“Redefining Neighbourhood Gardens” is the first message on the webpage for LDs Creations (https://www.ldscreations.ca/). Lorraine Delangis has certainly been doing that with her magical fabric sculptures. In 2010, she went to an art show and stumbled across this new art called Fabric Sculpting which was something she had never seen before. She was very intrigued and purchased a sculpture and booked a workshop to learn more. After her first class she fell in love with the medium and created 6 sculptures of her own in a few months and was hooked.
Lorraine was born in Ottawa and spent most of her life and career working in Ottawa. Lorraine is married and has 2 children and 8 grandchildren. As a child, she sketched a lot. Both of her parents loved to paint on canvas, but she was not very interested in that medium. She was a Scout leader for 15 years and established the 1st female troop in “Les Scouts d’Ottawa.”
In 2009, she moved to Kemptville and had her dream home built. It had a dedicated space for her to create and teach. In 2011, she began teaching classes. After her retirement, she downsized from her dream home and began offering workshops in rented studios. In 2022 she and her husband created a studio in their home again. In 2024 Lorraine conducted 17 workshops and had 67 students come through her doors. However, something was missing, She found that she was missing creating her own pieces.
When you look at Lorraine’s portfolio of work you will see some amazing pieces that are very complex and detailed. Each piece starts with electrical wire that is used to create an armature. Then she adds a foil wrap to create the sculpture. That form is then “mummified “ with masking tape to secure the foil to the armature and to give the sculpture more stability. Another key piece in her creations is a solid base to either sit it on or stand it up on so that it does not easily fall. Once that stage is complete she uses cotton material, old t-shirts etc. to dress the item or to give it a skin. The material is dipped into a liquid polymer that gives the material a clay-like feel. The material is then applied onto the sculpture. The same technique is used to create hair. The drying process takes 2 days and then an additional 2 weeks to cure. Lorraine then paints and varnishes the pieces so that they can go into the garden.
Her favourite part of creating her work is the dirtiest which is the use of the liquid polymer. It’s messy but is very satisfying. The results are amazing as you can see from the photos. Her least favourite part is the clean-up afterward!
As for the inspiration for her creations, she taps into her childhood make-believe world of mermaids, fairies and warriors, as well as her love of birds. Lorraine always tries to add a whimsical feel to her creations. One unique feature of the majority of her creations is that her sculptures do not have a face. Her reason for this is in keeping with her view of her art and she leaves it to the imagination of the viewer.
When asked about the evolution of her craft Lorraine states she has always been intrigued with sculpting in clay. So she enrolled in a workshop “ Master Program Foundation of Figure Sculpting” and she hopes to integrate her learning into her next creations. Her art education is very limited but she tries to never stop learning and creating. This too is part of her view of her art.
Lorraine Delangis Owner of LD’s Creations in Kemptville, On ldelangis@gmail.com 613-8847321 www.ldscreations.ca
Last October, the National Capital Network of Sculptures (NCNS) hosted Sculpture Expo at the Glebe Community Centre. During the show guests had the opportunity to vote for the “People’s Choice Award. Don Lewis was one of two artists chosen.
Don is a sculptor and stone carver. He uses his tools and his stone to tell stories, teach lessons and to help heal the natural world. His work is detailed and often invokes discussion.
Growing up in Sarnia, Ontario Don spent his formative years exploring the woods and creeks near his home. He recalls that his earliest influence was the children’s book “My Side of the Mountain”. He began to do sketches and watercolours of the wildlife that he encountered. He was also developing a growing awareness of the damage that humans were causing to the natural environment that he was exploring. With this background, he travelled to The University of Guelph where he completed a degree in Biology. All of his electives were focused on fine art, specifically drawing and sculpture. While at University, Don was introduced to sculpting by well known sculptor, John Fillion (his work Reclining Figure is a public artwork on St. Clair Ave in Toronto), who was one of his professors. He began to explore the works of Henri Moore and Constantin Brancusi as well as the more realistic works of Rodin and Michelangelo. He fell in love with the bite of the chisel and the power and permanence of stone. Don found that using stone as a medium allowed him to capture the power of the life force and at the same time the fragility of life.
