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Deep Bay artist creates abstract sculptures using cement

Birgit Piskor’s artist journey has blossomed from gardener to sculpture
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Artist Birgit Piskor stands with some of her cement sculptures at her home in Deep Bay. - Karly Blats photo

Birgit Piskor is a self-taught sculptor whose artistic journey essentially began in the garden.

Having just moved to Deep Bay about nine weeks ago, Piskor was widely known in the James Bay area of Victoria for her award-winning home garden—a project that was ongoing for four years.

“I was maniacally obsessed,”she said. “I’ve never been gripped by a passion so strongly before in my entire life. It just took over everything.”

One day while sitting in her garden having a coffee, Piskor sensed something was missing from the blooming oasis.

“I was looking around at my so-called perfection and it was really a lightbulb moment and it was really clear to me something was missing and that element was sculpture, it was obvious,” Piskor said.

Piskor thought since she had been working with concrete already in her garden, on mosaic walkways and fountains, she figured she would try and make her own sculptures.

“Concrete was just the obvious choice of medium, just this progression of what was going on already,” she said.

Eventually people began buying bits and pieces of Piskor’s art on home garden tours, which ultimately led her to become solely dedicated to sculpting.

“I set off on this crazy journey,” Piskor said, who believed if she could take her garden from nothing to an international level in four years, she could become a decent sculptor if she put enough time and energy into her work.

“I think it takes about 10 years of dedication to become proficient at something,” she said. “I stepped off the edge into the unknown and believed the wings would grow as I fell and they actually quite remarkably have. I’ve been really, really lucky.”

Fast forward to today, Piskor’s professional sculptures are displayed in galleries around Canada, California and Europe.

Piskor has developed a technique where she juxtaposes fabric and concrete together to create her abstract pieces.

“I’ve been really drawn to the tension between fabric and concrete because they’re such complete opposites and I wanted to somehow incorporate the two,” she said.

“I build the figure out of concrete and then strips of organic cotton I fuse with a product, then do the wrapping process and then more layers of the cementitious product. Essentially I’m turning the fabric into concrete.”

Most of Piskor’s pieces are made with a muted palette but she has, and continues to, experiment with colours.

She uses primarily her body and sandpaper to create her art, holding back from any mechanical tools.

“My body is my tool,” she said.

Since moving to Deep Bay, Piskor doesn’t really garden much anymore but intends to continue pouring her heart and soul into her sculptures in her home studio.

Visit Piskor’s website (www.birgitpiskor.com) for more information on her artwork.