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Dye fills the dimpled surface of a pysanka egg, made from an ostrich egg from the personal collection of Lesia Sochor, displayed while Sochor teaches a class on the Ukrainian tradition Thursday at Bates College in Lewiston. Sochor said she orders all her supplies from authentic Ukrainian sources and sells kits to help keep the tradition alive. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
Bates College professor of neuroscience Olivia Kim dips a kistka in beeswax Thursday during a pysanka egg decorating class at the college in Lewiston. The beeswax is then applied to the egg — which still maintains its yolk — and dyed colors which appear in layers, with elements of the original egg shell visible after washing away the wax to reveal the artist’s design.
Bates staff member Anna Wells Piotti Castonguay and neuroscience professor Olivia Kim carefully dip their kistkas into beeswax during a pysanka egg-decorating class Thursday at Bates College in Lewiston. Heated by a candle, the kistka melts the beeswax onto its fine tip, which is then used to draw intricate designs on the eggs.
Bates College staff member Jake Paris is the first to make the plunge from design to dye Thursday during a pysanka egg decorating class hosted by Lesia Sochor in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. The length of time within the dye determines the strength of the color absorbed by the shell, starting with the lighter colors of the rainbow and ending with dark layers.
Lesia Sochor dips a kistka into the flame of a candle while demonstrating how to transfer beeswax to create a design of a pysanka egg Thursday during a class she’s teaching in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. “Keeping this art form and tradition alive … now more than ever because of the war,” she said of the Ukrainian tradition, referencing the war between Ukraine and Russia. Pysanka eggs were long considered to be sacred symbols, treasured and used as talismans. Sochor said the eggs would be placed under the roof of homes for protection, in livestock troughs to keep away drought, and in the graves of the deceased. Sochor creates pysanka eggs and offers the class only in spring, also according to tradition.
Museum of Art intern Caleb Paris uses the tip of a kistka to created a design with wax after applying layers of dye to his pysanka egg Thursday during a class in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. Pysanka eggs are a Ukrainian cultural tradition, made specifically as a spring ritual. The egg is a symbol of renewal and rebirth just like the season itself, representing the larger universe as well. The yolk is considered to be the sun, according to Lesia Sochor, a first generation Ukrainian who was teaching the class as a lifelong pysanka egg decorator.
Community member Crystal Nayock starts a design during a pysanka egg decorating class Thursday in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. The eggs evolve into intricate designs that can be aided with a pencil sketch on the shell or with rubber bands to keep lines straight while making a design out of beeswax. The egg is then dipped in rich dyes, and the wax is removed to reveal a layer of color underneath. (Libby Kamrowski Kenny/Staff Photographer)
A portion of Lesia Sochor’s pysanka egg-making kit is seen alongside strands of wheat Thursday in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. Pysanka egg decorating is a Ukrainian art tradition that incorporates a lot of symbolism in traditional designs. Wheat is one of those symbols, as Ukraine is the “breadbasket of Europe,” a longtime staple for those who make a living growing it, and one of Ukraine’s main exports.
Lesia Sochor helps Caleb Paris dye his pysanka egg during a class she is teaching Thursday in the Muskie Archives at Bates College in Lewiston. Paris, a high school student interning with the Bates Museum of Art, attended the class with his parents.
Colorful pysanka eggs from the personal collection of Lesia Sochor are on display Thursday during a class on the Ukrainian cultural tradition at Bates College in Lewiston. Sochor, a first generation Ukrainian whose parents fled Ukraine in World War II, said pysanka eggs are treasured and treated as talismans. She has one that is 70 years old that was painted by her mother.

Libby Kamrowski Kenny is a staff photographer at the Sun Journal who came aboard in June 2025. She’s been in journalism longer than that though, as her prematurely graying hair can attest, starting as...

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