Peter and Doris Kule Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore is a research institution within the Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta. It is permanently endowed through the generous gifts of Peter and Doris Kule, the Wasyl and Anna Kuryliw family, Erast Huculak, Bohdan Medwidsky and many other visionary community leaders. It was formalized in 2001 and received its current name in 2006, though it is based upon endowments and archives existing since the 1980s.
The centre’s five strategic priorities are to:
» Conduct ground-breaking research in Ukrainian and Canadian folklore studies
» Maintain and grow the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives
» Support undergraduate and graduate courses in Ukrainian folklore and vernacular culture
» Support researchers and students with scholarships and awards
» Engage with diverse communities through publications, exhibits, lectures, workshops and more.
Natalie Kononenko was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany in 1946. She came to the United States in 1951. She grew up in New Jersey and attended University at Cornell, moving on to Radcliffe College and then on to Harvard University for graduate work. She received her PhD from Harvard University in Slavic and Near Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Folklore. She performed her PhD research in Eastern Turkey. She taught Russian Language and Slavic Folklore, and served as Assistant Dean and Chair of the Slavic Department at the University of Virginia. She led some of the first student groups to the USSR in the 1970-1980s. In 1987 she was one of the first US scholars to be allowed outside of Moscow. She lived three months in a hotel room in Kyiv doing archival research at the University and at the Academy of Sciences. This research lead to the publication of "Ukrainian Minstrels: And the Blind Shall Sing," Armonk, New York and London, England: M.E. Sharpe, 1998. After the break-up of the USSR Natalie started to do folklore research in rural Ukraine. From 1998 she visited many villages in Central Ukraine and recorded over 200 hours of interviews. This research lead to a soundfile database (see http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/UkraineAudio/). It has also produced many articles and will be used in a book on Ukrainian ritual.
In 2004 she was recruited as Professor and Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta. In 2007 she published "Slavic Folklore: A Handbook," Westport and London: Greenwood Press. She served as editor of Folklorica, the Journal of the Slavic and East European Folklore Association for 5 years. This journal was internationally recognized and was instrumental in re-establishing the dialogue between folklore scholars in the former Soviet Union and their colleagues in the West.
Dr. Kononenko teaches folklore and applied folklore classes at the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta, for example, Folklore and Internet, Folklore and Film, Folklore and Animation, as well as research seminar where advanced students work in their communities to produce big documentation projects such as videos of important festivals. She is involved in two big research projects. The Sanctuary project, where Natalie works together with John-Paul Himka and Frances Swyripa, documents Byzantine rite sacral heritage on the Canadian prairies. The second project is broadly based on the use of technology in education.
Lawrence was a dancer in Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Ensemble from the group’s inception in 1969 to 1984. He served as President of Ukrainian Cheremosh Society from 1979 to 1980 and was awarded the distinction of Honourary Lifetime Member of our Society. His contributions included choreography, dance instruction, and organization of productions and tours; he served as Assistant Director of Cheremosh during the early 1980s. Lawrence was a brilliant and gifted educator, artist, dancer, director, horticulturist, gourmet cook and mentor to countless individuals at home and abroad.
Nadia Korpus was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on the 18th of August 1929. Her father, Peter Korpus (Korpesio) was born in Malniv, Ukraine in 1897 and followed his older brother, John Korpesio to Canada in the early 1920s. Nadia’s mother, Olga Wawruck, was born in Hubbard, Saskatchewan in 1903. Her parents had arrived in Canada in 1899 from Koshlyakeh, Ternopil Oblast, Halychyna, Ukraine. Peter and Olga were married in Hubbard in 1926, and settled in Regina where they soon started a family. Their oldest son, Roman (Raymond), was born in 1927 followed by Nadia in ’29. Nadia’s younger brother Donald (Donny) was born in 1930, and her younger sister Patricia (Pat Sembaliuk) was born later in 1935.
She was active in the Ukrainian National Federation and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada. Her passion for Ukrainian Culture was further encouraged through participation in the summer school “Kursy” which she attended in 1946-48. Nadia is noted for establishing the Rusalka Dance Ensemble in Calgary (1961-67), and having inspired many Ukrainian dancers, both male and female, to continue dancing and teaching across the prairies.
