Oksana Pikush
Оксана Пікуш · Oksanna Pikush · Oksana Pikus · Пікуш Оксана · Petrykivka painting Oksana Pikush · петриківський розпис Пікуш
Petrykivka painting master
Born in Petrykivka, taught by her parents, carrying a UNESCO-listed painting tradition into Canada.
About
Oksana Pikush was born and raised in Petrykivka, the town in the Dnipropetrovsk region that gave Ukrainian decorative painting its name. She learned the craft at home: her teachers were her parents, Andriy Pikush, People's Artist of Ukraine, and Maria Pikush, Merited Master of Folk Art of Ukraine, together with the master and teacher Ivan Dmytriuk. In a town where, as UNESCO puts it, every family has at least one practitioner, hers was the family the tradition ran through.
She trained in Ukraine as a violinist, then moved to Canada and took up classical vocal training at McGill University. She sings as a lyrical soprano — folk, popular and classical pieces in Ukrainian, English, Italian and French — and has worked with the Sheraton Cadwell Orchestras, the Zahrava drama theatre, the Maria Zankovetska Ukrainian Dramatic Theatre on its Canadian tour, and the Toronto choir Vesnivka. Her own website introduces her in three words: Singer. Artist. Performer.
Alongside the music she carries on her parents' painting. She works as a painter and teacher of Petrykivka art, specialising in interior décor and mural painting, and she teaches the style to children and adults. In her classes people paint with handmade brushes brought from Petrykivka itself, which she supplies, and they leave with a finished piece of their own.
In 2013 UNESCO inscribed Petrykivka decorative painting on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. That inscription followed a travelling exhibition of more than 250 works prepared in December 2012 by the masters of the Centre of Folk Art “Petrykivka” — the association her father organised and chairs — which opened at the European Parliament in Brussels and went on to fifty countries. The festival team puts it more directly: her father created and toured the exhibition that became the grounds for the UNESCO listing.
On Sunday, 13 September 2026 she brings the brushes to Riverside Park in Carleton Place and runs a Petrykivka painting masterclass at UAFest, at a table where anyone who sits down can paint.
“Singer. Artist. Performer.”
Petrykivka painting
Petrykivka is a town in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, and its name belongs to a style of painting that grew there. Flowers that exist nowhere in nature, berries, leaves, birds — drawn straight onto a white ground, with no pencil sketch underneath, in a free improvised hand. Oksana Pikush was born in that town and learned the craft there from her parents.
UNESCO, 2013 — in the words of the inscription
In 2013 UNESCO inscribed “Petrykivka decorative painting as a phenomenon of the Ukrainian ornamental folk art” on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The inscription reads: “The people of the village of Petrykivka decorate their living quarters, household belongings and musical instruments with a style of ornamental painting that is characterized by fantastic flowers and other natural elements, based on careful observation of the local flora and fauna. This art is rich in symbolism: the rooster stands for fire and spiritual awakening, while birds represent light, harmony and happiness. In folk belief, the paintings protect people from sorrow and evil. … Every family has at least one practitioner, making decorative painting an integral part of daily existence in the community.”
Visit →How it is painted
The strokes come from very fine brushes, traditionally made from cat hair, and from the painter's own fingers. Colour changes inside a single stroke, so one pull of the brush carries a petal from dark to light. Oksana brings handmade brushes from Petrykivka to her classes and hands them to the people sitting at the table.
Visit →The line she comes from
Her teachers were her parents: Andriy Pikush, People's Artist of Ukraine, and Maria Pikush, Merited Master of Folk Art of Ukraine, along with the master Ivan Dmytriuk. Andriy Pikush organised the Petrykivka creative association in 1991 and chairs its board; in December 2012 the Centre's masters prepared a travelling exhibition of more than 250 works that opened at the European Parliament in Brussels and went on to fifty countries, and that exhibition supported the UNESCO inscription that followed on 5 December 2013. As the festival team tells it, it was her father who created and toured the exhibition that became the grounds for the listing.
Visit →At UAFest 2026
Sunday, 13 September 2026 · Riverside Park, Carleton Place · free entry. Oksana runs a Petrykivka painting masterclass in the crafts area, where the workshop tables stand between the Main Stage and the market. Sessions run through the afternoon and you join whenever you arrive; check the schedule on the day for the table and the times.
You paint, and you take it home
Everyone at the table paints with brushes made by hand in Petrykivka and leaves with a finished piece. Her courses have run this way for years: people with no drawing behind them sit down and finish something they are willing to hang up.
Visit →A UNESCO craft, taught by someone born to it
Petrykivka painting reached the UNESCO Representative List in 2013. The person holding the brush at this table was born in the town the list is named after and learned the craft from the masters of her own family.
Visit →The crafts area
Between the music and the market, UAFest keeps a corner for making things by hand. Painting, motanka dolls and straw weaving have all had tables there in past years, and they run all afternoon.
Visit →Watch
From Petrykivka to the Ottawa Valley
Oksana Pikush was born and raised in Petrykivka, in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine, and came to Canada after training there as a violinist. Her painting classes have run in Toronto, at the St. Vladimir Institute on Spadina Avenue; she has sung with the Toronto choir Vesnivka, with the Zahrava drama theatre and with the Maria Zankovetska company on its Canadian tour; and the Capital Ukrainian Festival in Ottawa has carried her in its artist line-up.
On 13 September 2026 her table stands at UAFest in Riverside Park, Carleton Place, Ontario — about an hour west of Ottawa, free to attend, a full day of Ukrainian music, food and craft.
Questions about the Petrykivka masterclass
What is Petrykivka painting?
A Ukrainian decorative painting style from the town of Petrykivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It is built on flowers that exist only in the painting, on berries, leaves and birds, drawn freehand on a white ground. UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2013.
What will I actually do at the masterclass?
You sit at the table, take a brush and paint. Oksana shows the strokes the style is built from and walks you through a piece from the first petal to the last, so you finish something of your own and take it home.
Do I need to bring anything?
Come as you are. The brushes are hers — handmade in Petrykivka, brought over for exactly this — and the paints and the surface are at the table. The one thing worth bringing is patience for the first few strokes.
Is it for children?
Yes. Oksana teaches Petrykivka painting to children and adults alike, and in Petrykivka itself the schools teach it from pre-school upward. Younger children paint best with a parent beside them at the table.
I have never painted. Will I manage?
The style was made by people who painted their own walls and dishes, and it is taught that way still. Her workshops are built for beginners: the description of her own course promises that participants discover a hidden talent and create a finished work of art.
Who is Oksana Pikush?
A painter and teacher of Petrykivka art, born and raised in Petrykivka and taught by her parents, Andriy Pikush, People's Artist of Ukraine, and Maria Pikush, Merited Master of Folk Art of Ukraine. She also sings as a lyrical soprano and specialises in interior décor and mural painting.
Where can I learn more, or keep painting afterwards?
Ask her at the table on the day — she teaches courses for children and adults, and has run them at the St. Vladimir Institute in Toronto. The UNESCO entry on Petrykivka decorative painting is the best short read on the tradition itself, and her Folk Camp page describes how she teaches it.
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