Janina Jaksina

Bouquets for the Holy Corner home altars

Creating came easy to her, as parents injected her with this passion. Apart from farming, they occupied themselves with handicraft. Her father wove oat straw seats and her mother, the famous artist Maria Chrostek, still makes beautiful cutouts, kierce and Easter palms. From early on, Mrs. Janina Jaksina has absorbed the family example, learning primarily under the eye of her mother, grandmother and aunt – who themselves were recognized artists. As she herself described it, “at home she had learned well the respect and appreciation for people, for cultivating the folk art and tradition“. She has been awarded for her works even as early as in primary school. The decorations she makes are spectacularly meticulous, and are uniquely pure, sterile.

By virtue of her artistry, she has worked for years with the Folk and Artistic Handicraft Cooperative Kurpianka, for which she made cutouts, flowers, chandelier-like kierce and Easter palms. She still makes these, but her personal favourite is bouquets for the Holy Corner home altar. Nowadays, they are made mainly for exhibitions, and not for Kurpie homes. Her activity and commitment to the local culture is one example of how extremely important in life are the respect for one’s own roots and fidelity to tradition. Just one look at Mrs. Jaksina’s work is enough to appreciate her passion for folk art, which is the result of her inner need to copy the Kurpie canon. She is one of the artists who actively participate in fairs, festivals and folk art fairs. Each year, she takes part in exhibitions and meetings with handicraft manufacturers. She popularises the region’s creative work through workshops, held, among others, in the Museum of Kurpie Culture in Ostrołęka, Zagroda Kurpiowska in Kadzidło, and with teachers in the Education Board in Ostrołęka. Mrs. Jaksina’s achievements include shows and exhibitions abroad, among others, in the UK, Tunisia, Venezuela. as well as in many cities in the country – in Gdynia, Warsaw, Krakow, Płock, Białystok and Ostrołęka. In 2014, she received the Merit for Polish Culture honorary badge of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.