Gordon Gordey (Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, Bachelor of Education) was a key builder in the evolution of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers of Canada. In his forty years with Shumka, Gordey transitioned from a dancer, to a librettist/writer, and to a stage director, conceiving twenty-five original dance works for Shumka from 1992 to 2012. His works set a benchmark for Ukrainian dance in Canada and have toured across Canada, Ukraine, and over 20 cities in China. Gordey also served as Shumka's Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer for 12 years. Gordey is privileged to be a Honourary Lifetime Member of the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers.
In his creative career outside of Shumka, Gordey studied ballet with Ruth Carse, founder of Alberta Ballet, spent 20 years as an Arts Consultant with the Department of Culture in Alberta, and worked for 13 years as a Human Rights Officer with the Alberta Human Rights Commission. He has been teaching Drama for 37 years at Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton. For Alberta's Centennial in 2005, he conceived and produced Celebrate Alberta as part of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's official welcome to Alberta's Centennial event, which included 1500 performers. In the same year, Gordey was recognized as one of the most influential people in the development of theatre in Alberta in the publication: Theatre 100. In 2006 he received the Hetman Award for Outstanding Contributions and Dedicated Service in Promoting Ukrainian Heritage and Culture in Alberta. He continues to serve the Ukrainian Canadian community as a National Board Member of the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko.
Below is an autobiography provided by Gordon Gordey.
"I was born in 1948 into the farming community of Innisfree, in northeast central Alberta. My great-grandparents, George and Magdalena Gordey arrived in Canada on June 2, 1900 emigrating from Borivsti, Bukovyna in present day Ukraine. Unlike the predominantly Ukrainian settlement prairie villages in northeast central Alberta, Innisfree was ethnically diverse. In general, everyone who lived north and west of Innisfree was of Ukrainian heritage and everyone who lived south and east of Innisfree was of British heritage. The village was a hub of Canadian diversity of the era, even though no-one was aware of this at the time.
Growing up my parents, John and Emily Gordey, hammered home over and over again to me: “Bud' kul’turna l’udyna– Be a cultured person”. There was no caveat that being “cultured” meant that part of me that was Ukrainian. It was an inclusive guidepost for life. This phrase stirred my imagination. From a young age it made me reach for a higher ground. I read everything I could from Canadian war stories, to every classic of British and American literature and to Dostoyevsky, when I was only 14 years old. I stood as close to the stage as I could at Ukrainian weddings and learned to sing the wedding songs. I listened to dance bands of Metro Radomsky and Jimmy Watsko stir my emotion for Ukrainian music with their wonderful singing violins. Church services filled my imagination with myth, magic and mystery. Folk superstitions kept me awake at nights after visits to Baba K. who poured wax onto the water, whispered incantations, and cured me of my fear of roosters.
Grade school whizzed by with academics, participation in all school sports, and singing in the rock band, The Rivals, in the 60’s. In 1965 I experienced a pivotal event that would lead me into the world of Ukrainian dance. I attended a summer cultural program, Osvita, at St. John’s Institute where I was instructed in Ukrainian dance by a fiery young Shumka dancer named Gerald Metrunec. Like me, he was from rural Alberta, the town of Myrnam, and had come to Edmonton to join the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers and go to University. Within 10 days he used my background in athletics to drill into me the basics of Ukrainian dance. That fall, upon my return to Innisfree, I knew more about Ukrainian dance than anyone in my community, and was tagged to teach Ukrainian dancing in the town of Vegreville. My survival as a dance teacher with limited pedagogy depended on my creativity, my knowledge of music, and the drive to excel in dance that Gerald Metrunec had instilled. In 1966 my family moved into Edmonton and I joined the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers. Edmonton became my cultural oasis. I also immersed myself in ballet, jazz, theatre studies, choirs, musicals, and operatic singing lessons. Like-minded friends like the musically gifted, Gene Zwozdesky and the top male ballet and Ukrainian dancer of the day, Orest Semchuk inspired me to adhere to the guidepost of “Be a cultured person.” The Drama Department at the University of Alberta was at a high point of fine art at the time and filled my thirst for learning and practicing world theatre and art.