After graduation, Don started an environmental consulting company and started a family. These two strands would have a significant impact on his artistic development. The cancer death of his first wife left him with a business and two children under 5 years of age. His second wife, Andrea with whom he also had a child, is a great supporter of his artistic endeavours. On the business side, Don began to feel a growing disconnect between his environmental principles and the direction that his industry clients were going. The call of the studio was growing louder.
After a move to Ottawa, the path to returning to his art was much clearer. Don discovered Smith and Barber Sculpture Atelier and Danny Barber (NCNS Feature Artist June 7, 2019). It became a place where he could take courses, learn new techniques, get technical support and share ideas with other artists. The “open studio” time at the Atelier really helped him discover the direction he wanted his art to go in.
Don is a sculptor who works by taking material away until the desired sculpture is achieved. As he begins a new project, he usually spends a significant amount of time doing research. A recent piece completed for the Canadian Stone Carving Festival called “Bourdons and Bluets” reflects the intersection of his research and his art. He learned how bumblebees were under threat from diseases brought to North America by honey bees imported from Europe. His work shows the connection between bumblebees and blueberries and illustrates how one can not survive without the other.
Although Don designs his work to be appealing to the eye, he also intends to create works that challenge the viewer or to elicit a certain amount of discomfort. He is pleased when the work generates discussion among the viewers. His current focus is on carving stone that reflects both the enduring quality of nature but also the fragility of life. He often explores how nature is vulnerable to our actions and how we have a responsibility to protect the living world. He notes that more recently his work reflects the connection we have with nature and how we often ignore it. He notes that the recent reconciliation movement and empowerment of indigenous communities has been a hopeful sign that this change might happen. Society can learn much from the indigenous community. They have continually demonstrated that we are connected to nature, that nature must be respected and that our fate rests in keeping the planet healthy.
When asked about his least favourite part of the sculpture process he notes that it is finishing a project and knowing when it is time to stop. He has learned that a work is complete at a point at which his technical skills meet the complexity of the idea and the limitation of the stone. This is an ever changing dynamic that of course can be influenced by time restraints.
Don acknowledges that sculpture is time consuming. But it is also a physical activity that includes technical and mental elements. He says he will continue to focus on traditional techniques and limiting his use of power tools. He feels that the time he has spent learning his tools and his traditional techniques has helped him build a strong foundation upon which to build his art.
Don plans to show more of his work in public. He has participated in the Canadian Stone Carving Festival for the last six years. In addition,he participated in the Art in the Park festival in Ottawa in the spring of 2024.
Stone carving is not a speedy process. Don notes he has many ideas, but getting them carved becomes more difficult. As the complexity of his ideas and his carving grow, they also take longer to produce. He hopes to do some of his future carving in wood in order to speed up the process. He also plans a return to drawing and painting to help capture his ideas.
As the participants at Sculpture Expo noted his work is outstanding. We cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.
I would like to introduce to you, Wolfgang G. Mohaupt, who is a Wood Sculptor and member of The National Capital Network of Sculptures. Wolf was born in Germany in 1940, his mother was a pianist and his father was in the German Navy. He immigrated to Canada in 1953 where he attended high school in Cambridge, Ontario.
He attended the University of Toronto between 1959 to 1964 where he obtained a degree in Architecture. After graduation Wolf worked in Ottawa for Hart Massey Architect and Minto Construction before starting his own architectural firm.
Wolf’s father was good at everything from music and painting to welding. He followed his father’s path and is also skilled with his hands. Water colour and plein d’air drawing was his first experience with art. In high school he also took art, so it has been part of his whole life. Wolf has traveled widely and has seen many of the major museums and art galleries around the world.
While working for Minto Wolfgang developed an interest for sculpting. His inspiration came from working as a coordinator with various artists including Bruce Garner. Bruce had a big influence on Wolf and eventually they became good friends. After building a house on McGregor Lake in Val de Monts Quebec in 1980, Wolf started working on wood sculptures before retiring from architectural practice and built a separate studio a few years later.
Wolf’s first carving
Wolf likes to choose pieces of wood that have character. His sketches are minimal and he likes to integrate the organic parts of the wood into his sculptures. Movement is also a major aspect of his art as it draws the eye into all the interesting parts of his pieces. Sanding the wood is his least favorite part of the process.
