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Sheila McCuskerToronto's Islands boast an incredible array of artistic talent and among them is the versatile and vivacious Sheila McCusker. Flower Fairies
Asked to describe her art works, Sheila notes. "One is called Midnight in the Garden." The creation process is explained, "first it started off as a watercolor, I don't know maybe 10 x 12, I no longer have the original. And I did a series on fairies. I became very interested, as I have always been interested in fairies, especially flower fairies." Inspiration comes from many different sources, as Sheila explains, for the creation of this series of works based on fairies, "My first introduction to them visually and artistically was of course English versions of them in cards and little paintings and .. then of course Disney did the most exquisite fairies in the world in Fantasia." She recalls the first time she saw Fantasia, "When I was young, and they went by so fast. In those days once the movie was over you didn't get to see it again. You couldn't push a button and see it over again and I so longed to see this. When it came out on DVD, ... I had to keep watching that thing over and over and slow down the fairies. Their fairies were even more refined than the English ones, long long legs and delicate little hands and tiny oval faces and they were little sprites. Some of them had wings like insects and others just glowed and they were very beautiful. I based a lot of my pictures of fairies on that idea and I did read about fairies. There are hundreds of kinds of fairies and the flower fairies are a special type altogether." Continuing on to the work Midnight in the Garden, "This one is Midnight when I think a lot of things happen in Gardens and flowers, at midnight under the moon and who knows what goes on... As elementals they are incredible creatures, so I did a series of flower fairies that were a little closer to Disney's. They actually don't have wings, they have light beams coming from them. They are just little bits of energy and some of them have personalities. Anyway, that's my tribute to Disney's beautiful characters." Sheila has, to her recollection, always been artistic. "I knew I was going to be an artist when I was about three years old. I was one of those lucky people, I knew right away in kindergarten," remembering, "you're supposed to show the ice and snow in Canada and I knew that ice wasn't white. I knew it was pale blue and lavender and pale green... I was totally confident so I put those marks on and the teacher would be astonished. Those are little things but I remember them. I would get asked to decorate the board. I went to a Catholic school so we had pictures of the Blessed Virgin Mary up and Jesus so we'd do little flowers around them and I always got to do that. I was pegged as an artist because I think I told everybody I was one. That's all I cared about at school. I'd go to the library and get out books on art, Renaissance art, when I was about seven or eight. I was a natural, but you couldn't get me to ride a bike or do any athletic stuff. I spent all my money on art." "It would have been in the 50's or 60's you know getting into the mid 60's. There was a big split in those days between who was a real artist and who was a commercial artist. It was always being discussed about whether one could be both. That was tricky, to say nothing of being a woman." "It was a time of big, big changes everywhere, and people were figuring things out. I actually got into dress designing of all things...That's my second favorite subject making clothes, I studied all the big designers. I'm self-taught in everything I've done." "I didn't go to art school though I often wished I could have -- not because I think that it turns you into an artist so much as it gives you the time to be one. You meet a lot of people in that world that you associate with later on and learn from the other students. It gives you confidence." Sheila talked about her first exhibition, "It was in a small gallery in Yorkville. I [became] quite fascinated with car bumpers and I just loved them. I went mad for them. ..what I like to do is to pay attention to things that no one else is paying attention to and pick them out. No one was bothering with car bumpers then and I wasn't into the cars just what I call the car jewelry. I did that and I sold a few of those. Then I got interested in perfume bottles because no one cared about perfume bottles. It wasn't a subject up for grabs, you know. I was rather busy with all the kids. It was very hard to have studio space and time to do what I wanted." Adding, " I never quite got around to it. It was a conundrum. A lot of artists have this problem - how do you make a living and produce at the same time. I think you have to have a pretty good start in life early on to do that, and take on the challenges. Whereas if you are confused about that, and emotional about it, you not only have problems of the career itself, you have the problems of having problems with it. When you get emotional you often don't produce as much as you should." Harlequin Series
Perhaps most fascinating in speaking with Sheila is learning where she finds her inspiration for her vast portfolio of different genres and methods. "I did a little series of figures based on Mexican toys. A friend of mine had come back with a little figure on a horse and it was so beautifully done and colorful and yet sophisticated, that it became the basis of an idea for Christmas figures that we were going to propose to a department store." Key to the idea was moving away from the traditional themes associated with Christmas. "I wanted to get away from it totally and I thought, what about Carnival around the world and circuses and the English Pantomimes that are somewhat like that. So it's based on theatre and festivals of that sort without Santa Claus. ... I created a little imaginary circus of ballet dancers and Harlequins and dogs and horses and strongmen and clowns and so on. I had drawn the figures so that any tinsmith could in fact make these figures from the drawings alone they wouldn't need any more information because I can draw fashion and clothing accurately enough that a person could make a garment from my work. I made a pitch and it didn't work so I ended up with the drawings. I turned them into cards and people just loved them. This one is little Harlequin characters of the female and the male." "It's called "My pleasure, Madam" because he's holding her hand and tipping his hat. I actually sent this card to my boyfriend when I first met him and he was utterly