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Authority record
Kuzmenko, Larysa
Person · 1956-

Composer and pianist Larysa Kuzmenko (b. 1956, Mississauga, Canada) studied piano and composition at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and composition at the University of Toronto. She began performing as a pianist in 1972, while still in high school. She has taught piano, music theory, harmony and music history through the Royal Conservatory of Music since 1981 and at the University of Toronto since 1989. Kuzmenko began composing in the late 1970s, and her works include three piano concertos, a cello concerto, a cello sonata, chamber music for string quartet, winds, brass, percussion and accordion, works for solo piano and organ, song cycles and choral works. She has been a frequent collaborator of the Vesnivka Choir of Toronto and her works on Ukrainian themes include In Memoriam: To the Victims of Chornobyl for solo piano, “A Journey to a New Life” for string quartet, the oratorio The Golden Harvest and “Holy God” for a cappella choir. She is married to composer Gary Kulesha.

Lysko, Zenowij
Person · 1895-1969

Composer and scholar Zenowij Lysko (b. 1895, Rakobuty, Ukraine, d. 1969, New York, USA) laid the foundations of Ukrainian musicology in the United States. Born into a priestly family, he studied philosophy at Lviv University and piano and theory with Stanyslav Liudkevych at the Lysenko Music Institute. Drafted into the Austrian army during World War I, he joined the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen following the war. He continued his studies at the Lviv Underground Ukrainian University and the Lysenko Institute, as well as studying composition privately with Vasyl Barvinsky. He later enrolled in Charles University in Prague, where he also studied privately with Fedir Akimenko. During this period he became interested in folklore and ethnomusicology. He taught music at the Drahomanov Ukrainian Pedagogical Institute in Prague (1924-29), graduated from the State Conservatory of Czechoslovakia in 1927 and obtained his doctorate from the Ukrainian Free University in Prague in 1928. He taught at the Kharkiv Conservatory, the Stryi Branch of the Lysenko Higher Institute of Music, the Lviv Conservatory and was editor-in-chief of the journal Ukraïns'ka muzyka. After the Second World War he lived in Germany, before settling in New York in 1960, where he taught at the Ukrainian Music Institute from 1961 until his death.

As a composer, he was most active during his Prague period, completing an orchestral suite, string quartet, piano sonata, song cycles and arrangements of Ukrainian folk songs. As a scholar, he collected 1,400 Ukrainian folk songs, which were published in ten volumes. He also amassed a substantial archive.

Kupiak, Dmytro
Person · 1918-1995

Dmytro Kupiak (November 06, 1918, Yabloniwka village, Lviv Region, Halychyna - June 13, 1995, Toronto, Canada) was born in a family of Yuriy and Anna (nee Zdrazhil’).

In 1943, Kupiak graduated from the Institute for Trade in Lviv. In 1943-1945, he was a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. He immigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1953, he got Canadian citizenship. The same year, 1953, Kupiak married Stefania Khorkava. In 1955, he and his family moved to Toronto, Ontario. In 1972, he ran for the election as a member of the Conservative Party. At that time, he was charged by the Soviet Union with committing war crimes.

Kupiak was a member of the Ukrainian Professional and Business Club, the Canadian Legion, the Knights of Columbus - Sheptytsky Council, the businessmen’s association “Queens-Tavern” and many others. He was the owner of the “Mayfair Inn” and a tavern in Toronto.

Sources:
“Купяк Дмитро.” Марунчак, Михайло. Біографічний довідник до історії українців Канади. Вінніпеґ: Українська Вільна Академія Наук в Канаді, 1986, p. 362-363.

Turko, Gregory
Person · 1888-1977

Gregory Turko (February 11, 1888 - March 10, 1977, Edmonton, Alberta) was born “in one of the Carpathian Villages” to a family of Ivan and Anastasia Turko. Gregory went to the Ukrainian Gimnasium in Peremyshl. In 1915, he married Maria Horodetska. Turko worked for the tobacco industry. He fought in WWI and WWII.

Turko immigrated to Canada after WWII through the German camps of Displaced Persons and settled in Calgary. After his wife passed away, he moved to Edmonton, where in 1967, he married Ksenia Shklanka. Turko was a member of the Edmonton Branch of the Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the First Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army (Станиця Братства колишніх вояків Першої української дивізії Української національної армії в Едмонтоні) and Ukrainian War Veterans Association of Canada.

