BOZENA HRYCYNA
Bozena is a teacher, artist, and community organizer. She has spent over a decade involved in Plast (Ukrainian Scouting Organization) as a camp counselor, troupe leader, and wilderness trip leader; volunteered at camps for orphaned youth in Ukraine; and worked as a highschool English teacher. For the past five years she has been exploring art and community life through Kosa Kolektiv, which she helped bring to life, and which has since become a force of its own.
Within the Kosa community, Bozena facilitates Ukrainian “village voice” folk singing and communal singing nights, Koliada—traditional caroling, Haivky- traditional spring revels, as well as numerous folk gatherings and craft workshops. Her personal artistic work focuses on textiles—primarily embroidery, and weaving. She loves researching the folklore embedded in handwork, as well as folklore tied to seasonal cycles in nature.
Bozena’s true habitat is outdoors, exploring natural landscapes, growing food and medicine, and engaging in an earth-centered lifestyle. She is currently taking a course in Anthroposophy and delving into Waldorf education as well as Permaculture. She is excited and hopeful about the opportunities offered for positive transformation through an understanding of permaculture principles and hopes to bring this to the experience of Folk Camp. She recently attended the Art of Mentoring, a weeklong immersion into “a living, learning culture of nature and self-awareness” which was utterly transformative and life-affirming; she brings wisdom humbly received from this experience to the Folk Camp community as well.
Bozena revels in the abundance of beauty, skill, and wisdom in our folk cultures expressed through craft, song, dance, food, and ritual. She is devoted to bringing all these areas of life together, in a holistic way—a way that she envisions our ancestors experienced them-- for the community at Folk Camp. Looking forward to seeing you all there!