They’re called pysanky, and they take some explaining. Pam Gompf is as patient telling how they’re made as she is as a master artist creating the intricate Ukranian Easter eggs.
“Eggs are a porous canvas,” she said. “It goes step by step. It’s a batik process, using wax to screen or secure colors. You dye it in a dye bath — it’s dye to wax, dye to wax. Finally, it’s covered with a layer of wax, and you melt it off at the end.”
The artist’s tool is a kistka, a stylus used to write in wax on an egg. “Wax seals the color,” said Gompf, of Mukilteo.
Holding a goose egg that had the beginnings of a delicate design, she let me carefully touch its raised wax lines.
“The wax smells like honey,” she said. Beeswax melts at a lower temperature than paraffin. Too much heat and eggshells scorch. On her work table are both a candle, traditionally used by pysanky artists, and an electric melting tool.
Seeing these incredible eggs, with rich colors, precise patterns and varnished shine, you might guess that pysanky — pronounced “PAH-sahn-keh” — means exquisite. But no, it comes from “pysaty,” the Ukrainian verb “to write.”
“It’s a language,” Gompf said. Each color, shape and symbol has a meaning.
It’s also a rare skill, one that earned the 33-year-old a ranking of master — she’s one of five in the world — with the International Egg Art Guild. Not only that, her artistry is taking Gompf to the White House.
On Monday, she and her 10-year-old daughter Keri will be guests of First Lady Laura Bush at a ceremony where the 2008 White House Easter Egg Collection will be unveiled.
Gompf learned last October that she’d been chosen to create an egg to represent Washington state in the collection. The program is coordinated by the American Egg Board. She was encouraged to apply after winning a first-place award at the Evergreen State Fair. Artists from all 50 states create the eggs. They are displayed through the Easter season, and become part of a permanent White House collection, Gompf said.
Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Gompf learned pysanky as a child. She later learned her ancestors migrated in the 17th century to Ukraine from France’s Alsace-Lorraine region. The centuries-old art of pysanky evolved from pagan to Christian symbolism, but the egg Gompf made for the White House has imagery distinct to Washington.
“I couldn’t do the Ukrainian-style symbols,” she said. Around the egg’s middle, she has eight scenes: the state seal, the state Capitol, a rhododendron, Mount Rainier, a hemlock fir, apples, wheat and Walla Walla onions. Unlike the state’s quarter coin, this artist gave equal treatment to Eastern Washington and the west side.
The egg’s background matches the green of our state flag. At the top and bottom are sky and water, with American Indian-style symbols of ravens, eagles and orca fins. The finished egg is one of six Gompf made. The other five are at her home in a plain old egg carton.
She normally spends about six hours decorating each chicken egg. With a special device, the raw eggs’ contents are blown out through one tiny hole when the decorating is done. For the state egg, she spent almost 60 hours.
A mother of three, Gompf is director of youth ministry at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Everett. She and her husband, Lee, also have two boys, Andrew, 9, and Keith, 5.
“Keeping busy is a good thing,” said Gompf, who is also active at her children’s school, Columbia Elementary, and has organized the Mukilteo School District spelling bee. She teaches the pysanky techniques at area schools.
She also decorates emu and ostrich eggs, some of which have been auctioned to benefit Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, Everett’s chapter of Zonta International, Northshore Christian School and other organizations. Some of the eggs, which have sold for $50 to $300, are on display at the Solovei Art Gallery in Everett.
Three kids and a house full of fragile art? How does that work?
“My daughter was kicking a soccer ball a couple years ago and took out a whole shelf of them,” said Gompf. “Now I keep them boxed up.”
That same daughter is sightseeing with her mom this weekend in Washington, D.C. They’ll tour the White House on Monday with the other egg artists as part of the festivities. Gompf’s egg has been at the White House for weeks.
How do you ship a priceless egg?
“Lots of bubble wrap,” Gompf said, “and a box within a box within a box.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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