ART for Ukrainian Refugee Youth

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Photos from exhibition “Sunflowers of Peace” that opened Friday, 5/5 T West Town Chicago gallery and continues to be on ...
05/26/2023

Photos from exhibition “Sunflowers of Peace” that opened Friday, 5/5 T West Town Chicago gallery and continues to be on view till the end of May. Over 150 students of mine from Bennett Day School and 8 Ukrainian students from St. Nicholas Cathedral School created pieces sharing their own concepts of peace. 🌻🤞🏻🇺🇦💙💛 sunflowersofpeace

Dear FB Community - PLEASE SHARE- I am selling packs consisting of eight 5 x 7" cards with envelopes for $15USD to help ...
05/23/2023

Dear FB Community - PLEASE SHARE- I am selling packs consisting of eight 5 x 7" cards with envelopes for $15USD to help raise funds for the Ukrainian refugee children at St. Nicholas Cathedral School. You will receive the cards w/envelopes in a clear cellophane bag sealed with a sunflower sticker. These 8 artworks made by the Ukrainian refugee children are being showcased at the "Sunflowers of Peace" Exhibition at West Town Chicago gallery during the month of May, along with all my students' work from Bennett Day School.

You can Venmo OR Paypal @ https://www.stnicholascathedralschool.org/help-our-refugees/

PM me the screenshot of your purchase with your address and I'll send them out your way!

Join me on Friday, May 5th from 5 to 8PM for a gallery opening of my students' work during West Town's First Fridays at ...
04/21/2023

Join me on Friday, May 5th from 5 to 8PM for a gallery opening of my students' work during West Town's First Fridays at West Town Chicago Chamber of Commerce's Gallery @ 1819 W Chicago Ave.

The exhibition will include over 160 works of art by students from Bennett Day School and St. Nicholas Cathedral School. During the opening, I will be selling sets of greeting cards of the Ukrainian children's art as a fundraiser for St. Nicholas Cathedral School's Help Our Refugee Children.

Today was my last day with this sweet group of Ukrainian children at St. Nicholas Cathedral School. These drawings were ...
03/28/2023

Today was my last day with this sweet group of Ukrainian children at St. Nicholas Cathedral School. These drawings were our final project together. 🌻🇺🇦❤️

Spent today drawing in their sketchbooks preparing to paint large sunflowers next week for a "Sunflowers of Peace" colla...
03/08/2023

Spent today drawing in their sketchbooks preparing to paint large sunflowers next week for a "Sunflowers of Peace" collaborative project to be exhibited with my students' work from Bennett Day School in the upcoming months.

Yesterday, was a printmaking kind of day! kiddos created these beautiful abstract compositions.
02/01/2023

Yesterday, was a printmaking kind of day! kiddos created these beautiful abstract compositions.

New beginnings with a lovely group of Ukrainian children enrolled at St. Nicholas Cathedral School in Ukrainian Village ...
01/16/2023

New beginnings with a lovely group of Ukrainian children enrolled at St. Nicholas Cathedral School in Ukrainian Village who came here from Ukraine since the start of the war.

Fortunately, my school is nearby so every Tuesday this spring, I’ll hop into an Uber after my classes and head over to St. Nicholas. This current workshop will last two months and, hopefully, if all goes well, will start another one with children in older grades.

Follow our journey together on this page!

A huge THANK YOU to Blick Art Materials (www.dickblick.com) for donating gift cards this past summer 2022 so that I coul...
01/01/2023

A huge THANK YOU to Blick Art Materials (www.dickblick.com) for donating gift cards this past summer 2022 so that I could purchase Sun Prints (cyanotype prints) to take with me to Warsaw for our art workshops! The children loved creating these prints - we collected leaves and flowers around us and composed beautiful nature prints.

Not only did the Chicago toy store "Timeless Toys" in Lincoln Square donate toys that I took with me to Warsaw, Poland ...
09/29/2022

Not only did the Chicago toy store "Timeless Toys" in Lincoln Square donate toys that I took with me to Warsaw, Poland this past summer for the Ukrainian refugee youth I met and taught but they recently made a very generous donation for the refugee youth who moved to Chicago since the beginning of the war in February. The boxes of toys you see in the photos below are being saved for St. Nicholas Day at St. Nicholas Cathedral School in December. All the refugee children will receive one of these special toys from St. Nicholas!! A HUGE THANK YOU TO TIMELESS TOYS!!

Dear Donors,My time in Poland has come to an end for now. I am currently homeward bound. If all travel plans go smoothly...
07/11/2022

Dear Donors,

My time in Poland has come to an end for now. I am currently homeward bound. If all travel plans go smoothly, I should be stateside by Tuesday AM.

Sharing with you below the blurb I just sent to the American School of Warsaw to be shared on their campaign's social media. Additionally, sharing a selection of photos from our experiences together that each of YOU made possible with your generous donation:

"American-Ukrainian artist and art teacher, Olenka Bodnarskyj, traveled from Chicago, Illinois this summer to Warsaw to bring some joy through the arts to Ukrainian refugee youth and orphans that ASW has been supporting. Olenka raised funds to purchase art materials/supplies and received donations of some toys and I-pads that were shared with the children and families.

