About the Instructors
Nestor Topchy (b. 1963, New Jersey) is a painter, sculptor, installation artist and performance artist.
Topchy is the founder and the Creative Director of HIVE (Habitable Interdisciplinary Visionary Environment), Houston, Tx. He has exhibited widely, nationally and internationally, at Ivan Honchar Museum Folkculture Kyiv, Ukraine; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; The Menil Collection, Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum; Evergreen Museum / Johns Hopkins University; La Museo de Nacion, Lima, Peru; Edinburg Fringe Festival, Scotland; Grace Space NYC, among other places.
Nestor learned to write ornate Ukrainian Easter eggs - Pysanky (plural of Pysanka) in childhood, with his mother and paternal family, who immigrated from Stalinist Ukraine as displaced persons following World War II.
Most recently, Nestor's icinographic works were on show at a solo exhibit at the Menil Collection between Aug 2023 and Jan 2024.
Topchy currently lives and works in Houston, TX.
Find out more about Nestor HERE
For a number of years now, Nestor has been teaching Pysanka classes with help and assistance from Iryna Petrovska Marchiano, a Ukraine-native and an adopted-Texan engineer & data analyst by day and an art&craft lover by night.
Iryna is also a co-founder and a spokesperson for a Houston-based non-profit HTX4Ukraine and has previously served as a president and a Board of Directors member of the Ukrainian American Cultural Club of Houston.
One of Iryna's proudest artistic moments was participating in Lawndale's 2016 Dia de Los Muertos Retablo Exhibit and teaching a Pysanka Workshop during The Menil Collection's Neighborhood community days.
PRESS
Enjoy this little glimpse into the PYSANKA world of Nestor Topchy as it was observed by the Houston Public Media
2016 Pysanka Workshop at
Phoenicia Downtown's MKT BAR
Phoenicia Downtown's MKT BAR