NP-UN Western Bureau.
The Ukrainian Catholic Women`s League of Canada (UCWLC) Edmonton Eparchial Branch reopened their museum, located in the basement of St. Josaphat`s Cathedral with a special exhibit dedicated to the memory of the late Eva Tomiuk, October 1.
Tomiuk, who was a long-time member of both the museum and the UCWLC, passed away on March 27, 2017.
Her artistic talents were very versatile, including: pysanka making, embroidery, rushnyky cloths, wheat-sheath crafts, wedding breads (Korovai), teaching and more.
She conducted many courses throughout her life and her goal was to pass her knowledge on to a younger generation, said Museum Curator Nadia Cyncar.
“I don’t have the word to express that immense work that she managed. To relate that that you would a whole day,” she said, speaking in Ukrainian.
“Pani Eva Tomiuk was a deeply spiritual, welcoming, kind generous, and inspiring woman,” said UCWLA Eparchial President Joyce Chrunik-Rudiak
“Wherever she went, she brought with her, her warmth and friendly smile. I’m quite sure she is smiling on us today; happy that we are remembering her. Our memory of her will continue through this wonderful legacy she left us; one that she would want us to share,” she added.
Eva was born in Serny, Ukraine. At the age of 11 she lost her mother and was placed in the loving care of her grandmother who began to teach the then unwilling student the art of pysanky and embroidery.
Taken from her Ukrainian home to work as a slave labourer in Germany during World War II, Tomiuk later emigrated to Canada – first Quebec, then Winnipeg, finally settling in Edmonton in 1965.
She joined St. Nicholas Parish and a year later began teaching a variety of classes at the parish. This soon expanded to workshops, presentations and exhibits in Edmonton, Calgary and Fort McMurray.
She instructed several hundred international visitors at Expo 87 in Vancouver
Eva Tomiuk was an exceptional pysanka artist who had been sharing her craft to many students since the age of 18. Her eggs have found their way to a number of famous houses: Eva has presented a pysanka as a gift to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and Princess Diana, Pope John Paul 11, Edmonton Mayors William Hawrelak and Stephen Mandel, and even to Days of Our Lives stars Kristian Alfonso and Peter Breckell.
Passionate about her art, Eva Tomiuk received numerous ribbons and awards from the Vegreville and Dauphin Ukrainian Festivals.
She was named a Woman of the Year in 1975 by the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada. She also received the Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Alberta Provincial Council’s Hetman Award in 2005, and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Eva Tomiuk even appeared on TV screens all over North America as the woman who taught the world’s most famous homemaker a thing or two about Ukrainian arts in Martha Stewart Living.
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