A weekend was spent in Grzebowik with the Ukrainian orphans creating, playing, and singing together. Each child received their own art journal, pencil pouch, and song book for future use. The following week at Lipowa, Olenka led two art workshops - one in the AM and another in the PM for the refugee youth from nearby residences. Through the course of the week, children drew, painted, designed their own art journals, created sun prints (cyanotypes - a photographic technique), played, built and sang together. Please take a moment to glimpse a bit of their creative process and wonderful art in the photos and video included. All materials and supplies were left behind for communal use with both the orphans and refugee youth. Slava Ukraini!"

In addition to all the supply/materials purchased, monetary donations were directly made to the orphanage and ASW's campaign through your support!!!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1VxTd1c4-TLy4jE9_MprCKS7I31hfTxVV?usp=sharing

LOOKING FORWARD:

My work with Ukrainian refugee youth will continue back in Chicago! With over 70 Ukrainian refugee children that enrolled at St. Nicholas Cathedral School in Chicago, Illinois since the start of the war - the school is holding an English immersive camp for the children. I have offered to lead an art workshop for all the children during the first week of August. I was able to purchase some supplies/materials for this week, as well, with the funds raised.

To the Head of School and Board Head, I have proposed to create some kind of program with the children that would continue through the 2022-2023 academic year. It might take on the form of an after-school program a few days a month and/or weekend program to offer these children some continuity and familiarity. I am letting these ideas marinate at the moment until I have an opportunity to spend time with them during the first week of August.

I am leaving this fundraiser open because there are myriad ways I can continue to support the Ukrainian refugee children and their families in Chicago. If you know of anyone wanting to make a tangible contribution that will 100% support the well being of our Ukrainian refugees who have recently been displaced, share my fundraiser and encourage them to donate.

With gratitude,

Olenka Bodnarskyj

https://www.spotfund.com/story/68acdf07-a56c-43b7-bf03-c1496557724e?SFID=ARTForUkrainianRefugeeYouth

Here's the share I promised from my art-filled week in Warsaw facilitating workshops with Ukrainian refugee youth after ...
07/03/2022

Here's the share I promised from my art-filled week in Warsaw facilitating workshops with Ukrainian refugee youth after spending the previous weekend with a group of Ukrainian orphans about 40km. outside of Warsaw.

A little background - when the craziness of Russia's invasion unfolded, the nonprofit organization Fundacja Ofiaruj.pl offered The American School of Warsaw, their "Lipowa" building as Headquarters for the relief efforts, rent free.

Since Mid March, along with many volunteers, Lipowa was converted from a cafe into a 'walk-in' relief Ukrainian centre where individuals can come shop for clothes and food for free, but also, into a 'pop-up' warehouse for bulk purchase of dried goods. (For more info about this amazing initiative, check out my post from a day ago that talks at length the amount of money that has been raised and the amount of food that was purchased, delivered, and shared with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw and beyond).

I taught the workshops in a room upstairs in the refugee centre shop. You'll see in the photos, we were surrounded by walls of boxes of donated goods but we made it work. The location was convenient for the families. Many of them lived in walking distance in a hostel/apartment building together and a few others were a short bus ride away. Mothers of the children rotated daily as chaperones to bring them in for the workshops.
I was able to lead everything in Ukrainian though there were a few from the east who primarily spoke Russian but the beautiful thing with art is I am able to demonstrate everything. Can't dismiss the aid of Google Translate, too:). I had a younger group in the AM and the older one in the PM. Every child received an art journal and supply pouch with basic materials inside for them to keep. With the funds I raised, I was able to bring along with me a lot of quality art materials/supplies that we used throughout the week and that got left behind for the children and orphans to use in their communal settings. Additionally, I was able to give them some small toys donated by Timeless Toys in Chicago and a few generation 4 i-pads donated by Catherine Cook School.

Monetary donations were made both to the orphanage and American School of Warsaw's which 100% supports humanitarian aid for the Ukrainian refugees.
Lastly for now:), my work with Ukrainian refugee youth will continue back in Chicago at the beginning of August. I will be leading art workshops for a week for St. Nicholas Ukrainian School's camp for the refugee children. The school received an influx of over 70 children since the onset of the war. Hoping to create some kind of programming that I could continue forward into the new school year to offer them continuity and familiarity.

To all those who have supported and continue to support these efforts in myriad ways - diakuyu, thank you from the bottom of my heart. With gratitude, Olenka

To all the generous donors of my initiative to bring some joy and art to Ukrainian refugee children in Warsaw, Poland - ...
07/03/2022

To all the generous donors of my initiative to bring some joy and art to Ukrainian refugee children in Warsaw, Poland - I just wrapped up a wonderful, fun-filled week leading art workshops with Ukrainian children, ages 5-13, in a refugee center and also a beautiful group of Ukrainian orphans from Vinnytsia, Ukraine that are currently housed 40km. Outside of Warsaw.

Photos will follow in the days to come but wanted to share that not only did we use all the art materials/supplies purchased with your support including art journals and supply pouches that were given to each child but all the supplies/materials in these duffle bags were left with the refugee center for communal use!! Diakuyu! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Additionally, I have left monetary donations with both the orphanage and American Schools of Warsaw’s campaign supporting our refugees. When I return to Chicago, I’ve procured enough funds to offer an art workshop for Ukrainian youth in August that recently resettled in Chicago. Hoping this will grow into a more extended year-long program. Slava Ukraini! 💙💛🇺🇦🌻❤️🤍🇵🇱

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2200 W Rice St
Chicago, IL
60622

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