For anyone who is interested in sculpture Wolfgang suggests experimenting with various media to see what grabs you. Art school and learning from other artists are also very good avenues to start with. A knife and a piece of wood to whittle away is a good way to begin wood sculpture.
You can visit his 20-foot-tall sculpture, called Timber, that he designed for a condominium at 808 Bronson Avenue.
Perhaps working with soapstone or doing more commissions are his next steps. He is always on the lookout for new subject matter to keep things interesting and exciting.
Wolf would welcome anyone interested in more information or a studio visit. Please see his website WMwoodSculptures.com. He can easily be reached by email at wolfmohaupt@icloud.com.
I also want to say that it has been an honor for me to meet and interview Wolf to be able to write this,
A Collaborative Art Project by The National Capital Network of Sculptors and theBoys and Girls Club of Ottawa, Taggart Parkes Family Clubhouse
It took almost a year from the moment the National Capital Network of Sculptors pitched this idea to the new Boys and Girls Clubhouse at 1770 Heatherington Avenue, to the day we officially unveiled the finished mural.
We spent most of the summer of 2023 collecting beads, glass, bits and pieces of ceramic, polymer clay, stone and wood as well as painting and prepping round wooden plaques for the kids to work on. Jim Lawrence collected and cut over 100 natural wood rounds as well as pieces of bark and drift wood. Rosemary Breault Landry built and painted the base design of the 4 x 8’ panel and Maria Saracino put together a team of artists to run the 5 workshops we held at the Boys and Girl Club. Each session was assigned to two artists who were responsible for a particular colour theme. The kids who joined the workshops made at least 2 mosaic rounds each and several BGC staff joined in the fun too.
Once the workshops ended and the children’s work had dried, another team of NCNS members began working on assembling the mural. Using the underpainting as a guide we colour-coordinated the rounds to the colours on the painting. This process took 3 weeks to complete. The final step was pouring the resin coating. The resin gives the work a protective glossy finish and locks all the bits and pieces together. We let the resin rest and cure for several weeks before the mural was installed on the cement block wall in the lobby area of the Boys and Girls Club.
During this time Bernadette Alcock took pictures, designed and created two interactive books that the kids use to identify and find some of the hidden treasures in the mural.
The official unveiling took place on May 22, 2024 and in addition to covering all the costs of this mural, the National Capital Network of Sculptors continues to show our support of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Ottawa with a donation of $500 as well as ongoing workshops at two clubhouses.
Participating Artists: Rosemary Breault Landry, Maria Saracino, Patrick Imai, Olga Kay-Grigoriev, Carolyn Sandor, Maggie Wesley, Bernadette Alcock, Paula Fraser, James W Cook, France Grice, Hengameh Kamal-Rad, Jim Lawrence, Sandra Marshall, Helen Rogers, Ljiljana Stojanovic
We would also like to acknowledge the many artists and volunteers outside our group who donated their time and supplies for this project.
Olga Kay-Grigoriev had a varied early work career, first in non-profit, education sectors and motherhood. During those years art has always been close to her heart as she painted when she had free time. Olga now devotes her energies to painting and sculpture and especially to carving. In 2020, she answered her artistic calling after she retired as superintendent of education for the Ottawa Carleton District School Board.
Olga enjoys working in oil and acrylic, as well as print-making. At the Ottawa School of Art she recently added figure drawing to her skillset. However, the challenges of three-dimensional art have captured her spirit. She has built sculptures in papier maché, clay and metal, but she is most enthused while carving wood!
Olga Kay-Grigoriev’s passion for sculpture began in 2020 as she adapted to her new rural environment north of Ottawa in Val-des-Monts, Quebec. Trees surrounded her. They were her solace and her company.
Trees offered plentiful wood to carve, however, as she had never carved before, she sought advice to get started. Happily, a long-time artist friend and Toronto-based instructor offered his support. Step-by-step, he helped Olga make her first wood carving, a fantastical woodland dragon.
Another of her first figurative pieces, “She Hears Crow Songs”, is a favourite. “It was a difficult time for me then and I immersed myself in my work to have a concrete focus.” The sculpture was a “stretch goal” which she was uncertain she could attain, as it seemed beyond her skill level and she was carving on her own during Covid isolation.
