Incredible Eggs 2019 Calendar
It’s that time of year again. The new egg calendar is out and I think it’s the best one yet. I have a few eggs pictured too which is just a fun bonus. If you want to order one for yourself, here’s the link
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Rancho Cordova iFest 2018
Enjoy a trip around the world with this multicultural event for kids and adults alike. Featuring art, music, dance, international foods and activities for children, this promises to be a fun-filled evening for all. I’ll have a booth with my pysanky, explaining and demonstrating what it takes to create them. Stop by and say hi!
Saturday, May 12, 2018 5-9 PM
Village Green Park
3141 Bridgeway Drive
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
See the complete event flyer here.
Arts Camp 2017 – Go Wild!
And go wild we did. A fast-paced week filled with all kinds of art. My class was the BEST, of course.
Time to Register
If you have a 5th or 6th grader who’d like to learn how to create pysanky, here’s a great opportunity. Every year Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California, hosts a week-long Arts Camp for incoming 1st through 6th graders. This year I’ll be teaching a class on pysanky and as of today there are only three spots open so don’t wait too long to sign up your student
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iFest 2017
This Saturday from 5 to 9 PM in village Green Park of Rancho Cordova. It’s a fun event for the whole family. I’ll have a cultural display booth of pysanky so come out and say hi!
The Incredible Eggs 2017 Calendar
I love getting fun mail! Today’s was especially fun because I received my 2017 Incredible Eggs calendar and I’m proud to report that a collection of my Trypillian style eggs appears on the November page. This entire calendar is filled with an amazing display of colors and styles by lots of different egg artists from around the world. Click here to get the purchasing details and to preview each page. There is even a Canadian version for those of you north of our border.
Save the Date!
It’s never too soon to start planning for summer fun. And if you want fun, friendship and unhurried time to explore the art of pysanky then this retreat should go right to the top of your list. Beginner to expert skill levels are all welcome.
Pysanky USA Retreat 2016
July 12-16, 2016
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
A little unabashed advertising here…I will be teaching “Quilt-inspired Eggs” and “Egg Mosaics” classes at this retreat and there are lots of other great classes by a variety of very experienced teachers.
Here is the website for more info.
Big News!
I cannot begin to describe how excited I was when I found this catalog in my mailbox. 
It means finally I can officially announce that June 12-18, 2016 I will be teaching a pysanky class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina.
The Folk School is like year-round summer camp for adults in a beautiful farm-like setting but is it so much more than that. They emphasize non-competitive learning in all kinds of different folk arts…from quilting to blacksmithing to cooking, writing, woodturning, and music to name just a few.
Years ago my sister and I attended an artisan bread-baking class there and we loved everything about that experience. I had always dreamed of going back, but going back to teach an egg class is a dream come true.
Got plans for next June? Come on down.
A Taste of Heaven
Five days of “playing eggs” with friends old and new, now that is my idea of what heaven is like. I just got back from the Pysanky USA Retreat 2015 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and am still on a pysanky high. Together with 70 other pysanky artists we spent our days giving and teaching classes, hanging out in the play room working on eggs, and catching up on each other’s lives. True community at its best.
This is a far-flung group to say the least. One person came from Japan and not only that, she comes from the same city where I was born. Such a small world, isn’t it? Another spent this last year on the medical ship Mercy Africa in Madagascar. Many folks came from the Northeastern states but we had attendees from the South, the Midwest, the West Coast and also Canada.
Here are just a few photos to give you a taste of my personal heaven.
International Festival in Rancho Cordova
Saturday, May 16, 2015 from 5 to 9 PM
Village Park, Rancho Cordova
Let the world come to you with lots of fun displays, performances and food from many different countries at this kid-friendly iFest 2015 . I’ll be there demonstrating how to create pysanky so be sure to stop by and say hi.
More details here.
It’s Official
I’m going to summer camp again! This year’s Pysanky USA Retreat in Pennsylvania promises to be bigger and better than ever. I’ll be teaching a couple of classes and taking a few from other teachers but more importantly I’ll get to reconnect with “egging friends” from across the country. For five days the outside world falls away as I explore new ideas, learn new techniques, and catch up with others who share my love of pysanky. I can hardly wait!
Sound interesting? This event is a great place for all skill levels, from “I’ve never dyed an egg before” to “I’ve been creating these eggs for 30 years.” If you want to join the fun, here’s the link for more details.
Summer Camp for Me!
