The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture | Easter Egg Decorating Workshops

Decorated Easter Eggs are available through the Museum Gift Shop

FAQ

WORKSHOPS

BALZEKAS MUSEUM OF LITHUANIAN CULTURE

6500 S. PULASKI ROAD CHICAGO, IL 60629

TEL.: 773.582.6500
FAX:773.582.5133

info@balzekasmuseum.org

Open 10 AM - 4 PM daily
Except Christmas, Easter and New Year's Day

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From the Gift Shop:

Easter Egg Decorating Workshop

March 17 at 10 a.m.

Easter is the first spring holiday, celebrating Christ's resurection and the rebirth of nature. The dyed egg is the primary symbol of Easter, signifying life, goodness and a bountiful harvest. Easter egg decorating is a family affair, done on the Saturday before Easter.

The Easter meal is begun with eggs. It is tradition to strike two eggs together: one person holds his egg while the other hits it with his own egg. The strongest egg is left uneaten.

Visiting with relatives and friends begins in the afternoon, when it is especially common for children to visit their godparents and neighbors, where they are given Easter eggs as gifts.

Learn the ancient art of decorating eggs using the etching technique.

Participants at the Lithuanian Easter Egg Workshop Each spring the Balzekas Museum hosts an Easter egg making workshop.

This year's workshop will be held at the Museum on Saturday, March 17 at 10 a.m.

Guests Instructors:

Artists Rasa Ibianskiene and Asta Zimkus

Fee:

Museum members $12/Non-members $15
Children under 12 - $5

Included in the fee are an instruction sheet, pattern sheet, and etching knife as well as free admission to the Museum.

Light refreshments will be served.

Register online here:

Select Workshop Fee Below:

Museum Member: $12
Non-Member: $15
Child:

For more information and to register for this event by telephone, please call the Museum at 773.582.6500.

Year-round Easter Egg Exhibits at the Museum

All visitors are invited to see the exhibition of unique Easter eggs by the late artists Ursula Astras and Ramute Plioplys in the Women's Guild Room of the Balzekas Museum.

Programs are made possible in part by grants from the Illinois Arts Council, City Arts from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the ECPC.

A Lithuanian Television program featuring artisans who make both etched and applied-wax-method Easter eggs in Lithuania. We hope to provide subtitles for this film in the future.

Educational Programs

The Museum provides a variety of workshops in traditional Lithuanian folk arts. Workshops are but a part of the educational programs at the museum. More...

Other Popular Seasonal Workshops

Užgavėnės Mask Making Workshop

During Užgavėnės or Shrovetide, revelers adorn masks and costumes. The Balzekas Museum offers a workshop in Užgavėnės Mask Making with a celebratory pancake feast. More...

Lithuanian Straw Christmas Ornament Workshop

The traditional Lithuanian Christmas ornament is made from natural straw (from the dried stock of cereal grains, typically wheat) which is cut and threaded into ornate shapes, representing stars, the sun, snowflakes, bells, lanterns, and angels. Each year before Christmas, the Museum conducts a workshop on how to make these delicate ornaments. More...

Etched Lithuanian Easter Eggs

Vėlykaitis Lithuanian Easter Egg

An etched Lithuanian Easter Egg by the late Ursula Astras, from Grand Rapids, Michigan. The egg shows a Lithuanian wayside cross (left side) with tulips and the "Gediminačiųi stulpai" or Pillars of Gediminas, the coat of arms of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (right side).

The Women's Guild Room features a display of Easter eggs by two renown Lithuanian folk artists, the late Ursula Astras, from Michigan, and the late Ramutė Plioplys, from Chicago. For many years, Mrs. Astras would travel from her home in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to conduct Museum workshops in the traditional etched method of decorating Easter eggs. More...

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