“I took my time with every part of the sculpture, learning first about general body proportions, then how to carve specific details like the nose, mouth and eyes. I feel the piece is a good beginning effort and it conveys emotion and tells a story. The crow is a recurring theme in my work .”
Kay-Grigoriev was empowered by her new skills and continued to sculpt figurative pieces, telling her life stories of joy, love, loss, and sorrow through them. These emotions animate her sculptures of nature, animals and people. Abstract figurative sculptures populate the garden of her mind. “Sometimes thoughts and feelings just need to be worked out with a mallet and gouge.” A favourite shape could engage her imagination. And she might create a horse, a leaf or an ear.
The horse head sculpture is another that she is proud of. She chose to work from a live horse model in order to understand its proportions. She advertised locally for willing horse owners and received invitations to come and take measurements. The horse named ”Mjumaj “, was a good sport and was very tolerant of her ruler and calipers. This piece required reducing the horse’s proportions to a smaller piece of leftover timber.
Olga especially enjoys carving, perhaps because of its risk. “You must be completely focused on what you’re doing in order to avoid injury or lose a piece of your work.” Wood carving is a significant challenge: “Each time I create something new, I push myself to take it a step further. I love the combination of different materials so I have been incorporating castings in gypsum cement into the wood carving , trying to create a smooth transition between the two.” Her favoured wood species are pine and cedar and likes basswood for its consistent grain.
One of her preferred tools is the Lancelot, a round chainsaw which she uses to rough out the form and to add texture to pieces. She also uses it to add detail and movement to her birds. ”It’s somewhat dangerous to use because of the kick back, but it is effective.”
Kay-Grigoriev had the good fortune in 2022 to study sculpture in Florence, Italy. Over the period of a month, she took courses at the Leonardo da Vinci school and toured galleries in the heart of the Renaissance capital, marveling at the huge blocks of marble carved by the masters – without the modern tools and conveniences available to us now. She delights in that exposure: “Their work was exquisite, precise and hugely inspiring. While I generally like to work quickly and loosely, the time spent in Florence made me appreciate the value of slowing down and getting it right. I worked with clay during this time and learned to make molds , which I now use to add different elements to my wood designs. I love the juxtaposition and transition to different media within one piece. Wood next to cement or metal is particularly appealing to me.”
Olga begins her process with an idea which she draws or models as a maquette. Then, she searches for wood with suitable characteristics. Each piece, whether salvaged or harvested from the forest, has its own unique qualities which need to be considered for the project at hand. Size, grain, shape and hardness are all taken into account. The bark is stripped and the preliminary drawing is transferred to the piece.
The first tools to be used are from the chainsaw family. These cut away large portions of waste material. After some time spent at this stage, a roughed out form starts to emerge. Then Olga moves to a smaller sized round chainsaw. When creating many abstract figurative pieces, she employs a shaping disc with a regular angle grinder.
She also likes to use a die grinder with a variety of different burrs. This tool gets into the smaller spaces and allows for more detailed work. Hand carving with a mallet and gouge often comes next, depending on the grain and the look she is trying to achieve. The more detailed the piece, the smaller the size of gouge used.
Finally she is ready to sand and oil the pieces. For outdoor pieces, she has been experimenting with “shou sugi ban”, the Japanese method of wood preservation, which chars the wood with a propane torch.
If you would like to attempt wood carving, Kay-Grigoriev recommends starting with media that are easy to use like soap or Styrofoam before progressing to wood. This will help you understand the technique of removing material instead of building it up. Drawing practice will also help to visualize your work from different angles.
Most important, acquire some excellent safety practices from someone who is trained in operating the tools you’ll be using. Many of them are dangerous and that is not something you want to take lightly!
The favourite part of the sculpture process for Olga is when an idea for a new piece appears to her. It’s a creative light bulb. Everything is bright! Her least favourite part is the sanding. It’s tedious and painstaking, with sawdust flying everywhere. She is not fond of wearing the respirator mask either, but it’s essential during this stage. This is the life of an artist carver!
Kay-Grigoriev plans to complete some larger outdoor installations and she aspires to create art for public spaces. Next year, she will collaborate on a project with another artist. A show is in the works for 2025 which will combine paintings on canvas with complimentary wooden sculptures.