It is from this well-spring, “Dzerelo”, of experiences that my 40-year journey of creating original Ukrainian dance in Canada took flight." (Gordon Gordey, March 7, 2017)
Olha was a student at the University of Alberta.
Nadia Cyncar was born in Ukraine. She came to Edmonton in 1948. Nadia studied Ukrainian language and literature, History of Textiles and Ukrainian Folklore at the University of Alberta. She graduated with B.A. (Honours) in Slavic Linguistics in 1978.
Nadia Cyncar is an honourary Life Member of the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada. Since 1963, member of the Eparchial UCWLC Museum Committee, served as secretary, a chairperson and a curator since 2009. Designed and conducted the embroidery of the “Unity Rushnyk” for the 65 Jubilee of UCWLC. She organized exhibits of Ukrainian Folk Art, contest and fashion shows, held workshops on Ukrainian Arts & crafts, costumes for dancing groups, led seminars on Ukrainian tradition and customs; was involved to judge various contests. Nadia designed costumes for opera “KUPALO”, historical costumes for the float and Ukrainian theme designs for Papal Visit Banners. In 1977-1982 she served on the Advisory Board of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village.
Nadia Cyncar is a co-founder of Edmonton Plast (Ukrainian Scouts Organization) in 1948, held various executive positions at the organization, and for the last several decades served as an Archivist/Librarian.
Andrew Sharak was born in Wislok, Respublica Polonia, in 1891. Polly Sharak (nee Kulyk) was born in 1893. They got married in 1919. Andrew served in the Polish army. They had a son who died in the Old Country.
Andrew immigrated to Canada in 1927 through Quebec, and Polly joined him in 1929 though Halifax. They settled in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where they lived until their death. Andrew worked on the Maple Leaf Meat Factory until he was injured and had to quit. Andrew was literate and was an avid reader (mostly Ukrainian). They both were active in their Ukrainian Catholic church, and had a beautiful garden which was their sustenance. They adopted twin boys John and Mike Pawelchak.
In 1950s-1960s, they became friends with Ernest Fedorowich and Veronica Fedorowich (nee Novak) who helped them with English, as well as other services unknown to them from the Old country, like banking and other.
Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn is an accomplished artist who has had the opportunity to create and exhibit her work around the world. She was born in Edmonton. At the age of 6 her parents enrolled her in art classes offered by the Edmonton Art Gallery, where her first instructor, “Man Woman”, encouraged her to continually explore the mediums at hand. Sembaliuk Cheladyn was also inspired by her father, Paul Sembaliuk - the designer of the large Vegreville Pysanka – who had a gift for interpreting cultural traditions within a contemporary environment. Sembaliuk Cheladyn graduated with her BFA in Art & Design (1981) and her MA in Ukrainian Folklore (2016) from the University of Alberta. She is best known for her watercolour paintings of flowers – poppies, sunflowers and endangered species are her specialty. As a 3rd generation Ukrainian Canadian she particularly enjoys painting images from her Ukrainian cultural heritage. Her unique depiction of Ukrainian dance, musical instruments, and typical Ukrainian imagery recreates fond memories of rich cultural traditions. Sembaliuk Cheladyn is also well known for illustrating a Canadian bestselling series of bilingual Ukrainian/English children’s books published by Kazka Productions.
Maryna Hrymych is a Ukrainian scholar and novelist. She has a Ph.D. in Philology and History (Candidate of Philology, Doctor of History). Editor in Chief of the Publishing House Duliby. Producer of the literary project Lyuba Klymenko. Member of the Writers Union of Ukraine, member of the Ukrainian Association of Regional Ethnography. Leading researcher of the Research Institute of Ukrainian Studies.
Maryna Hrymych was born on April 4, 1961 in Kyiv. Her father, Will Hrymych, was a translator, member of the Writers Union of Ukraine. Her mother, Halyna Hrymych, was a professor of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Maryna's grandfather, Hryhoriy Hrymych, was a journalist and writer. He worked in the newspaper "Hudok" in Moscow together with Il'f, Petrov, and Zoshchenko.
