyiv.

He adheres to his own creative principles and techniques, using only natural materials, never lacquering a single item or using multistrip withe coils.

FCA people will also tell you that Shlionchyk's works are marked by subtle simplicity. He makes toys, but only for exhibits, in this case, preparing to contribute to an all-Ukrainian children's toy contest scheduled for May. This work calls for utmost concentration and jeweler's precision.

"I have to use the finest of materials. Usually it is weeping willow, although I prefer white Urals willow and Canadian maple," he says.

COMMERCIAL RIVAL

It is not easy to make something new which is simple yet original, considering that there is a basket weaving factory in Chernihiv with an established reputation and a variegated assortment. It was founded in the 1930s when an artel called Lozovyk appeared in place of a vocational training school dating from 1909.

"The factory operates Ukraine's only wickerwork school," says its director Yuri Shuliak. "They did all kinds of things, from baskets to lamp shades to sledges, but now furniture is our specialty. The current assortment has taken shape over the past year or two and we export most of our products to Moscow. We opened an office in Kyiv recently."

Wicker furniture is part of Chernihiv oblast history. At the turn of the century pieces of furniture made at Khotianivka in the Oster province (now Vyshhorod District, Kyiv Region) were considered the best. The first USSR Exhibition of Agricultural Products and Folk Crafts in Moscow (1923) awarded diplomas to products from the Kharkiv and Chernihiv areas, commending "fine wicker techniques."

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Withe is the most popular wickerwork material, because it is strong and easy to handle. It is used in a variety of household items. Withes are prepared throughout the year, but the fall and winter are the best time. The factory has its own plantation of willows (about 11 hectares or 27 acres), but this does not suffice. A riverboat is chartered and a team of workers is dispatched to hunt for withe on the banks of the Desna River. Volodymyr Shlionchyk has to make procurements single-handedly. The Desna is also his "hunting ground," but he looks for Urals withe on the former territory of the Desniansky state farm, now being allocated for private dachas. At the end of March, the willow-cutting season, he cuts Canadian maple which somehow is left alone by the other hunters.

"You can work using practically any material," he explains. "However, white willow turns brown after cooking and Canadian maple gets golden red, which, combined with proper technique, produces a fine decorative effect."

In preparing withe it has to be cooked and the bark peeled. Volodymyr Shlionchyk does this at home, using an ordinary frying pan. At the factory withe is cooked for several hours in a special tank. After that the bark is peeled and the material can be stored for a long time. Women workers say that the bark is collected to feed goats. Volodymyr does nothing of the kind. People in the neighborhood draw up waiting lists to get the decoction whose medicinal qualities are legendary. In fact, FCA people say that the man has an ideal bill of health because he is permanently in contact with withe.

UPHOLDING TRADITION

Two trends became noticeable in wickerwork at the end of the last century: (a) traditional household items, mostly baskets and fishing gear, and (b) fashionable articles made by urban craftsmen. The trends do not seem to have changed much over the past hundred years. Some craftsmen offer simple articles of which FCA experts say they show neither quality nor talent, the main reason being, in their opinion, lack of any creative approach. Valuable ornamental pieces are created at the wickerwork factory, in addition to serial output. Here the most exacting and moneyed customer will be delighted to see the finished product. In fact, one customer ordered a set of furniture, an exact replica of what he saw in a furniture store, except that it was made of rattan and he wants one made of domestic willow.

MYKHAILO STRUK, MEDAL-WINNING WICKER WORKER

This order is being fulfilled by a veteran wicker furniture maker Mykhailo Struk. Most younger workers call him respectfully Uncle Misha. He started in business 40 years ago, as a factory's 15-year-old apprentice. Now the management puts him on its most sophisticated commissions.

"I learned from a number of skilled craftsmen and started by making simple things, like chairs and shelves," he recalls. "Eventually, I started inventing new designs and making products for exhibits. I was awarded a second class diploma and silver medal at the Exhibition of Advanced Economic Achievements of the USSR."

Pieces of furniture made of withe are more expensive but prove stronger and last longer. They can be made soft when combining withe with batting and other materials.

"Before working with material it has to be soaked," says Mykhailo Struk. "After that the withe becomes flexible, elastic. Of course, furniture making requires nails and other special tools like knives, scissors, and clamps for straightening and bending twigs."

Sometimes they have to make things looking at photographs or rough sketches, as is the case with a wicker replica of the imported rattan set. Uncle Misha admits that this work makes one's hands and head ache, because one has to find a creative solution having only a general outline as a guide. But this is precisely the challenge for a truly creative master. After all, wickerwork is often called an art with reason.

Photo by Serhiy Tsyhankov, The Day:
A master of his craft, wicker furniture-maker Mykhailo Struk