Source:
Турко, Ксеня. “Спомин про бл. П. Григорія Турка.” Ukrainian News, april 21, 1977, p. 6.

Stec, Myron
Person

Myron grew up in Kozava a town near Ternopil. He and his sister joined UPA, and eventually he had to flee to the west. His sister stayed behind and was arrested and sent to Siberia. Myron made it to the west, and lived in England, Montreal and finally Kelowna BC. He passed away in 2021.

Mazurenko family
Family · late 1800s-

Fedor Mazurenko and Tatiana Deshlevi of the village of Zelenyi Roh, Kyiv province, which is about 150 km south of Kyiv, had three sons and one daughter. Andrew was born in 1890, Thomas in 1895, John in 1896 and Irene in 1899. They all immigrated to Canada. Andrew came first in 1910 (at the age of 20), Thomas in 1911 (at the age of 16), John in 1914 (at the age of 18) and Irene in 1914 (at the age of 16). They came to Canada at the strong urging of their father. Their mother died in 1911. They came to find a better life for themselves. Andrew and Thomas first worked in Cochrane, Ontario building the railroad. Later, Andrew moved to Alberta and got a homestead in Thorhild County. The homestead is still in the family as of 2017.

Senjov Family
Family

Originally, the Burlak family arrived from Galicia (?) to Bosnia in 1910; they maintained their cultural heritage, and in 1951, Natalie's mother, Katerina Senjov, began the journey to Trieste, Italy. Finally her parents, Peter and Katerina Senjov, arrived in Geelong, Australia in 1954. Then they began the task of assisting the rest of the Burlak family to Australia.

Kuc, Chester and Luba
Family · 1931-2013 - Chester Kuc; 1930 - Luba Kuc (Yusypchuk)

Chester Kuc (April 15, 1931 - February 16, 2013) and Luba Kuc (May 29, 1930, nee Yusypchuk) were born in Edmonton. Their parents were active in the Ukrainian National Federation (UNO), participating in cultural activities such as choir and drama. Chester and Luba attended Ukrainian school, where they were encouraged to participate in cultural activities, children's choir, orchestra, plays, skits, and folk dancing. Both Chester and Luba were students of Vasyl Avramenko dancing school (Chester graduated in 1953).

Chester was a founder of "Shumka" and "Cheremosh" dancing ensembles and their director in 1958-1969 and 1969-1981, respectively. Chester also taught dancing schools throughout Edmonton - at UNO, where he had the largest dance school in Edmonton with 350 dancers, the St. John's Orthodox Cathedral, the St. Elia's Parish, the Holy Eucharist Parish, the St. Basil's Parish, the Ukrainian Catholic National Hall. Chester also was an alumnus of the Educational Summer School in Winnipeg (1947) organized by the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre in Winnipeg. He worked at the Alberta Department of Ministry of Justice; was the head of the Ukrainian Museum of Canada, Alberta Branch (1991-1995); and the Cultural Director of the Ukrainian National Federation, also acted as their president for several years.

In 1948 Luba Kuc was a student of the Petro Mohyla Institute Ukrainian Studies Summer School in Saskatoon. Luba was an accomplished violinist and, later, the costume advisor for all of the dance schools taught by Chester. The couple even made trips to museums in Ukraine for research on Ukrainian costumes. Luba was a member of UNYF and the second President of the organization. Later on, she became a member of the Ukrainian Women's Organization of Canada (Організація Українок Канади ім. Ольги Басараб) and served as its President in 1976, 1977, and 1979, vice-President and treasurer in 1968 and 1978. In 2004 for her dedicated work Luba was presented the Hetman Award from UCC APC.

Luba and Chester were married on July 2, 1960, and had 2 daughters: Larysa and Daria.
Both Chester and Luba owned a large pysanky collection, hundreds of Ukrainian folk art items, including shirts, carved wood articles, burnt wood artifacts, ceramics, embroideries, and paintings. Artifacts from their collection have been featured in displays at Heritage Days, the Ukrainian Museum of Canada (Edmonton and Saskatoon Branches), the Ukrainian National Federation Hall, the Muttart Conservatory, the Centennial Ukrainian Celebrations display at the Agricom and the Shevchenko Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine in 1992. Luba and Chester also held multiple embroidery and pysanka workshops.

