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About the Artist: Andy Powell
I have been writing pysanky since the early 1980's when I first learned the art by "accident". As there are no real accidents, I will leave that story for another time, suffice it to say I was first introduced to this by a Ukrainian woman from Union, New Jersey - whose name I have since forgotten. I had other interests at that time of my life, so for the first few years I would only make pysanky around the Easter holiday for ourselves and family. Several years went by and we moved from New Jersey "back" to Ohio in the Cleveland area. It was then I began to experiment with the art form - going away from traditional pysanky symbols and colors. Many of these early efforts were at best interesting and informative for me. I had many suprises, uh oh's, and "what the heck is that?" outcomes. I experienced many of the mistakes, calamities, and technical problems other artists run into - all necessary. By the late nineties I had gone about as far as I could on my own - still sporadic in my writing, but no longer limited to Easter season. I was playing around with art deco designs, mayan motifs, modern surrealists, and any other image I liked that I thought I could get on an egg. At this point I started looking around for advanced training and stumbled across Lisa Cooney http://www.creatingpysanky.com who was organizing an artist's retreat. It was exactly what I needed and I went. There is so much that could be said about that retreat and what a great experience it was - not just the art, but the people, the setting, the peacefulness. That too is for another time. All I will say now is that as a result my skill level jumped exponentially as did my understanding of the art and the science of it. I do need to give alot of credit to one other source of learning and support - the "Eggs-Pysanky" group on Yahoo. No where will you find a more helpful, supportive and knowledgeable group. There is always someone doing something you dream you could do - and they are always more than willing to help you try. Since that time I have continued to develop my skill and, while greatly improved, there is still so much more for me to learn. I have a full time career in a completely unrelated field which occupies close to 70 hours a week and often requires considerable travel. So my time for writing pysanky is fairly limited and I do not make nearly as many eggs as many of my fellow artists - at least not yet.... In 2006 we moved to the mountains SW of Denver, Colorado. Here I have a fully dedicated workshop/studio large enough to do anything I could ever imagine doing with this art. All I need now is .....time. I have received tremendous support from all my immediate and extended family - in particular, my beautiful wife Connie. Most recently I have been encouraged by the Center for the Arts, Evergreen to look at myself as a serious artist and have entered a few juried shows and sold some of my work. I will continue to do shows and make work for sale. Look under the Upcoming Shows link to get current information on where I will be. I also teach classes from time to time throught the Center for the Arts, Evergreen. Check their website for upcoming class schedules. If you are interested in buying my work and are not in the Colorado area - drop me a note and let me know your interest. I will be posting pictures of past work and current works for sale. If you are interested in past work or a custom piece - let me know and we can discuss it.