Olga is always open to new opportunities and welcomes commissions. Her plan is to keep honing her skills, along with her tools, and learning from carving masters wherever they are found.
You are invited to see her work currently at the Kanata Civic Art Gallery, the Galerie Old Chelsea and at her studio in Val-Des-Monts, Quebec, by appointment.
On Instagram, please visit : @mes_sculptures_en_bois
Maggie Wesley is an artist-explorer, adapting traditional art forms, painting and sculpture to her own 3-D language. Her passion today is in using recycled materials in artistic ways.
Wesley’s creative life began on the family farm near Perth Ontario. Everything on the farm had a purpose, and she loved the challenge of giving a new life to the time-worn. Discarded cooking utensils, aged wood and farm implements have all become part of her three-dimensional creations.
Helping others is also intrinsic to Wesley’s nature. She began a career as a registered nurse with a psychiatry specialty. As years passed, her creative urge grew and drew her to a four year fine arts program at OCAD in Toronto. Initially attracted to painting, her real passion was found in creating three dimensional objects which honed her many skills in painting, carving and woodworking, talent that you can see in the work on her website https://www.maggiewesley.ca.
During her time at OCAD, she initially took woodworking courses to create stretcher frames for her paintings, but unexpectedly she fell in love with wood and the process of crafting three dimensional objects. At the time Maggie discovered the qualities of wood, she had been assisting her family in dismantling the old homestead and building anew. The discards provided her with a wealth of aged building materials that had acquired a natural patina and texture, that captured her admiration. The deconstruction of the old building offered plenty of old wood, wall board, plaster lathe and household hardware, inventory for many future 3D creations.
Wesley began applying paint to the 3D, often wood canvasses, to highlight shadows. She uses colour to emphasize depth of field. For Wesley, “Shadows allow the interplay between light and dark, highlighting contrasts, so important in my work. For me, shadows symbolize the passage of time.”
Initially Wesley’s sculptures respected the natural properties of the wood and found objects with a very limited palette. With time, she engaged differently with her recycled objects, experimenting with the introduction of colour for wood sculpture. If using recycled metal, then wood becomes her unifying medium and colour is an accent.
She loved woodwork as the old textures and patina came alive again under her lively imagination. Post-graduation, this was the impetus for designing a woodworking studio to concentrate her painting, carving and woodworking skills and recycling of materials into 3D art. This journey challenged her self-taught construction abilities as a worker and contractor. Happily, this new direction led to the acquisition of her artwork by the City of Ottawa and Nepean collections.
Then a new adventure began. Maggie states that “Once again, love guided my efforts.” She worked with her husband to build a new home, as they engaged their muscle in the many trades of home construction. She is resourceful- Her skills sharpened and expanded to harvesting trees on their rural Woodlawn property for cabinet making and finish carpentry. Since retiring from nursing in 2015, Maggie now directs her full attention to her art. She continues her 3-dimensional journey by participating in group art shows in Ottawa area galleries.
Always opportunistic, bicycle parts and gears became a theme for a series of work when the parts became available to her. She developed quite a collection while rescuing them from the landfill. Each of her pieces is refined and transformed until Maggie finds the sense of harmony that she seeks between decay and creation. She connects the history in the reclaimed objects in the reanimated story of her 3D sculpture. They may suggest a narrative of evolution and rebirth, of known spaces in past use. Her exploration of known spaces, past history, and more recently the human figure, allow the viewer to connect on a more personal and emotional level.
Wesley’s favourite project activity is when she is challenged to see and connect with the art potential in her found objects. Her problem solving work requires multiple tools – chainsaw, drills, Dremels, chisels and other tools, each requiring a different and new skill set.
Recent pieces were assembled using old woodworking planes. These unique sculptures allow the spirit of these handmade planes to continue life as artwork.
Over time Maggie’s works have grown smaller, but her diverse tool skills allow her to see opportunity in working on larger objects. An opportunity to acquire multiple boxes full of rusted 1930 car parts has Maggie enthusiastic about her next sculptural adventure “I love the texture and forms of those parts” They inspire the creation of a new sculpture series.
