Biography

Maydanets comes from roots and crown of an artist family. She was born in Kyiv, in a family of the well-known Ukrainian artists, she graduated from the Lviv Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts (Lviv Academy of Arts) the department of decorative textile (the studio of Prof. Igor Bodnar, the degree work - tapestry Dedication To Oleksandr Sayenko, 1992), practice at the Ukrainian Academy of Arts (painting studio of Prof. Tatyana Golembievskaya, the master work - poliptych Kievan Rus, the concert hall Golden Gates, Kyiv, 1995). Master of Arts, a member of the Ukrainian Artists' Union, the European Textile Network (ETN).

Lesia Maydanets works on weaving technique and textile painting. Her works were displayed on many national and foreign exhibitions (Canada, Belgium, France, Hungary, Poland), they are stored in the museums' and private collections. She is an author of the modern design of some cultural centres, schools, children's institutions.
Creative work of Lesia Maydanets is marked by an original philosophical view, a deep fathoming of folk traditions, personal artistic style. A combination of earthy and cosmic forms is two wings of her view of the world, that is characterized by a natural feeling of colour and plastic line.

The works of Lesia Maydanets are the interpretation of our history (The Kievan Rus, The Kozak Song, Roksolana), they are the achievements of art culture, starting from Trypillia and Mezyn cultures (The Trypillia legend, The Slavic Series, The Luminary, Dedication To Oleksandr Sayenko, Red and Black); they are the Ukrainian songs, legends, folklore (Koupala Lights, Gorytsvit, The Christmas Night, The Tchoomak Road, Out of Dew and Water); these works represent the ethical and ethnic features of the Ukrainian folk (The tree of Future, The Poplars Live in Me, The Lullaby, Ringing); they touch ecological problems (From the Chornobyl Apple Tree, Harmony).
The artistic credo of Lesia Maydanets is to create the world of beauty, harmony and kindness.

OLENA (LESIA) MAJDANETS SAJENKO

EDUCATION:

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles, Lviv Art Academy, 1992 Diploma Project: In Memory of Oleksander Sajenko, tapestry
Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Ukrainian Art Academy, Kyiv, 1995 Thesis Project: Kyivan Rus1, polyptych, five textile panels, batik Independent Studies, Art History Department, Ukrainian Art Academy, 1995

EXHIBITIONS:

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Union of Ukrainian Artists, Kyiv, 1992
SAJENKO FAMILY EXHIBITIONS: OLEKSANDER, NINA, OLENA
Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, December 29,1995 - January 23, 1996
Shevchenko Museum, Kaniv, Ukraine, 1994 Ukrainian House, Kyiv, 1993
National Museum of Ukrainian Folk and Decorative Art, Kyiv, 1993
Art Museum, Chernihiv, Ukraine, 1992
Museum of Ethnography and Applied Art, Lviv, Ukraine, 1992

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Textile Symposium, Wroclaw, Poland, October 1995
Second International Exhibit of Art and Applied Textiles "White Nights", St. Peterburg, Russia, June 1995
Master of Arts Graduation Exhibition, Kyiv, March 1995 Ukrainian Artists Exhibition, Gdansk, Poland, 1994
National Exhibition of Textile Painting, "Presentation-94", Art Museum, Pereiaslav-Khmelnytskyi, October, 1994
National Exhibition of Young Artists, "Flowers of Hope", Artists' Union Gallery, Kyiv, 1994
Ukrainian Artists Exhibition, Gallery "Dolia", Chicago, 1993
Spring Exhibition, Union of Ukrainian Artists Gallery, Kyiv, April, 1993
National Fall Exhibition, Union of Ukrainian Artists Gallery, Kyiv, October, 1992
Five Hundred Years of Cossacks, Union of Ukrainian Artists Gallery, Kyiv, 1991-1992

COMMISSIONS:

Kyivan Rus', tapestry for the "Golden Gates" Concert Hall, Kyiv, 1995
Gold of Autumn, Flowers, batik, Nosivka Hospital, Chernihiv Region, 1995
Sunflowers, At the Cross-roads of Life, batik, Nosivka School, Chernihiv Region, 1994
Ukrainian Wreath, batik, Koshivka School, Chernihiv Region, 1993
Kozak Song, batik, St. Catherine Church, tapestry, Koshivka School, Chernihiv Region, 1992
Blue Bird, tapestry, Sunny Flowers, batik, Koshivka Kindergarten, 1992
On the Wings of Imagination, Spring, Oksana, batik, Verbychi Kindergarten, Chernihiv Region, 1992

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS:

Chernihiv Art Museum, Chernihiv
Luhanske Art Museum, Luhanske
National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art, Kyiv
Shevchenko Museum, Kaniv
Union of Ukrainian Artists Gallery, Kyiv
Directorate of Exhibitions, Ministry of Culture, Kyiv
Gallery "Alipii", Kyiv

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS:

Ukraine, Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, Switzerland, USA

CATALOGUES:

Three Generations of the Sajenko Family Artists, Kyiv: Union of Ukrainian Artists, 1993
Olena Maidanets, Kyiv: Union of Ukrainian Artists, 1992