Doing what you love is a good thing…but doing it with a bunch of other people who also love it is an amazingly good thing. I spent last week in Pennsylvania with 60+ other pysanky artists at an egg retreat learning, teaching, connecting and laughing with friends old and new. To put it simply, I went to summer camp for adults…and I highly recommend it.
This is my third year attending the Pysanky USA Retreat. I took a few classes, taught a few classes and mostly hung out in the “play room” where we could work on our own projects as we talked and shared about egg art and life in general. The room population ebbed and flowed throughout the day as classes started which allowed me to meet new people with the luxury of unhurried time on our side. Free flowing ideas sparked new techniques, new color combinations, new dyes to try. Wow, my brain got full fast!
I came away from this week not only with a renewed enthusiasm for this art but with a sense of community and connectedness to my fellow pysanky artists across the country. And I’m already looking forward to next year!
Arts Camp 2014 Recap
Here’s a glimpse of our week at Oak Hills Church Arts Camp!
God blessed me with 12 wonderfully creative 5th and 6th grade girls, two loving shepherd helpers and a calm and cheerful assistant teacher this year. Together we learned about God and His love for us while we learned the art of pysanky and how to create these jeweled wonders. We also learned that occasionally eggs break but life goes on because you get to start over on a new egg.
All valuable life lessons in my book.
Arts Camp 2014
Once again I’ll be teaching a week-long class of 5th and 6th graders how to create pysanky. Oak Hills Church in Folsom, California, bursts with activity as the campus transforms into a vast studio of kids and volunteers all focused on finding God through the arts.
Dance, music, theater, visual arts, creative craftsmanship, and even culinary arts come alive as we all learn how to nurture our creative souls.
For more information and to register, click here.
Arts Camp 2013
There is nothing better than combining kids and God and art all at the same time. That’s what Arts Camp at Oak Hills Church does…and does very well I might add. Our Children’s Pastor, Colleen Gray and her amazing team turn our church campus and hundreds of volunteers into a smooth-running, exciting, enthusiastic machine where nearly three hundred kids get to experience God for a whole week through arts such as Dance, Theater, Music, Visual Arts, Creative Craftsmanship, and Culinary Arts.
The seven fifth/sixth grade girls in my pysanky class accomplished much more than any previous year’s class. Most of them finished four eggs and some more than that. I beamed as they proudly showed their parents the results of their focused work in class. And their excitement spilled over at home as parent after parent reported back to me how their child couldn’t stop talking about their eggs and how sad they were when Friday finally arrived.
It’s an exhausting week but well worth the effort. After a few days of restorative quiet here at home, I find myself wondering…is it too soon to start looking forward to Arts Camp next year?
Passing It On
More than thirty years ago in my former life (those days before marriage and children) I worked as a registered nurse first in a hospital and then in a doctor’s office. Another life chapter began when I started teaching Body & Soul, an international program that combines faith and fitness. Twenty three years later I’m still leading my fitness class weekly and have also been speaking and demonstrating the art of pysanky to individuals and small groups whenever the opportunity arises.
As I reflect back on all those experiences I noticed a common thread…teaching. I never thought of myself as a teacher before but the more I thought about it, the more it makes sense. Even when I worked as a nurse, the part I liked best was that one-on-one time teaching.
I delight in taking complex topics, breaking them down to understandable pieces, and communicating those ideas in a simple way the listener can grasp. I also love the challenge of coming up with different ways to transmit knowledge to help the student gain success. And I especially love seeing that student’s eyes light up with understanding when the “light bulb” turns on at last.
In a couple of weeks I get to teach another group of fifth and sixth grade students all about this egg art called pysanky. Arts Camp 2013 at Oak Hills Church in Folsom is one of the highlights of my year. Students from first through sixth grade come together for a week of fun and excitement where they explore a particular art and in the process learn more about the God who created them.
If you know of a student who might be interested, it’s not too late to sign up for this great adventure. My class still has a few spots left and I know there are openings in a wide variety of other arts as well. For more information, click here.
Let the fun begin!
Rancho Cordova iFest 2013
Saturday, May 18, 2013 5-9 PM
Rancho Cordova iFest 2013
This fifth annual international festival celebrates music, food, art, dance and more from many lands. Come visit me at my table to see examples of pysanky and how they are made.
Village Green Park
3141 Bridgeway
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
Pumpkin Choir
Sometimes I let go of my serious side and just play with eggs and dyes and wax. This is one of those times! Happy Halloween all.
Eggs by Teresa 