Slavic spirit being revived in jewelry and textiles

The jeweler Volodymyr Balyberdin and his wife Halyna Diuhovska, an artist who specializes in textiles, have dedicated over 20 years to their respective arts. During this time they have put together a sizable collection of works. Some of them are now on display until March 28 as the Oberih exhibit at the Ukrainian Folk and Decorative Art Museum.

The artists’ main creative theme is the preservation of Ukrainian traditions. Balyberdin crafts women’s jewelry using mother-of-pearl, mammoth and walrus tusks, and hand-forged miniature bells, all of which feature Ukrainian Slavic ornaments or symbols. Although his wife works with other materials — osier, textiles, wood, and flax, ancient Ukrainian traditions also figure prominently in her craft. The broad- winged birds, wall panels, rag dolls, angels, and tall sculpted talismans, or house protectors, are an echo of a long forgotten historical era.

The couple’s dedication to their individual styles and unusual creative approaches has resulted in frequent invitations to take part in international plein-air shows and exhibits. Both artists are well known and respected in Ukraine. Several of Diuhovska’s works were borrowed for an exhibit at the amber museum in St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv. Balyberdin’s jewelry has long been on display at the Museum of Historical Valuables.

Another remarkable aspect of their creativity is that they help each other when they are working on their pieces. Volodymyr prepares metal bases for Halyna’s creations and she does something her husband can’t do: she makes thin bracelets for his pieces of jewelry.

“I have always wanted to create big things for the interior while preserving the delicacy and lightness of textiles,” Diuhovska said. “To do this I combine natural materials, like metal or wood, with modern ones, like plastics. Usually, however, I prefer materials that are regarded by Ukrainians as something familiar that has native roots. A lot of my pieces can be used to decorate homes or offices, where they remind us of our Slavic origins. Today it is fashionable to erect buildings with high ceilings, so I think that my three-meter sculpture Bila ptashka (Little White Bird) would fit nicely into such an interior.”

Another beautiful addition to a modern interior could be her tall gray-beige textile sculpture called Slavic Protectress, which Diuhovska decorated with exclusively Ukrainian symbols: angels woven out of thread, crosses, the tree of life, and a wooden egg — the symbol of conception. Similar symbolic elements are found in other works, and the artist is convinced that they bring people joy, goodness, and sincerity. Among her works are several dark red compositions. She believes that this color conveys the Slavic spirit that she and her husband are trying not to forget in their creativity.

Diuhovska said that she was often haunted by the idea of creating something dynamic and mobile, something that people would find it difficult to get used to. This idee fixe led her to create a textile pendulum with a moving hand and a frisky bird on a metal base, which starts swinging when someone passes by. According to the artist, the main task of this composition is to reproduce free flight. Her wall panels, which are static works, are equally interesting. Some rag dolls are not made with pieces of cloth and straw, the traditional materials of folk artists, but from dry grass.

“In the past, many talismans were made of grass,” Diuhovska explained, “so I decided to continue this tradition and selected the color of bunches of grass so they would match the threads that I used to sew the dolls. I find this work livelier.”

Diuhovska made the same kind of dynamic figures during a course entitled Rag Doll Stork for the Holiday of Welcoming Spring at the Kyivan Cave Monastery on March 15, once again underlining that ancient Ukrainian traditions are the starting point.