GUEST POST by Lyndsey Lesh on the work of Ulana Zahajkewycz

Illustrator/Wooden Folk Sculptor, Ulana Zahajkewycz, is a New Jersey native that goes under the pseudonym Ulanaland for her online presence. She has been creating “Wooden Folk” for as long as I have known her (8 years), but I believe she was making them before that.  As soon as I saw these guys in person I immediately couldn’t get enough.  They are so captivating it’s unreal.

I remember being so thrilled in seeing her wooden folk for the first time because before that I had only seen Ulana’s 2D flat illustration work.  The evolution of seeing her ‘cool cat’ characters hanging out on a flat painted panel to on a surprise gallery visit whim, seeing those same flat 2D characters transformed to 3D life was nothing short but a delightful surprise.  Each of her Wooden Folk have what seems to me their own unique personalities with their whole imaginary wooden lives ahead of them.  Some appear to have beard fixations, others are members in a bird club.  Ulana also has a great way of including not only Chewbacca, but a Chewbacca alongside a garden gnome, a lumberjack, a four-eyed bearded hippie, and a sailor; all of which making total sense and she makes me wonder why this doesn’t happen in reality.  I find each wooden folk to be no more endearing than the last, but to top it off I can’t get over the names Ulana assigned to some of the folks, for example:

Ulana has displayed her Wooden Folk at Lunar Boy Gallery, and at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design to name a few.

You can see more of Ulana’s Wooden Folk here and she recently just set up a Wooden Folk etsy store.

    
  
       
         

This post was written by the artist Lyndsey Lesh

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