Kvitka Cisyk: mother, wife, artist

Kvitaslawa Cisyk was born in Queens, New York, on April 4, 1953, to Ukrainian born parents Wolodymyr and Iwanna Cisyk. Her parents had emigrated to New York along with Kvitka's sister Maria in 1949 to escape the Soviet occupation of their beloved homeland. The Cisyk family brought to New York not only many artistic and intellectual talents but a deep and rich reverence for the Ukrainian culture of the Carpathian Mountains they had so painfully left behind. As Kvitka grew up an American, her sensibilities resonated with their heritage as she participated fully in all that her parents were and brought with them. Only the Ukrainian language was spoken in her home in Manhattan. Kvitka was always grateful for having been steeped in the heritage she was so proud of. Her parents understood that they had born a sensitive and talented child, and Kvitka always thanked them for "teaching me good Ukrainian and (as they put it) not bad English." Kvitka walked the path of two cultures and would later name one of her recordings "Two Colors" in honor of this dual culture--the dichotomy of life's necessary here-and-now and burden of longing for the past.