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THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 31, Number 39 Thursday, October 8, 2015 A Therapeutic Form of Art by Connie Kuzydym he idea of par- the Polish-American ticipating in a Cultural Society of Tdiscussion and Northwest Indiana demonstration of the at the old St. Mary’s Polish paper-cutting School. Excited, I en- craft known as wyci- tered a room full of nanki appealed to strangers, not know- me on more than one ing what to expect. level. I enjoy craft- By the end, it was ing, but more so, this as if I had shared an was a chance to ex- evening with my hus- perience a part of my band and his family. husband’s heritage. What a warm, wel- Being solely of coming, fun evening Greek descent, I have it turned out to be. always been thankful Along the front for my heritage, its wall of the room was culture and customs. a beautiful array When I married my of wycinanki (pro- husband, who was nounced vee-chee- solely of Polish de- non-kee). The works scent, the blend- belonged to guest ing of two wonder- speaker Grace Ba- ful heritages began. zylewski, a teacher When our daughters and practitioner of arrived, it became this type of folk art even more important for nearly 25 years. A that they understand Chicago-born Polish and appreciate their American, daughter dual heritages. After of post-World War II my husband passed political immigrants, away, I made a prom- she learned the art of ise to continue em- wycinanki from Pol- bracing his heritage ish artists living in and his family’s cus- the United States. toms to ensure our After being injured children, then teens, as a teen, paper cut- never forgot that ting became a way part of their lives. for her to pass the The wycinanki time. In college, it program I attended became a source of was presented by Grace Bazylewski discusses in greater detail one of the designs. Continued on Page 2 THE Page 2 October 8, 2015 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - drew@thebeacher.com email: Classifieds - classads@thebeacher.com http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. After a brief Therapeutic Continued from Page 1 discussion, we income as she sold her patterns to companies mak- received our fi rst ing laser cutout cards. Later, as an urban planner piece of paper to in Lansing, Ill., paper cutting became a way to es- cut. With scissors cape the stresses of the daily grind and politically and copy paper in charged atmosphere she found herself in at times. hand, we had two Now retired, she still enjoys teaching this art form rules. and does custom pieces for individuals. “No running According to Bazylewski, paper cutting was cre- with scissors,” ated by the Chinese in the 4th century. By the 17th Bazylewski said, century, it had spread to Japan. The earliest known which immedi- Polish paper cutouts date back to the mid-1800s. ately brought Although it was infl uenced by its journey across laughs from the Europe, in Poland it developed as a unique, long- older crowd. lived folk art tradition of Polish peasants. Typically, “When you subject matter refl ected the interests of the person. start cutting, al- Often, these designs were used as home decoration, ways leave part placed directly on whitewashed walls. Polish arti- of the edge you fold together in- Connie Kuzydym smiles as she looks over sans added color, as well as layering of color to cre- what she created. ate multiple layered designs. By looking at a design, tact because oth- one can usually tell which region of Poland a cutout erwise it will fall apart,” she continued, inspiring comes from by the color, paper and style. The de- a few questions and some quizzical looks as to how signs from the Kurpie region, for example, usually much of that folded edge should be left. are one color, whereas those from the Lowicz region As we began cutting our fi rst piece, a gwiazdka, are multicolored. which is a star pattern, Bazylewski explained how this is similar to the snowfl akes most of us created in grade school. While we snipped away, Bazylewski mentioned how thera- peutic it is to cut pa- per. Looking around the room at the in- tensity on the faces of both men and women as they were snipping away, my initial reac- tion was, goodness, how can this art form be therapeutic? Our next cutout, known as a drzewko, which is a traditional tree pattern from the region of Kurpie, was As the program progressed, the atmosphere changed, with conversation and laughter fi lling the room. created by folding the THE October 8, 2015 Page 3 preprinted design in half. The design gave the illu- sion that it was easier to cut, perhaps because there was a line to follow. In reality, it was a mind trick as Check Out Our Fall Specials! the design was slightly more intricate, but once the black line was gone, you were left holding a folded blank piece of paper that required a bit of creativity. FREE MEDIA AIR CLEANER With Purchase of New Furnace A $275 Value FREE Not valid with prior purchase or other offers. Offer Expires 10/31/15 FREE PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT With Purchase of New AC System A $179 Value FREE Not valid with prior purchase or other offers. Offer Expires 10/31/15 The program’s participants, busy at work. Everyone’s basic design was the same, yet each person was able to add their own touch. Some left √ 100% Customer √ Free Estimates On their birds, others removed them. Some snipped a Satisfaction New Installations variety of shapes in their tree, others snipped ex- Guaranteed actly the same shape. Some snipped shapes into the √ Join Our Comfort √ 24 Hour Emergency base of the tree, others left it solid. The trees were Care Maintenance Service For Our as unique as each individual cutting them. Savings Plan & Save Comfort Care Snipping away, I noticed a shift in the room. A Up To 20% All Year more relaxed atmosphere began to surface. Maybe Maintenance Plan everyone realized we had survived the fi rst design Members √ Employees without any major mishaps, but from there, conver- √ Our Unique Super Background sations began to fl ow more freely. Tune-Ups Save Up To Checked, Drug Throughout the evening, as we were cutting, our 30% on Utility Bills Tested, and instructor shared interesting tidbits about this art Professionally Trained form. √ Indoor Air Quality When the craft began in Poland, Bazylewski ex- Products & Solutions plained, it was primarily a man’s activity as sheep shears were used to cut the various materials used. It did not take long to realize how the correct scis- 219-874-2454 sors could make the paper-cutting process easier. 800-789-2210 When doing her own cutouts, Bazylewski uses a va- www.MichianaMechanical.com riety of scissors or an Exacto knife. Continued on Page 4 THE Page 4 October 8, 2015 realize Polish was being spoken. I had goosebumps Therapeutic Continued from Page 3 as I heard those words spoken here and there. I had Moving our piles of to be careful with my snipped paper to the More About Polish-American Cultural design as I tried to side, we began our fi gure out what was third preprinted cut- Society of Northwest Indiana being said. It might sound like a geek out. The lesson was The society was founded in November 2007 by the moment, but coming on how repetitive Rev. Walter Rakoczy, senior priest at St. Mary Immac- from a background patterns can be re- ulate Conception Church and Sacred Heart Parish in where Greek was my produced on a circle Michigan City. primary language pattern. The design The group meets twice a month, once in Portage and until I entered kin- was a single color de- once in Michigan City, and is open to anyone inter- dergarten, and now sign with repeats. ested in learning more about Polish heritage. Email most of us speak “In wealthier re- polamnwi@yahoo.com for more information. gions such as Low- “Grenglish,” it was icz, the piece would awesome to hear Pol- be more colorfully layered,” Bazylewski explained. ish intermingled with English. As I was enjoying “In less affl uent areas, though, the patterns would the atmosphere of the room, Bazylewski was ap- be more de- preciating tailed in a the faces single color. of those Some of the cutting. As colors re- she looked fl ected what around, dyes could be she saw a drawn from spark in nature.” the eyes. Even She saw though the creativity cutout was and self- more diffi - satisfac- cult, due to tion. how intri- “I teach cate it was, it because the atmo- The Rev. Walter Rakoczy begins work on his piece. whether sphere in the room became totally relaxed as people Blanche Murin, Chesterton, discusses her creation. it’s some- snipped away, talked and laughed. There were nu- body at 60 merous conversations occurring simultaneously. or 6, the minute they open their very fi rst creation,” As I was listening to bits and pieces, I began to Bazylewski said, “that look on their face.