charmed, so I have a sentimental place in my heart for this. But yes, they are quite cheery little things and I love doing them. I've found my best work is always the work I like. When I work for something or someone and am trying to please them it goes all wrong. I'm dissatisfied and anxious and miserable when it's done and it doesn't work. My only advice to any artist is, if it doesn't please you it isn't going to please anybody. It took me years to learn that." Asked to describe her artistic style Sheila responds, "I'd say I am very stylish and happy, colorful, very pleasant. I don't do unpleasant things, I'm just not very good at it. Drawing is the basis of my art, that and lots of color. I feel very strongly - my taste in art and the artists that I admire are all deeply steeped in drawing before they paint." Sheila admires artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Van Gogh, Harold Town, Joyce Weiland, and Edward Hopper to name a few of her favorites. She explains why, "behind all of their work is good drawing, even if they eventually end up doing abstract things sometimes. I just feel you can do without painting but you can't do without drawing. People have noted my work for that reason. They believe I draw well." They are right! Paper Pin-upsOne of Sheila's recent art shows was at The Rectory Cafe on Ward's Island, Toronto. "The show was booked a year in advance...I couldn't get any idea, I had no inspiration. I know that sounds like an overused word, but in fact I don't think you can do anything without inspiration. I kept waiting and pushing it aside until one month before the show. I had the whole room to fill. I said to the person who booked me, 'I can't do this.' She said 'You are not backing out. You are doing this show.' I said I haven't got a single idea. ... I realized not only was I short of time I hardly had any money and whatever project I took on couldn't take a long time or cost to do. Each piece had to be done very quickly. It had to be colorful, effective and I also wanted it to be a 'drop dead show'. That's a lot to do in a month when you don't have a single idea in your head. I let my mind just sort of drift around and I noticed I was picking up books on Greek mythology. I realized it wasn't the mythology I was interested in, it was the drawings on the Greek vases, which were very simple and cartoon like. I let that one go. Later I was looking at girlie magazines and some of the poses. They are very stylish, though they may be difficult to hold. They look easy but they are not. I like the designs of the legs and the shoes and I found some old cutouts that I had collected, paper dolls, that I had as a kid. In the depression paper dolls were easy to buy for .25 or $1, you could get a whole box full of paper dolls and the dresses. I kept thinking there is some connection and I've go to pull this all together. I thought, well they all have to be the same size. I decided on the frame size and that determined the dimensions of the pieces. I'm working backwards, I thought 'What am I going to put in these frames?' I realized they were going to be cut-outs, that were going to be about women and they were going to be colorful. All of a sudden I got a picture of this whole room of 9x10 pictures under little glass clips of ladies' legs and shoes. It just snapped, I realized they were cut-outs, no one has done this in a long time and people love paper. There is something about it that is very appealing, like cloth. There is no coloring or drawing. I wouldn't allow that, I couldn't make a mistake and fill it in with some other method to patch it up. It had to work with a pair of scissors and glue. So I started sketching and I did 5 or 6 drawings before the final thing. I actually did it in 15 days and I realized as I was doing it I was totally inspired. I pulled the Greek vases together, the magazines, my paper dolls cut-outs from the past, plus a price range. I made them $45 and $55. I wanted everyone to buy them so it had to fit that price criteria." The show was held in March 2003 at the Rectory Cafe. "The minute we hung them up - people were just - ...I had them covered for a whole day to drive people crazy wondering what they were all about. I thought I would pique their curiosity... people walked by the day before and they couldn't get to see the pictures, which was kind of a theatrical thing to do and it worked and everybody was crazy about them."
Sheila discussed two of the Paper Pin-up series. "[Who's There], The one we are looking at here has a deep blue background in a black dress. A shoe, a white foot with a very medieval looking shoe slipping out from underneath it with flames on it [the shoe] reaches to the other end of the frame. It's kind of spooky which is the opposite of what the others are, which are all very sexy and cute. This is probably another aspect of women that many men are a little afraid of. They're not sure what we're up to. So this is kind of interesting, a lot of women bought this one. I sold a lot of these." Sheila keeps the original. "I make exact copies of the ones in the show because I've made a template. It's quite easy so people aren't getting a replica, they are getting a true copy of a piece of work - which means it's made of the same materials and it's made by hand."
"The second one is inspired by the 40's coloring of pin-up girls. In some cases they had beautiful black backgrounds and that wonderful pink lingerie and feathers and roses of the 40's and little purple stepping shoes. The thing about these pieces is they are all well designed, that's a major part of it. The design, as much as the subject, is what makes people buy them. You can stand back 50 feet and still see the look - it's very simple." Asked to name this genre Sheila responds, "I just call it my paper pin-ups - I couldn't think of anything else because they are based on pin-up girls and I did a lot of research on pin-up girls. I was very familiar with it because it happened during the 30's and 40's. .. They were the girl next door, .. she was attractive and teasing and cute, and washing her car, or playing with the kitten, or dressing up in an army uniform for the boys. They are basically innocent." It's a series that Sheila enjoys, "I'm going to continue doing these. I like doing them." They will form her upcoming show starting November 26, 2003 and running for one month. Upcoming ExhibitionJohn Steinberg and Associates Studio
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Opening Image Credit Line:
Title: Midnight in the Garden
Artist: Sheila McCusker
Photo by Peter Uccello
Image Courtesy: Sheila McCusker