12 Ways to Support Ukrainian Paper Artists

If you have been looking for ways to support Ukraine, allow me to introduce you to quite a few ideas - or rather quite a few Ukrainian paper artists whose work is simply exceptional! You'll notice lots of nods to Ukraine's national colors - vivid blue and yellow - as well as its national flower - the sunflower.

Larissa Zasadna

 

Daria Alyoshkina, @vytynankaalyoshkina on Instagram, creates extraordinary large and small-format art by cutting intricate Ukrainian-style designs on paper panels. Thankfully she and her three children are now in safe surroundings after fleeing their home in Lviv.

 

 small paper cutting example

 

Daria is presently teaching paper cutting master classes in Krakow, Poland, as well as selling small paper cuttings to raise funds to assist the Ukrainian Army. To place an order, send her a direct message via @alyoshkinapapersmall, which is her feed that focuses on small works.

 

These stunning window-size papercuts have been on exhibit in Paris since September and recently decorated the Ukrainian stand at the international design exhibition, Maison&Objet.

Tanya Kyianytsia, @tanyakyianytsia, is a young Ukrainian paper cutter in Slovakia. She has posted a GoogleDoc on which she keeps an updated list of ways to help Ukraine. Tanya is selling Ukrainian Vazon, a folklore motif of a papercut sunflower in a pot that symbolizes family, shelter, and housing to raise money for local initiatives in Ukraine. Sunflowers can be purchased via Instagram or her Etsy shop, TinadavinchiStore. 

 

 

In addition, Tanya has created two downloadable Save Ukraine posters; both are available in her shop.

 

Longtime readers of this blog might remember the elaborate paper cut wigs and costumes created by Asya Kozina who grew up in Cherkasy, Ukraine. Asya has been posting war updates on Instagram and invites supporters to purchase postcards and posters from young Ukrainian graphic designer, Valentine Kudlai, @el_valento. 

 

  

 

All money raised is sent to help the armed forces of Ukraine and for humanitarian aid to Ukrainian immigrants.

Olga Skorokhod, who is from Chernihiv, Ukraine and lives in Oregon, is another young woman whose layered paper art has been featured here on All Things Paper. Her hometown was struck by Russian bombs as documented in this heartbreaking IG post. 

 

She is desperate to help her mother and brother who are now homeless and lived in a basement without electricity and almost no food and water for three weeks. Olga's work can be purchased via Saatchi Art.

 

Viktoriya, @yapaperova, from Kiev, Ukraine creates lovely paper sculpture flowers and complex origami ornaments. While she has not posted recently on Instagram, her profile is public. Hopefully she is safe and can be reached via direct message. 

 

 

Quillers may be familiar with Kasia Wojtasik, a prolific Ukrainian quiller who lives in Poland and creates amazingly intricate floral designs such as these sunflowers. Kate suggests to those who are interested in learning to create handmade scrapbooks to visit the Etsy shop of her Ukrainian friend Anna Dudnyk, @vrabec.studio, who in normal times offers elegant scrapbook albums made in collaboration with her husband Ivan. 

 

 

Presently Anna and Ivan are living under constant bombing and air raid sirens. As a way of earning money, Anna is offering her knowledge via a master scrapbook tutorial (in English) as she is not able to produce new books at this time. 

Floriya, from Lviv, Ukraine, is a floral artist whose work you can see via her Instagram feed and Etsy shop, which is currently on pause as she is unable to ship. She continues to make mostly blue and yellow flowers despite alarms that frighten her and her young daughter. "Trying to live, not just exist," she says.

 

 

Larissa Zasadna, @larissa_zasadna, is another Ukrainian quiller who creates gorgeous designs. Larissa has been unable to ship her work from Etsy shop, LarissaZasadna, so she has been busy stocking it with more than ninety downloadable patterns and tutorials complete with photos that have received five-star reviews. 

 

Victoriia Tkachenko,@quillyvicky, in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, creates dimensional quillwork.... for example this sculptured Easter egg. She hasn't posted since mid-February and her Etsy shop, Quilly Vicky, is temporarily closed... hopefully she is safe. (Whenever an Etsy shop is on a break, you can sign up to be emailed when it reopens.)

 

 

Liubov Lukianova's (@lukyanovalyubov) home was destroyed in Kharkiv, Ukraine so understandably her Etsy shop has also been placed on hold. Liubov's designs are mostly realistic floral arrangements that combine paper sculpture with traditional quilling. 

Perhaps like/follow these artists on Instagram, check in on their shops in the future, and join me in wishing them safety and peace. While a few are unaccounted for at this time, I decided it is important to think positive and include them as they will surely need assistance in re-establishing their lives once the war has ended. Special thanks to Kate Wojtasik who suggested several of the artists.

 

If you are a Ukrainian paper artist or know of any not mentioned in this post, please leave a comment below so we can visit their sites too.

 

 

Two more ways to help: Hannah Nunn, @hannahnunnstudio, in England continues to raise money via the sale of laser cut paper sunflowers that she designed to support Ukraine.

 

 

If you have dreamed of owning a piece of Yulia Brodskaya's original on-edge paper art, Sunflowers is for sale via Instagram. Yulia grew up in Moscow, Russia and now lives in England. She states, "All profits from this online auction will be donated to nonprofit organisations currently working to help people in Ukraine." 

 

All Things Paper is an Etsy Affiliate, meaning a small commission is earned 

at no additional cost to you should you make a purchase. 

I will be donating all Etsy affiliate earnings that accrue during the month of April 2022 

to Hospitallers, a front line volunteer paramedic organization.