By Kurt Moore
The Marion Star
MARION – His canvas is granite. His gallery the cemeteries.
Parma resident Peter Viyuk immigrated from the Ukraine in 1991. 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,” he 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 moving to the United
States. He currently works for eight companies including Marion
Cemetery, where he has struck up a friendship with cemetery
superintendent Jim Riedl.
“His talent is unsurpassed,” said Riedl. “My wife says he does it
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 stone, 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 about two years ago 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.
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.
