Art Opening Reception: Friday, March 7, 2025 / 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm @ 9 Vassar Street
Ulana Salewycz, Vitalia Deriabina, Marianna Crans, and the late Catherine Zadorecka Gorham are four Ukrainian American artists from the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. Through their multitude of creative endeavors, they have dedicated themselves to fostering the organization’s goals of educating and empowering women, keeping alive and flourishing the Ukrainian arts and culture for generations to come in America, and to aid Ukrainians in need.
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Artwork by Ulana Salewycz
Ulana Salewycz has lived in the Hudson Valley for over 30 years and has shown her works in area galleries and local arts and crafts fairs most notably at the Ukrainian Institute of America (NYC), Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center and Arts Mid-Hudson. She studied Fine Arts at the Art Students’ League (NYC) and Rutgers University in Newark, NJ where she obtained her BA along with a Museum Training certificate. She also holds an AA degree in Applied Science from the NY School of Interior Design, has enjoyed a decade-long career as an Interior Designer and has received an MA in Art Therapy from the College of New Rochelle.
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Sunflower Power by Vitalia Deriabina
Vitalia Deriabina is a Ukrainian-born artist, political consultant, and cultural ambassador who now resides in Poughkeepsie, NY. In 2024, Vitalia Deriabina co-authored an art therapy program based on petrykivka art as part of a UNESCO-funded initiative in Ukraine designed to help individuals affected by the war find healing and empowerment through creative expression, using the traditional Ukrainian folk art of petrykivka as a therapeutic tool. Through her artwork, Vitalia aims to share the beauty, energy, and resilience of Ukrainian culture with the American community. “Through my paintings, I seek to connect people from diverse cultures, inspiring them to embrace their own creativity and empowering them to see beauty in the world around them,” Ms. Deriabina explains. “My art is not just a personal expression; it is a celebration of life, tradition, and the power of artistic expression to unite us all.” Before moving to the U.S., Vitalia had an extensive career in political consulting holding a BA in Pedagogy, a BA in Political Science, and an MA in Development Studies.
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New Moon of the Winter Solstice by Marianna Crans
Marianna Szczawinsky Crans, who resides in Ulster County, NY, is Ukrainian by heritage and by ethnic pride. She began formal art lessons at the age of 8 years old and developed her artistic talents throughout her school years earning an AA Degree in Liberal Arts from Ulster County Community College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from SUNY New Paltz. “I work in varied mediums that encompass watercolors, oils, pencil, pen and ink, acrylics, pastels, and scratchboard with colored pencil and watercolor,” relays Ms. Crans. “Over the years, my love of art blossomed into landscape and wildlife painting, a leaning partially influenced by the Hudson River School of Landscape painters.”
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Artwork by Catherine Zadorecka Gorham
The late Catherine Zadorecka Gorham was a graduate of Poughkeepsie High School and SUNY Dutchess and, in addition to being an accomplished artist, worked for IBM, the Institute of Ecosystem Studies and the Professional Culinary Academy in Poughkeepsie. Cathy, as friends and family called her, had the soul of an artist whose many interests led her to cultural arts, photography, basket making, gardening, sewing, quilting, and crafting. Ms. Gorham’s love of traveling to locations that included Alaska, Canada, across the U.S. and the American Southwest, particularly New Mexico, resulted in her photographic images being transformed into silk-like images that captured the colors and play of light.
