By Darryl Kicul

“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