To the history of Mr. Kuc's first name: "Chester Kuc was born to a Ukrainian father and a Polish mother who named him Czeslaw, a name that the hospital staff misheard as Chester. Later, his godfather suggested choosing a more Ukrainian name and Chester acquired the name of Myroslav."

Sources:

  1. The Edmonton Ukrainian Community Mourns the Loss of Chester Kuc. https://www.ualberta.ca/kule-folklore-centre/news/2013/february/chesterkuc.html
  2. Отнякіна О. М. "Куць Мирослав." Енциклопедія cучасної України: електронна версія [веб-сайт] / гол. редкол.: І.М. Дзюба, А.І. Жуковський, М.Г. Железняк та ін.; НАН України, НТШ. Київ: Інститут енциклопедичних досліджень НАН України, 2006. URL: http://esu.com.ua/search_articles.php?id=52331
  3. Catalogue created by the Royal Alberta Museum for an exhibit of Chester's pysanky in 2006.
  4. In Service of Our Homeland. The Ukrainian Women's Organization of Canada 50th Anniversary (1956- 1980), part 2. Editors: Jaroslawa Zorych, Zynowy Knysh, Hanna Mazurenko. Toronto: Published by the Ukrainian Women's Organization of Canada, 1984.
  5. Організація Українок Канади ім. Ольги Басараб. "Люба Куць." Постер ОУК.
Iwanusiw, Oleh and Bozhena
Family · 1935 - ; 1939 -

Oleh Wolodymyr Iwanusiw was born on July 28, 1935, in Watsewychi (today - Zaluzhany) in Halychyna, Western Ukraine. Before coming to Canada, Oleh lived in Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Germany.
He came to Canada with his parents and sisters in June 1948 and lived in Picture Butte, Lethbridge, Edmonton, and Toronto. In 1957 he completed his education by obtaining a BSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, and afterwards moved to Toronto, where he secured a position as an instrumentation engineer at the Ontario Hydro W.P. Dobson Research Laboratory. He continued working at the research laboratory until December 1978.
In 1972, Oleh formed a partnership under the name of Olman Instruments that designed and produced test equipment for the power industry. In January 1979, Oleh joined Olman Instruments as the president.
In June 1994, AVO International closed the manufacturing facility in Toronto. Thus Oleh, together with 65 other employees lost their jobs.
In 1995, Oleh started a consulting business that took him primarily to India and Ukraine but also involved other countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Malaysia, Egypt, New Zealand, and the USA. Oleh was the president of the Foundation of the Encyclopedia of Ukraine. The foundation collected funds from the public and used these funds to fund research and publication of works dealing with Ukrainian culture, history, and education.

Bozhena Wertyporoch-lwanusiw was born on April 4, 1939, in Warszawa, Poland.
Before coming to Canada in the fall of 1948, Bozhena lived in Ukraine, Poland, Austria, and Germany. Bozhena has been an active member of the Ukrainian Youth Association “PLAST” (Scouts) and continues to be a member in various leadership positions. She is the president of the Ukrainian Canadian Social Services (UCSS) and the head of the “Buy a Bowl of Soup” Committee. In this role, she has been actively involved with overseeing and operating soup kitchens and food banks for the needy in Ukraine. A long-time and active member of the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada (UCWLC). In addition to receiving the Queen Diamond Jubilee, Ms. Iwanusiw was awarded the prestigious St. Volodymyr Medal by the Ukrainian World Congress in 2008 for her continued contribution and dedication to the development of the Ukrainian community throughout the years.
Bozhena and Oleh have traveled the world, going to Soviet Ukraine. Their travels to Europe in the 1980s have resulted in a publication entitled CHURCH in RUINS (1987, ISBN 0-9691657-3-0, 360 pages, 500 colour prints, English and Ukrainian text).

