A year of hope

A calendar featuring artwork by mother-and-daughter Ukrainian artists who fled the war there earlier this year is av ailable through Terracotta, a community pottery studio in their new home, Pullman.

The calendar, with paintings by Olha Hrytsiuk and Ivanka Petrukha, can be purchased at the studio, 107 S. Grand Ave., Suite C, and at terracottapullman.com/products/2024-calendar.

Hrytsiuk and Petrukha, who were featured in the Aug. 24 issue of Inland 360, specialized in art therapy at their studio in Lutsk, Ukraine. Since arriving in the U.S., they have been working from studio space at Washington State University’s Fine Arts Center and are now teaching painting and ceramics at Terracotta.

Terracotta owner Candace Baltz said working with the artists to develop the calendar was an honor and an education. She was moved, Baltz said, when Petrukha’s initial reaction to the idea of creating the calendar was to weep as she, for the first time in a long time, looked ahead to the months to come.

“It was a physical response before it was a response in words,” Baltz said. “I think it’s a really beautiful thing that these artists who’ve been in such a survival state, day to day, moment to moment can now envision a future. It’s just monumental.”

Dates on the calendar reflect a law, signed earlier this year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that moved religious and public holidays from the Julian calendar, used by the Russian Orthodox Church, to the Gregorian calendar, used in most parts of the world. The change means Christmas in Ukraine will be celebrated Dec. 25, not Jan. 7, and comes “as part of the efforts to ‘renounce Russian heritage,’ ” according to The Kyiv Indpendent.

The message of the calendar, in keeping with the artists’ work since coming to the U.S., is hope.
“Finding inspiration in the seasons and the natural world, Olha and Ivanka celebrate the smallest moments, cherish being alive to experience those moments, and work to convey this sense of joy and happiness through their art,” Baltz wrote on the Terrracotta website.

The calendars are priced on a sliding scale, with $25 recommended but other prices available. Proceeds support the studio, including Hrytsiuk and Petrukha’s teaching there.

Workshops with the artists, featuring the paintings from each month of the calendar, can be booked at TerracottaPullman.com.

Some of the original paintings featured in the calendar are still available, Baltz said. Anyone interested in purchasing one can contact the studio via email at info@terracottapullman.com.