Helen Roger’s love of art is evident in her vibrant expansive multimedia works with her signature bright mosaic gems.
After a university training in education and psychology, Helen Rogers quickly determined that teaching art would be her calling. Her lifelong passion for art was furthered when she took a teaching sabbatical to follow studio art courses. Helen returned to teaching art, while also exploring more art workshops and courses in Alberta, British Columbia and the State of Washington in which she mastered the techniques of watercolour, acrylic and oil painting. Helen was inspired by work in 3 dimensions and she joined the Sculptors Association of Alberta, improving her skills sculpting solid materials: wood, clay, concrete, stone, welded steel, and ice. Always weaving her new skills into her art classes, Helen soon realized that sculpture was her artistic element. Even her two dimensional art is livened with elements of sculpture.
Rogers continued teaching art until she retired and she and her husband moved to Ottawa from Alberta to be closer to their daughter. In her new Ottawa environment, Helen joined several art groups – the Ottawa Mixed Media Artists, Ottawa Arteast, National Capital Network of Sculptors – exploring many different materials and new perspectives. But a trip to Italy and Spain kindled a love of mosaics, especially the massive mosaic works of Nikki de Saint Phalle and Antoni Gaudi. The spark that they kindled inspired Helen to teach herself this craft. She attended mosaics conferences and workshops to enlarge her perspectives. Today they form part of her signature mixed media sculptures.
Helen Rogers rarely begins a project with a plan. Her “supply” room provides the inspiration – as her daughter says – “Creative people never have a mess, they just have ideas lying around everywhere“. She connects a few scraps with others until an idea takes shape and art emerges. The spark is ignited and she know exactly how to proceed. Sometimes this happens during a sleepless nighttime period of incubation where she discovers her solution and can then sleep in peace. But in one less peaceful mosaic project, she employed a black grout and when she realized that the grout should have been white, it was too late to go back! Usually her work in the construction phase can be undone, but not with cement grout. Lesson learned.
Helen says that there is no philosophical meaning in any of her sculptures. The onlooker can decide what they see. If a viewer is curious about the process, Helen is happy to explain: Step 1. Choose a substrate. In the case illustrated, a construction tube has been cut up and taped together to form the base structure. Step 2. Cover the structure with plaster-infused bandage, adding more texture as needed. Step 3. With tile adhesive, apply mosaic materials such as pieces of stained glass, tiles and mirror to chosen parts of the sculpture surface. Then apply grout to all this and then wipe off the excess and leave overnight to harden. Next day, Helen adds crushed tin foil to some of the sculpture using a glue gun. She adds embellishing materials- glass beads, wire, eucalyptus seed pods, pieces of copper, and anything else that might work to finish the surface to her satisfaction. Lastly, she decides when enough is enough and declares the sculpture finished!
Helen Rogers has no concrete plans for her art, except to enjoy the process of making, and she is quite content with that. Helen does not like marketing and has decided that she doesn’t need that stress. Post covid recently, she felt privileged to be able to conduct a two day mosaic workshop at the Boys and Girls Club. Ten children of various ages participated in the workshop: One foot square IKEA mirror-frames donated by a member of Ottawa’s Network of Sculptors were used as the mosaic ground. Rogers had assembled many different coloured tiles and glass beads for the kids to mosaic the mirrors. Their imaginations were inspired. They all had a wonderful time!
Her advice to novices is to do what you enjoy doing. Whatever art you enjoy, just do it! Helen knows both artists with formal training and those without can be equally successful. Selling your art requires marketing skills. Sometimes not-so-great art can sell with great marketing. So if you want to sell your art, learn good marketing skills or find someone to do this for you. One thing Helen Rogers is sure of – She LOVES building things from scratch. If it becomes a successful work of art, that is a bonus!
James W Cook was born in Sudbury and grew up in Kirkland Lake. Always a natural in the visual arts, he always excelled in all art classes at school. Anything to do with visual arts, it seemed that he ‘’knew it from somewhere’’ and launched right in enthusiastically.
In 2012, Cook lost his last day job and has been a full time artist ever since. Operating out of Sudbury, he sculpted his first pieces in ice during the winter of 2015. In the spring of 2016, he moved to Ottawa, a strategic move placing him close to Winterlude for carving ice and Merveilles de Sable for sand, and for engaging the city’s vibrant arts scene.