Sources: http://iwanusiw.com/short-biography.htm

Tracy, Bill and Michelle
Family

Bill Tracy served as a planning officer for the Historic Sites Service of Alberta Culture for 28 years (from December 1980 to February 2009). During that time he had the opportunity to serve as the planner or advisor for a number of Provincial Historic sites and private developments including but not limited to the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre, Leitch Collieries Historic Sites, the Oil Sands Discovery Centre, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump World Heritage Site, Fort George/Buckingham House Historic Site, Fort Dunvegan, Fort Victoria, Fort Chipewyan, and Notre Dame des Victoires (Lac la Biche Mission). Bill served as the project control officer for the development of Kalyna Country Ecomuseum, the world’s largest ecomuseum. Bill also previously worked as a student archaeologist on a second World Heritage Site, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

Michelle Tracy began her professional teaching career in Brochet, Manitoba, a fly-in Indigenous community where she taught grades 3 & 4 and 8 & 9 for two years. Beyond her initial assignment she also taught Grade 6 & 7 Native Art as well as a Work Experience Program which included a trapping program for the grade 8 & 9 boys. She concluded her teaching experience with 27 years as an instructor at Alberta Vocational College (later NorQuest College) in Edmonton, Alberta. While at NorQuest she developed a program to introduce the culture of Indigenous students enrolled in the Ben Calf Robe Program to immigrant students, including a visit to the Royal Alberta Museum.

Bill and Michelle have a passionate interest in Indigenous art and have focused their collecting and related activities there. However, they have also a keen interest in Ukrainian material culture driven by Michelle’s Ukrainian heritage. They have assembled a secondary collection of Ukrainian material with an emphasis on textiles and pottery.

The Tracys were featured in an article entitled “The Bill & Michelle Tracy Indigenous Art Collection” by Myrna Kostash in ACUA Vita, Alberta’s Ukrainian Arts and Culture Magazine (winter 2018-2019, Volume 24, Issue 2).

The Tracy collection of Indigenous art along with their supporting library and archives will be gifted to the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology at Brown University. Portions of the collection have already been transferred.

JOINTLY CURATED EXHIBITIONS:

  • “In Their Footsteps; A Century of Aboriginal Footwear in the Canadian West”, Musée Héritage Museum, St. Albert; August 21 to October 21, 2018.
  • “Celebrating Connections, Weddings in Multicultural Alberta”, University of Alberta, Enterprise Square Galleries, Edmonton, Alberta; May 28 to August 1, 2015.
  • “Wus’kwīy / Waskway: From Berry Baskets to Souvenirs”. Musée Héritage Museum, St. Albert; January 27 to April 12, 2015.
  • “Angakkuq: Between Two Worlds, Spiritual and Mythological Figures in Inuit and Inuvialuit Art”, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; October 25, 2013 to February 16, 2014.
  • “Innujaq, Dolls of the Canadian Arctic”; Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta; November 27, 2012 to April 28, 2013.
  • “Inuit Dolls of the Canadian Arctic”; Folklore Studies Association of Canada annual conference, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; May 14, 2011.

EXHIBITIONS TO WHICH OBJECTS FROM THE TRACY COLLECTION HAVE BEEN LOANED:

  • “Ceramic Multicultural Exhibition”, Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts, Edmonton, Alberta; scheduled for 2022.
  • “Beautiful Beadwork”, Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts, Edmonton, Alberta; September 6 to September 28, 2019.
  • “Patterns in Glass, Métis Designs in Beads”, Musée Héritage Museum, St. Albert; September 28, 2010 to June 1, 2011.
  • Arctic Birds: Real and Unreal”, Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta; February 2, to May 20, 2009.
  • “From Our Past to Our Present; Ukrainian Collections from Edmonton Museums”. Ukrainian National Federation Hall, Edmonton, Alberta; November 7-9, 2008.
  • “Portraits of the North”, Musée Héritage Museum, St. Albert; February 26 to April 13, 2008.
  • “Inuit Art: A Moving Experience; Travel and Transportation in the Arctic”, Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton Alberta; December 10, 2005 to February 26, 2006.
  • “Make History”. Provincial Archives of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; October 13, 2005 to February 26, 2006.
  • “Sixties”. Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; November 17, 2001 to January 13, 2002.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS by WILLIAM TRACY:

  • 2005 In Time and Place: Master Plan for the Protection, Preservation, and Presentation of Alberta’s Past. Edmonton, Alberta: Alberta Community Development.
  • 1991 Collecting Contemporary Native Arts in the Boreal Forest of Western Canada. Arctic Anthropology 28(1): 101-109.
  • 1989 Native Craft Production in Brochet, Manitoba, 1978-80. in Out of the
    North: The Subarctic Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University. 109-119. Bristol, Rhode Island: Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.
  • 1979 A Reconsideration of the Archaeological Significance of the Role of the Middleman in the Fur Trade. American Antiquity 44: 594-595.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS by MICHELLE TRACY:

