Ukrainian Tribute & William Kurelek

                                                            The Ukrainian Pioneer (No. 1)

                                                             The Ukrainian Pioneer (No. 5)

 I haven't been posting to my Groundling blog since the turn of the new year, and as always I'm conflicted. It's a matter of keeping the focus and energy for two blogs (Lion Lamb is the other.) Between the two I posted more than 400 times last year and that is demanding for this oldtimer. 

I decided that I needed to post here today, on the first anniversary of the terrible invasion of Ukraine  with a couple of paintings by Ukrainian/ Canadian artist William Kurelek, who grew up on the Prairies. There have been a number of stories of Ukrainians who've come to Canada in the past year and courageously started over, often with loved ones in their homeland who are living in constant danger. Canada already had a significant Ukrainian diaspora going back more than a century. Many came to farm, as they had in Ukraine. 

I enjoy Kurelek's paintings, a number of which are in the Art Gallery of Ontario. There is currently an exhibition of his paintings on Jewish life in Canada at the McMichael Gallery. There is a folk art vibe to his work, yet a depth which is often profound. So many of them uphold the stark beauty of Creation in winter. 

 I've known that Kurelek was a Christian for decades but it was only today that I found out the story of his conversion, if the experience can be described that way. He suffered from mental illness and was hospitalized for schizophrenia while living in London, England. Here is a description of what unfolded from his Wikipedia page. 

In this hospital, Kurelek met an occupational therapist who changed the course of his spiritual life.Margaret Smith brought him a book of poems, wrapped in a dust jacket that she had made of a Catholic newspaper. "I was a staunch atheist at the time…," Kurelek recalled, and upon discovering her faith, teased her about it. Later, he asked her if she was praying for him, and she answered, "Yes, I am." From here, they began to attend church services together. He took a correspondence course from the church, and met with Father Edward Holloway,^] a theologian trained at the English College in Rome, who helped him over some final stumbling blocks. In February 1957, Kurelek entered the Roman Catholic Church by a ceremony of conditional baptism. Margaret Smith, and his friend David John, a sculptor who did work for the church, were his godparents