The Durango artist who first set out to Poland in May last year has made three return trips to Krakow to bolster the spirits of Ukrainian refugees who fled war-torn Ukraine. Her daughters joined her on the most recent trip to see firsthand the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Suzanne Horwich said she planned her first trip to Krakow to help Ukrainian refugees “heal through the vehicle of art.” Her mission was to reinstate dignity and a sense of normalcy in refugees’ lives by providing art supplies and painting opportunities to women and children displaced by the war.
She has met Ukrainian grandmothers and spouses whose sons and spouses stayed behind to defend their homeland. She visited the Palace of Paszkówka, also known as the Palace of the People, about 45 minutes outside of Krakow, where she found friends among the 40 families of refugees housed there.
During her latest trip, Horwich brought her daughters, Gabriella Cowan, 15, a freshman at Animas High School, and Samara Cowan, 11, who is home-schooled, to show them the impact the Russia-Ukraine war is having on the Ukrainian people force to flee. Likewise, she wanted them to see how art can help those refugees.
“The reason I took my kids was I wanted them to see what is going on,” she said. “To understand the scale, the magnitude of what’s happening. I also wanted my kids to see how people can make a difference.”
The trips have been eye-opening for Horwich, she said. She has come to realize that everybody has the capacity to give, whether it is working through a relationship, a family, a school or anything else.
Her oldest daughter, Gabriella, said seeing refugees grateful to be alive made her realize how much she takes for granted in the United States. She met a girl around her age at the Palace of Paszkówka who is from one of the first cities attacked in Russia’s early onslaught.
The girl’s name is Anastasia and she speaks decent English, Gabriella said. They bonded.
“It was kind of crazy to hear what her life was like. She’d been to France,” she said. “It was crazy to think that these people were doing everyday stuff before this war happened. They were traveling, they were cooking dinner with their families. And then their whole world was turned upside down.”
She said it is difficult to think about the losses refugees have suffered, and doing so makes her want to cry.
Samara, Horwich’s youngest daughter, said the refugees were generous, gave many hugs and were genuinely happy despite having lost so much.
“When we’re working at the art table, one thing is certain,” Horwich said. “We are very ‘in the flow’ and we are very ‘in the now.’ I am probably – 99% of the time – not in the present, like most people.”
Horwich didn’t know what to expect when she left for Poland for the first time last year. She figured she would run her program during the day, return to her hotel and do the same thing the next day. But after returning several times, she’s noticed that a sense of community is growing among the refugees at Paszkówka.
“It’s not even limited anymore to just the painting. We cook for each other, I’ll take them to dinner. We walk and tour,” she said. “It’s just a larger community, which is something I never really foresaw.”
During her latest trip, Horwich was invited to dinner by Viacheslav Voinarovskyi, the Krakow consulate general of Ukraine, to discuss her Artists Giving Back foundation. He was curious and wanted to learn more, she said.
Food and water, clothing, and shelter are being provided by other organizations, including the Jewish Community Centre of Krakow who Horwich partnered with. But Horwich said she was told her foundation was the first program to be offered for meeting secondary needs of refugees, although she doesn’t know how to verify that.
“There’s a lot of gratitude,” she said. “From the Ukrainian consulate general and even from my artists – they’re just amazed ... that someone from Colorado is even interested. ... I even got a question from the consulate general: ‘Why are you doing this? You just fundraised and decided to do this?’”
Horwich’s next project in Krakow will involve an art installation with her artists for the European Arts Festival in Krakow, she said. It will be titled “A Community Ripped Apart” and will consist of large canvas panels that will be ripped apart and hand-stitched back together.
Many of the refugees are alone in the sense that they don’t know other people around them. She recalled a mother holding a birthday party with other artists, strangers to the family, during one of her art sessions.
“And so they brought cookies and Coca-Cola to the art table and this kid had his whole birthday with all these strangers that became friends,” she said. “I still want to cry about it. It was so amazing there was that community for them.”
Samara said her mother’s art program perks up the spirits for people who participate.
“You can really see the difference when you walk in a room and it’s all like they’re kind of sad, and mom picks up the paintbrushes and you see how happy these people are to just have some tea and paint,” she said.
Her sister Gabriella said one woman was so excited to see Horwich that she pushed other people aside to greet her and give her a hug.
Horwich will return to Krakow with Samara in April for another 16 days of painting.
“As a mother, this is important for my kids to see. This is important. I hope it will set them on a path of giving as they become adults,” Horwich said.
Horwich recently gave a talk about her experiences in Poland for the University of Southern California, who asked her to speak for its PH.D. program, “Social work through the visual arts.”
She is scheduled to speak in Omaha, Nebraska, in March, and in St. Louis, Missouri, after that. She hopes the speaking opportunities will help her fundraise future efforts as well as raise awareness of the conditions in Poland and Ukraine.
cburney@durangoherald.com
