Ukrainian
Immigrant’s Renderings
of the Dead are for the Living
His canvas is granite. His gallery the cemeteries. His business is the dead. More precisely, Viyuk etches headstones to preserve memories of them for the living.
“It’s not easy, I would say,” Peter said while etching the headstone of a 23-year-old woman buried at Marion Cemetery. “Sometimes I meet with customers, they cry.”
Viyuk met an artist who etched tombstones in the Ukraine and started honing his craft there for eight years before
immigrating to the United States in 1991. He currently works for
several companies, including
the Marion Cemetery, where the renowned artist has struck up a
professional partnership with Marion Cemetery and its' superintendent Jim Riedl
which has turned into an amazing friendship.
“His talent is unsurpassed,” said Riedl. “My wife says he accomplishes his art three ways; with his hands, his eyes and his heart, especially his heart.”
Viyuk’s work has included a statue of Christ and four scenes of Christ and his 12 apostles, both which are in the Cleveland area. Riedl said Viyuk has worked on about 35 pieces at the Marion Cemetery. Viyuk, who also likes sculpture and oil painting, enjoys leaving a lasting impression. “I love the stones themselves,” he said. “When people like my work I feel good. This work will last practically forever, hundreds of years.”
Etchings can take a couple days to complete. Sometimes his hand cramps, especially in the winter when he works on cold granite, and his back may feel sore from leaning over the stones. He demonstrated his work as he struck the stone with a diamond-tipped engraving bit. The work takes complete concentration with little room for mistakes. “Every strike has to be in its own place,” said Viyuk. “If I screw it (up), it will cost a lot of money to re-do it.”
Viyuk enjoys scenes with people and animals rather than just landscapes. He said animals are easier because mistakes can be covered up easier, where people require the most precise detail. Sometimes he helps a family come up with a specific scene, while other times the family already has a photo or an idea ready. Prices vary but can start at about $450 for a single portrait, said Riedl.
He first contracted with Viyuk in 2005 while searching for an artist to complete a request from Morral couple Bob and Maxine Roberts. The scene includes Bob’s farm and both Bob and Maxine standing on their fishing boat holding up walleyes they caught.
A recent headstone featured a woman sitting like an angel looking over her son, who was killed in an accident. The headstone he worked on this week on a stop in Marion was from a photo of the 23-year-old woman riding a horse. Everyone dies, and Viyuk figures somebody has to do the work he does.
Peter's work is unparalleled and his artistic talent and technique allows him to create lifelike custom portraits and scenes. Today, most etchings are done with computers and lasers scratching the granite surface. Peter works his masterpiece by tapping the granite with various carbide rods, almost a lost art brought with him from the old world. The process of hand etching has been used for centuries in Europe and Peter is a master artist of his trade. To watch him take a simple snapshot and recreate it on granite is truly an unforgettable experience.
He usually completes his work in solitude. His business is death, and pain isn’t only felt in the hands. “When I see these stones every day I praise God I’m still here,” he said.
We invite you to create your own masterpiece of custom memorialization and call for an appointment to see his work to begin the process of creating a lasting image on granite.
