Mikhailo Kytrysh is a potter, Member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (from 1971); Member of the National Union of Folk Art of Ukraine (from 1998); Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine (1985); he is a laureate of the Danylo Shcherbakivsky Prize (1995); the laureate of Taras Shevchenko state prize of Ukraine (1999); his works are in museums and private collections in Ukraine and other countries.

Mikhailo Kytrysh was born on October 21, 1936 in the town of Opishnia, Poltava region, in potter’s  family.

During 1963 – 1996 he worked as a potter, and then as a master of a creative laboratory at the Opishnia Factory “Art Pottery”. In the mid-1960s he began to exhibit his works at regional and republican exhibitions of decorative and applied arts. He has repeatedly been the laureate/ prize-winner of prestigious republican and all-union exhibitions, competitions, festivals.

The wares widely represented the art of Ukraine at international exhibitions in Belgium, Canada, Japan, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Poland, Hungary, France, Netherlands, the USA, Norway, Great Britain, United Arab Emirates and other countries of the world. They took place of honour in the largest and most prestigious museum collections in Europe and America. He participated in the international pottery symposium in Bulgaria, Hungary, Norway.

Many years of creative work, acquired mastery and public recognition in Ukraine and abroad allowed Mikhailo Kytrysh to become a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1971).

For his outstanding contribution to the development of Ukrainian folk art, he was awarded the honorary title “Honored Master of Folk Art of Ukraine” in 1985; laureate of the Danylo Shcherbakivsky Prize in 1995. In 1988 he was admitted to the National Union of Folk Art of Ukraine, in 1999 – the laureate of Taras Shevchenko state prize of Ukraine.

Now he is having a well-deserved rest.

Mikhailo Kytrysh’s creative work is an outstanding phenomenon of Ukrainian art. The artist’s works are classic examples of contemporary folk ceramics. The master prefers a decorative zoomorphic sculpture in his creative work: he produces traditional Opishnia pottery in the form of lions, bulls, sheep, goats.

He’s the only Opishnia potter who experimented a lot with colored clay, irrigation and shapes of ceramic products.

Researchers of art have noted the extraordinary variety, exquisite ornamentality, baroque, and colorfulness of Mikhailo Kytrysh’s works. Having traditional form and household purpose, author’s products in the creative interpretation attract by immediacy, sincerity, marked by the poetic worldview of the pottery.

He was the first who developed and introduced a lot of new techniques for decorating ceramic products in the practice of folk pottery.

Mikhailo Kytrysh’s creativity is one of the most prominent achievements of Opishnia pottery of the XXI century, and some author’s works became a kind of a visiting card of Ukrainian pottery.

The information was given by the National Preserve Museum of Ukrainian Pottery