Reflections on All That Matters
By
Orysia Sopinka
I have always liked to look at
beautiful things over and over again. I used to go for long walks down Sorauren
Avenue, pushing my baby daughter in a stroller, turn east on Queen Street West
and stop at a shop called The Lord of The Rings. The jewellery and other metal art objects
displayed in the storefront window were both beautiful and fascinating. Being a
woman whose taste appreciates the more refined things in life, I especially
enjoyed looking at the detail on the rings.
On one occasion, I came back to the store to see a specific ring. It was no longer on display in the window so
I asked the storekeeper what happened to the ring that I adored during my
previous visit. The storekeeper’s name was Ivaan Kotulsky. He told me that it
was a copy of a ring worn by a European queen and that he had sold it a few
days ago. That instant, I knew that the store I was in was a place of precious
treasures. Today, these treasures are on
display at The Ukrainian Museum of Canada housed at St. Vladimir Institute in
The extraordinary work of this talented metal artist and
jeweller is made of steel, gold, silver, bronze, copper, pewter, platinum and
“ukrainium”, Ivaan’s invention having created a unique mixture of steel and
chrome. His work always starts from a
mold, be it Plaster of
Once the mold has taken shape and is
perfected, molten metal is poured into it.
Some objects are massive and heavy, such as his belt of bullets that
MacLean’s magazine placed around the neck of Rene Levesque while other objects
such as stars, bracelets and rings are delicate and light. A griffon, which is a mythological creature,
half eagle and half lion, cast in pewter, representing courage and
perseverance, holds a sword on which are balanced the scales of justice. The
Advocates’ Society commissioned him to create this award. His creations include belt buckles for famous
artists – Gordon Lightfoot, K. D. Lang and Natalka Hussar. Lightfoot’s buckle
depicts a train on the Canadian railway reminiscent of his songs from the
Canadian Railroad Trilogy. Hussar’s
buckle represents a flower, one of her favourite subjects. Of all the objects on display, my favourite
ones were the pysanky. They reminded me of jewelled Faberge Russian Imperial
Easter eggs. These were made from gold, silver and bronze.
Ivaan was a religious man who loved to “dress
to the nines” when he went to church.
His crosses reflect his Ukrainian Orthodox faith and his respect for his
roots. Two of them stand out in my mind.
The first one is made from pewter and has thorns descending on it. The second one, made from silver, is
elegantly decorated with a Trident in the centre.
Ivaan Kotulsky passed away in December of
2008 from a heart attack. Shortly before his death, my husband had a business
matter to attend to and went to Ivaan’s home to accommodate him. Exhibiting his generosity, Ivaan presented me
with a beautiful, gold plated, Scythian horse that I will treasure
forever. The horse has all the qualities
of Ivaan’s metal art – grace, fluidity, originality and most of all
beauty.
It was one of
the items made for the exhibit Legacy in Gold: Scythian Treasures from Ancient
“All That
Matters, The Art of Ivaan Kotulsky in Retrospect”, continues until October 31
at The Ukrainian Museum of Canada at St. Vladimir Institute,