In 1983 Maryna Hrymych graduated from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Department of Philology, Chair of Slavonic Studies. As a student Hrymych published her first translations from Slovenian, Serbian-Croat and Macedonian languages. At that time her first poems were published as well in Dnipro and Zhovten literary magazines. In 1990 she obtained Ph.D. in Philology (Candidate Ph.D.) from the Institute of Art History, Folkloristics and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian Soviet Social Republic. In 1991-1995, she worked as an Academic Secretary and Deputy Head of the International School of Ukrainian Studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
Hrymych started her academic career as an ethnographer and folklorist at the M. T. Rylskyi Institute of Art History, Folkloristics and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. During her work at the International School of Ukrainian Studies developed methodology for teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language. At the Department of History of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv she taught ethnology and social anthropology. Her cross-disciplinary Ph.D. thesis (Doctorate Ph.D.) on customary law relates to three scientific fields – ethnology, history and law. Between 1996 and 2006 she was an Associate Professor and later Professor of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Department of History. In 2001-2006, Hrymych was the head of the Ethnology and Regional Studies of the Department. In 2004 she obtained her Ph.D. in History (Doctorate Ph.D.). In 2004 Maryna Hrymych founded and took the lead of the publishing house Duliby specializing in modern Ukrainian literature and scientific works of ethnological character. In 2004 and 2005 Duliby was awarded a number of prizes of the Lviv Publishers Forum.
Hrymych is an experienced field-worker – she conducted ethnological and anthropological field work throughout Ukraine and in a number of other countries.
In 2008-2010, she was a visiting professor at the University of Alberta, and together with other professors of the Kule Folklore Centre, taught Ukrainian Folklore courses.
Maryna Hrymych is the author of 4 books, 2 textbooks, 8 novels, and a number of essays. She edited 7 scholarly publications, and initiated, compiled and edited 5 collections of articles. She is a prize-winner of the All-Ukrainian Literary Competition Koronatsiya Slova (special awards in 2000, 2001, first prize in 2002 for novel Egoist). She was awarded the Taras Shevchenko Award (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv) for her monograph Property Institution in the Customary Law Culture of the Ukrainians in the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries (2004).
Walter Rutka and his twin brother, Anthony, were born in Vimy Ridge near Pine River, Manitoba on June 12, 1929 to parents Joseph and Anastasia (nee Kozar) Rutka. Twin bother, Anthony, succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 3 months.
Walter attended school in Vimy Ridge. At 14 Walter was taken out of school to help on the farm after his father became ill. At age 20 Walter went to work in a gold mine in Ontario for one year, then took a job at a service station in Winnipeg for another year. He then returned to farming full time until 1958.
In August 1960, Walter met and married Dolores Weselowski from Sifton, Manitoba. They had 3 daughters Brenda in 1962, Sheila in 1964, and Charlotte in 1970.
In 1966, Walter joined Manitoba Hydro as a machine operator and retired in 1994 after a career that saw him win several awards, including numerous Hydro Safety awards and the prestigious D.J. Ross award – a Hydro award presented for Walter's tremendous contributions to his community.
Walter was also very active in politics. He was elected as a trustee to the Highway School District for one term, served as a municipal councillor for the RM of Mountain South for six years, was a delegate at the march in Ottawa for the Western Farm Organizations, and was campaign manager for NDP candidate Mike Kowalchuk who was elected that year.
One of Walter's greatest passions was music. In his early 20s, Walter spoke of how he bought a $7 guitar in Winnipeg and brought it home to try to teach himself to play. Walter's idol was Wilf Carter and he spoke of how he would go behind the barn to play his guitar and try to learn to yodel, much to the chagrin of his mother. In the 60s, Walter formed a band called the Sunset Rhythm Ramblers, with friends Joe Caruk on violin, Zenon Caruk on drums, and Walter Nakonechny on accordion. The group played at many weddings and functions for six years.
In 1975, encouraged by many friends and associates, Walter recorded his first record album of his own compositions, calling himself the Ukrainian Cowboy. He went on to record three more albums over the next few years and was invited to play at countless Ukrainian functions and festivals across Canada. Through his music and albums, Walter made endless new friends across Canada and the United States and frequently got letters, gifts, and invitations to visit from many of his fans.
Walter passed away in December 2005.