Ukrainian artist quilts in Juneau to support her brother's battalion
- Jasz Garrett
- 18 hours ago
- 3 min read
“It's like your heart lives here and there, trying between these worlds to be normal, stay normal.”
By Jasz Garrett
Juneau Independent
On Christmas Eve of 2024, Lana Bell's brother was taken to the Ukrainian Army.
“At this moment, my brother Serhii Matviichuk is serving on the front lines in Ukraine,” she said in Juneau on Friday during her debut community art show. “Most of the income from my quilts goes to support his battalion in the Zaporizhzhia region, helping them purchase hemostatic kits, charging batteries to stay connected and vehicle repairs.”
Bell was born in Ukraine and has lived in Juneau since 2015. She first came to the United States for work because her country was experiencing economic difficulties. Bell worked at Alaska Glacier Seafoods Inc. for two seasons. She met her husband in Juneau during the first season and later became a U.S. citizen.
“It was a hard decision because I still have kids in Ukraine, my mama’s watching them,” Bell said.
She said her brother worked the 2016 season at Glacier Seafoods with his wife before returning home once their work visas were completed. On Friday, Bell said Matviichuk had just returned to the front line after spending 10 days in the hospital. He was wounded by shrapnel.
“I cannot be watching TV in evening time,” Bell said. “I feel like I have to do something while he’s in that dangerous place. I understand this is not good money that I send them.”
“But it’s still something” — so after work, she quilts.
Before this month's First Friday show, Bell had only sold her work on social media or to clients of her cleaning business. A self-taught quilter, Bell began three years ago with squares and triangles and now joins fabrics with flowing lines. She buys her fabrics from Changing Tides, a quilt shop in downtown Juneau, whose owner hosted her show.
“I’m very grateful to these ladies at Changing Tides because they just helped me show this to community,” Bell said, gesturing to her artwork decorating the store’s walls.
Bell was first inspired after admiring beautiful, local blankets in houses she cleaned. She pointed to her eucalyptus quilt for sale, a piece inspired by famous Ukrainian fashion designer Lyubov Panchenko. Panchenko belonged to the Sixtiers, a group of artists in the 1960s who revived Ukrainian culture during the Khrushchev Thaw. During the Battle of Bucha in 2022, she was forced to remain inside her house for a month without food. Panchenko died from starvation on April 30, 2022, at 84 years old.
“Her vision was very open, how you can see girls swimming,” Bell said. “I love how the birds unite the air and sea. These works carry tenderness, brightness, beauty and the peace I wish for all of us.”
She said her quilts not only bring financial help to her brother and his battalion, but they also raise their spirits. Flipping through a photo album, she showed how they write the names of her customers and other supporters on the Ukrainian flag.
“I think this cheer them up too because they feel sometime alone when you are in danger all the time,” she said. “Sometime when he is on a mission, I feel like I'm not breathing couple days. Always thinking, always praying. You doing something, and you think, ‘Just stay alive.’ So this will help me keep my mind good.”
Bell said she hasn’t lost family, but she knows friends who have, and a bomb destroyed her grandmother’s house in what is now Russian territory. A lot of cousins “just leave everything and move to west of Ukraine.”
“It's like your heart lives here and there, trying between these worlds to be normal, stay normal,” she said.
This December, Bell will host her second First Friday show at Changing Tides, aiming to reach a wider audience with her art.
“I'm telling people what for I do this, and I made colorful pieces that bring to your eye some beauty and calm,” Bell said. “I think this is small that I can do for Juneau and connect them that Ukrainians are fighting for being independent, fighting for democracy, for lives, and my dream that they will go home and live normal life like we live here.”
• Contact Jasz Garrett at jasz@juneauindependent.com or (907) 723-9356.
