Orangeville artist displays her textile art and watercolour paintings at Victoria Park Gallery

Hildegarde Sausik of Orangeville enjoys working with textiles and watercolour and has several pieces of both styles on display at the Victoria Park Gallery in downtown Kincardine, as the guest artist for the month of August.

Originally from Toronto, Sausik was a fashion designer for many years and had her own business, selling clothing all across Canada and the United States.

She retired in 2000 and her textile art is a continuation of her wearable art clothing collection.

“I wanted to explore and expand my love of cloth and stitch by creating larger pieces with more detail,” she says. “I call my collection ‘Nature-inspired Abstract Art.’

“I never start with a preconceived idea of my finished work. My art is very intuitive, my mind directs my hand and allows my piece to take on a life of its own in unexpected outcomes. For me, it is important that I make art that engages with the viewer and, hopefully, evokes an unexpected joyful spontaneous memory.”

Sausik dyes her own fabrics with plants and flowers from her garden, and waste vegetation from her kitchen. She also dyes silks and linen with indigo, using the Shibori technique of folding fabric to create design. This is usually her base fabric.

“I sometimes mix in snippets from my collection of 1930s and ‘40s vintage fabrics to add printed visual interest for the eye to travel and give an unexpected pop of colour,” she says.

Texture and grounding are achieved with stitching, says Sausik.

“I use basic stitch patterns, nothing too ornate or complicated, because I want the piece to have a harmonious feeling and not be dominated by intricate stitches,” she says. “Colour and form play a big role as they are the unifying aspect of my art, bringing a sense of wonder and intrigue.”

Two years ago, Sausik took up watercolour, a medium she learned at the Ontario College of Art, prior to becoming a fashion designer.

“I remembered this technique and decided to use it to paint my favourite flower, the magnolia,” she says. “I paint in layers to get the depth and detail, but I still want to maintain the softness of the flower. I enjoy painting different types of magnolias.

“My inspiration comes from the healing beauty of flowers and petals and my emotional connection with nature, as a whole.

“Painting with watercolour has enriched my life. I’m calmer, more observant and in a state of joyful contemplation.

“The finality of the medium has its own reward. It makes me slow down and study the subject matter more intensely, and then paint layer-upon-layer until the right colour and value of darks and light are achieved, creating a sense of dramatic appeal.”

She mostly works wet-into-wet, allowing the colours to merge and blend together in their own magical way as only watercolour paints can do.

Sausik has been friends with Marguerite Van Erp of Kincardine for 25 years, from when they lived in The Beaches in Toronto.

“I came to Kincardine to visit her and that’s when I found out about the Victoria Park Gallery,” says Sausik. “I was asked to be the guest artist for August, and here we are.”

This is her first exhibit at the gallery in Kincardine, but she has work at the Collingwood Art Gallery and at her home studio in Orangeville.

Her studio companion is her dog, “Barclay,” who critiques her work!

Victoria Park Gallery is located inside the Kincardine Arts Centre in downtown Kincardine. For more information, check the Facebook page at: www.facebook.com/pg/victoriaparkgallerykincardine/posts/