Snow had been his main medium for exploring sculpture. Sand was always fun for him too. Cook expanded and refined these as more ephemeral additions to the other mediums he uses. He surprised himself in the enjoyment he found carving with limestone and soapstone and he wants to explore these more.
His imagination is limitless: If it leaves a mark on canvas or any surface, he will explore it. If given the opportunity he will turn shapeless objects into a desired shape using whatever tool is available. James has published cartoons, courtroom sketches and oil paintings. He has won 1st place in two snow sculpting contests, 1st place in one pumpkin contest, and a People’s Choice award for ice.
Cook depicts his visual arts venues like a musician describing his next gig. As the visual music fades in one area, he begins another. As a touring ephemerals sculptor, James ranged further and further afield until a variety of Canadian venues and one in Europe had been visited: The Smiltis Skulpturu Park sand gig in Jelgava, Latvia.
The Smiltis Skulpturu gig was the only one to seem to come out of the pandemic so unabashedly. It was the surprise of 2022 with just 2 months between receiving the invite by email, the acceptance of his entry, and completing the project for an otherwise barren 2022 season.
He normally has these events booked 3 or more months ahead of time and has multiple stops booked. Cook hopes to sculpt in Latvia again in 2023 with an artist’s residency there, or find other European sand gigs in close proximity on the calendar to the Smiltis Skulpturu event.
James Cook’s art is spontaneous and even he can’t fully predict what his own entry will be. It could follow a theme chosen by the event that he is sculpting for, or a controversial media subject. Or he might develop a theme inspired by a happenstance word or action of someone else. Or the theme could be based on his own experiences.
His process begins with a question: Can it be made with the type of material proposed? For a sand sculpture, the three dimensional design must stay “inside a pyramid” for obvious reasons.
When using stone Cook wants to make small sizes, unless he has good lifting devices for moving the weightier pieces.
Snow varies wildly in texture and feel with temperature and humidity and the structure and the artist must comply with those conditions of wetness or coldness.
Ice is absolutely seductive, but it is easily fractured. The number one critical objective is not to bump it while at work. A small break on an ice project might be fixable, but he’s seen disaster and complete projects crumble within the last minutes before the competition end bell. James is stoical – It happens, a part of learning what the medium can and can’t do.
Ephemeral sculpting is an outdoors occupation. Winter brings cold and blizzards, and Yellowknife is definitely best taken on with a down-fill parka. In Jelgava, November weather prevailed with high winds and heavy rain. James’ sand project there failed, but for him the experience was priceless. It made him determined to tame that moody Baltic sand. Summer sand sculpting calls for a wide-brim hat, UV protection, and sometimes, a good rain coat.
James lives with Asperger’s syndrome and is ADHD-Inattentive, and these symptoms were not revealed and treated until this advanced stage in his life. He lived a mostly marginalized life over the years, his working and professional life had looked like some kind of Wile E. Coyote with a checkered employment history and an art career that faltered more than flourished. Cook closed his door on all conventional means after losing his last job, and dove full time into the visual arts, knowing the sacrifices and what he was going to have to do. As he explained ‘’I am good in the visual arts, and I know it. Nobody can take that away from me’’.
Looking forward he states ‘’I’ve had one offshore gig now, and there will be more. I have a diploma in graphic design, and I’m looking at another in animation, a venture that will add digital and cinematography to his repertoire of mediums. Now that I’m into my 60’s, visual arts will be my hustle until they find me horizontal with a chisel in my hand.”
For those who would consider sculpture, Cook advises that you need the drive. To alter the shape of something by whittling, chiselling, or moulding is usually instinctual and spontaneous. ‘’Follow your heart. Educational options vary from day courses in wood and stone carving, and blacksmithing to a college diploma in a creative field. It is your personal choice. How much attention do you wish to pay to the trade and how far do you want to go. It’s like that AC/DC song, “It’s a long way to the top…’’
James does not have any pieces in galleries at this time as he operates mainly as a roaming artist (no permanent studio) and mostly works exterior venues in winter and summer. He does hope to explore stone sculpting further and build an inventory.
National Capital Network of Sculptors 