Easter Eggs and Wreaths

Database of Folk Artists

ARTISTS’ QUESTIONNAIRE

Name and surname: Jadwiga Anioła 

Place of residence: Rogalinek

Field of art: ritualistic art.

Personal data:

Education: vocational school

Date and place of birth: 27th of April 1971, Poznań

Occupation: farmer

Participation in competitions, exhibitions, shows and others (year, town, event name)

Since 2014 presentations and workshops on the use of herbs in folk culture – Ethnographic Museum in Poznań and Wielkopolska Ethnographic Park Dziekanowice. From 2014 a display of weaving harvest wreath (WPE Dziekanowice and the Agricultural Museum in Szreniawa). From 2017 a show of pretzel baking at WPE Dziekanowice. In the years 2015 -2017 a show of weaving of straw ornaments in the Agricultural Museum in Szreniawa and Ethnographic Museum in Poznań. In the years 2014 – 2018 egg decoration demonstrations in MOPR in Poznań, Museum of Agriculture in Szreniawa, MOK in Szamotuły, MOK in Mosina, Ethnographic Museum in Poznań. In October 2018, I made an eagle made of ears of grain measuring 5.8 × 6.8 meters, which was used in the setting for the play “About a man named Pietrok and the orphaned Mary. A Fairy Tale for Adults”, directed by Wiktor Rubin (premiere: October 2018, Polish Theatre in Poznań). In 2019, numerous shows and workshops for children and adults; batik Easter eggs, weaving a harvest wreath, straw decorations, making flowers from tissue paper. In May 2019, I made a Bamberka cornet 1.2 × 1.7 meters.

Whether and in which museums artworks are to be found (what work, name of the museum or other institution or private collections)

Harvest wreath and straw ornaments – Ethnographic Museum in Poznań, Wielkopolski Ethnographic Park in Dziekanowice, Agricultural Museum in Szreniawa.

Easter eggs and kraszanki, straw ornaments – private collections.

Prizes, awards, distinctions (year, town, name of the award or distinction, on what occasion)

2013, Mosina, second place in the competition for the most beautiful harvest wreath,

2015, Mosina, second place in the competition for the most beautiful harvest wreath,

2015, Szreniawa, 1st place at the Gala of Regional, Traditional and Local Products “Leader” in the category of the most beautiful Easter egg,

2015, Szreniawa, II place at the Gala of Regional, Traditional and Local Products “Leader” in the category of the most tasty Christmas baking,

2016, Szreniawa, third place in the culinary competition for the best bamboo,

2016, Szreniawa, 1st place at the Gala of Regional, Traditional and Local Products “Leader” in the category of the most tasty Easter bakery products,

2017, Mosina, 1st place in the “Artistic Windows” competition for “Ecological Window”

2018, Kórnik, 1st place in the competition for the most beautiful harvest wreath,

2019, Szreniawa, the title “Taste of Poznan County” in the category of ritual bread for gingerbread.

Scholarships and other sources of financial aid for creative work:

I have not received

 Notes in the press, catalogues, articles, radio and television programmes about life and work (may be photocopies or scans), information on your own website – write your domain, information on platforms (which ones?)

“Wielkopolska’s folk artists. Guide of the Wielkopolska Section of the Association of Folk Artists“, edited by A.W. Brzezińska, M. Romanow-Kujawa , Poznań 2015.

Numerous interviews for regional television WTK Poznań and TVP3 Poznan office, dates I do not remember.

Curriculum vitae (with particular emphasis on artistic creation)

Supporting questions: since when has he or she been dealing with art, where has he or she learned it, from whom, does s/he participate in an amateur artistic movement, who from his/her immediate family has been dealing with art, does s/he teach someone, the technique, tools and materials, the type of products, the origin of the ornaments, what the author likes to do best, what he can do best, the recipients, whether and where s/he sells his products, the attitude of the community towards the author?

I was born on April 27, 1971 in Poznań. I have been living in Rogalinek, the home village of my parents and grandparents, since I was born. I am a trained cook, but since I was 16 years old, I have been making harvest festival wreaths [wieńce dożynkowe]. Before that, the wreaths in my village had been woven by Maria Dłubała, a housewife living near the church in Rogalinek. One day, she came to me and said that from then on, I would be making the wreaths. I do not know how and from whom she had found out that I might be good at it. She rode a bike and brought a bunch of grain sheaves and other necessary materials, and said that I had to make a wreath for the harvest festival [Dożynki] in our parish. That was the beginning of my adventure with harvest festival wreaths. Since 2002, I have been making scratched Easter eggs [kraszanki ryte]. I have learnt about that tradition at home. At Easter time, my grandmother Anastazja used to dye eggs with natural colourants and then scratch them to create different patterns. Since 2015, I have been decorating eggs using the batik technique which I have learnt from Danuta Haraszkiewicz, a Folk Artist from Dąbrowa Białostocka. I create different designs according to my own ideas. Moreover, I make ritual bread and pastry products: yeast-dough baskets, yeast pretzels and Easter babkas. Since 2014, I have also been creating straw decorations and crêpe-paper flowers. I have learnt most of the skills from my grandmother Anastazja and my aunts. Since November 2019, I have been the chairwoman of the Wielkopolska branch of the Folk Artists’ Association [Stowarzyszenie Twórców Ludowych] in Lublin.

Date: 27th of January 2020 Signature: Jadwiga Anioła