  • 1994 Photographic credit in Kalyna Country Ecomuseum. Alberta Museum Review 20(2): 25-27.
  • 1992 Photographic credit in Hiking the Historic Crowsnest Pass. Calgary: Rocky Mountain Books.
  • 1983 Book Review of Teaching Adults to Think (TAAT) by Irene D’Aoust, in Literacy 8(2).
  • 1980 Photographic credits in Hau, Kola! The Plains Indian Collection of the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology by Barbara Hail, Bristol, Rhode Island: Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.

SELECTED PAPERS JOINTLY PRESENTED:

  • Robertson Trading Company, Exploring a Private Collection. Native American Art Studies Association. Norman, Oklahoma 2009
  • The Curio Trade on the Northern Plains. Native American Art Studies Association. Scottsdale, Arizona, 2005

SELECTED PAPERS by WILLIAM TRACY:

  • Chair, Mission Architecture Symposium. Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada. Yellowknife, N.W.T., 1992
  • Collecting Contemporary Native Art in the Boreal Forest of Western Canada. Out of the North: The Native Art and Material Culture of the Canadian and Alaskan North – Symposium and Exhibition. Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology, Brown University. Providence, Rhode Island, 1989
  • Fort Chipewyan: An Ethno-historical Consideration. American Anthropological Association. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1979
  • Subsistence Strategies of Contemporary Inuit Artisans. Northeastern Anthropological Association. Middleton, Connecticut, 1976

SELECTED PAPERS by MICHELLE TRACY:

  • 2000 Department of Human Ecology Research Seminars, University of Alberta, Edmonton. “Continuing Traditions of White Caribou Hide Clothing as Practiced by Philomene Umpherville”.
  • 1992 Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (SSAC) – Annual Conference, Yellowknife, N.W.T. Invited to read paper “Decorative Arts in Mission Architecture: A Case Study of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, Hobbema, Alberta”
  • 1984 Alberta Association for Adult Literacy – Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language (AAAL – ATESL) Conference, Edmonton. “Thinking Training Workshop”.
  • 1984 Learning Assistance (LAC) Conference, Edmonton. “Teaching Adults Thinking Training”.

PUBLIC LECTURES JOINTLY PRESENTED:

  • “Collecting Indigenous Art in the Southwest” Strathcona Public Library Lecture, Sherwood Park, Alberta: September 2020 postponed due to Covid 19.
  • “Collecting Native American Art”, Lecturer for Material Culture Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; November 2014.
  • “Collecting Navajo Folk Art”, Alberta Culture, Old St. Stephen’s College, Edmonton, Alberta; April 24, 2014.
  • “Speaking with Dolls”; Royal Alberta Museum, Edmonton, Alberta; April 10, 2013.
  • “Collecting Native American Art”, Lecturer for Material Culture Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; March 23, 2012.
  • “Collecting Native American Art: A Personal Journey Through Native America”, Folklore Luncheon Series, Peter & Doris Kule Centre for Ukrainian & Canadian Folklore. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; January 13. 2012.
  • “Turquoise Jewelry from the American Southwest”, The Questors (University of Alberta Faculty Wives Group), Edmonton, Alberta; winter 2012.
  • “Collecting Native American Art”, Lecturer for Material Culture Studies, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta; March 23, 2011.

SELECTED PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS:

  • Heritage Interpretation International (William Tracy)
    Founding Member (Charter Member # 166), 1987
    (Member of the Executive Board, 1995-1998)
    (By-Law Committee, 1997-1998)

  • Inuit Art Enthusiasts (William & Michelle Tracy)
    Founding Member (William Tracy)

  • Native American Arts Studies Association (William & Michelle Tracy)
    (2001 to present)

  • Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada (William Tracy)
    (Editorial Committee, 1990 – 1999)
    (Nominating Committee, 1995-1996)

  • Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta
    William (Member of the Board of Directors, 2005 - 2021)
    Michelle (Member of the Board of Directors, 1999 - 2004)
    (Vice President, 2004 - 2008)
    (President, 2008 - 2009)