Pysanka

Vasyl Stetsko is a Ukrainian artist and author of monumental church murals in numerous Ukrainian villages.

He worked as a decorative artist in the towns of Borshchiv and Ternopil. From 1979, he took part in exhibitions in Borshchiv, Ternopil, Lviv, and Kyiv. Vasyl Stetsko’s paintings were showcased in solo exhibitions held in Ternopil in 1984, 1994 and 2005.

The artist was born in 1950 in the village of Strilkivtsi, Ternopil region. He showed a passion for drawing from early childhood. After unsuccessful attempts to enrol at the art college in Kosiv, he worked as a schoolteacher in the village of Korolivka, where he created his early works, imbued with lyricism and love for his native land.

Following his military service, he made repeated attempts to enter art institutes in Kyiv and Lviv. On the advice of a fellow villager, the graphic artist Ivan Balan, he went to Odesa, where in 1972 he enrolled at the M. Grekov Art College, graduating successfully in 1976.

From that time onward, he devoted himself entirely to artistic work. His pieces were shown at district and regional exhibitions in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, and Borshchiv.

In 1985, he enrolled in the correspondence department of the Ivan Fedorov Ukrainian Academy of Printing, graduating in 1991.

He subsequently worked at the Ternopil Art and Design Combine, and later at the Art Fund of Ukraine's production combine. 

From 1991, he turned his creative efforts towards sacred art, painting the interiors of churches and Roman Catholic chapels.

The artist continues to live and work in the town of Borshchiv.

From the artist’s brush came series of landscapes, portraits and graphic works distinguished by their own particular style, both captivating and compelling.

Among Vasyl Stetsko’s original paintings are the lithograph series Kobzars — the Homers of Ukraine (1990), The Ukrainian Apostle (a portrait of Shevchenko), Memory of My Father, A Sunny Day, and many others.

UFDA digitised Pysanka (2001) by the artist from the collection of the Regional Communal Museum of Local History in Borshchiv.