The fall season at the Gardens on Tenth gallery features the work of mosaic artist Sharon Loeppky.
Loeppky lives in the R.M. of Stanley and works primarily with ceramic and textiles, and her vibrant collection of rugs describe the landforms and landscapes around her.
She recently demonstrated her process to a small group at the Gardens. The rugs are made of wool and wool blend fabric on loosely woven jute, cotton or linen backing. This backing is stretched over a frame, either a small specialty-built rug frame or an old quilt frame. The fabric, primarily thrift-store clothing, is cut into narrow strips and then hooked through the backing.
She also shared her philosophies of repurposing fabrics and other textiles, rather than purchasing new ones.
“Much of what I do centers around the process of collecting, disassembling, and then repurposing discarded materials,” she says.
Even the tools of her craft are seasoned with use.
“I own a whole collection of hooks, my favourite being one which is old and hand-filed, with a crudely whittled handle.”
When it comes to finding inspiration, Loeppky says she doesn’t spend much time designing her rugs.
“They all come from images and ideas in my mind of the world around me – the fields, water, trees and hills that are all so familiar. After making a few rudimentary lines on the backing with a marker pen, I choose some colours of fabric, and then set to work. As the work progresses, I make many decisions and revisions and am never quite sure of where I will end up.”
She was born and raised in the Turtle Mountain area. Her father was a teacher and a farmer, her mother, a teacher and homemaker. In a busy household of five children, she still found time for sewing, knitting and crocheting.
“Like a lot of ladies of that generation, much of it was for practical reasons. I grew up sewing my own clothes. My brothers also used the sewing machine.”
Loeppky and her husband worked for MCC in Canada and the U.S. for a number of years and raised four children on an acreage near Winkler. Creating rugs was a learning process, she says.
“When I first started hooking rugs, I made some runners for the stairs. One winter I got two stair runners done and I felt I was doing pretty good,” she chuckles. “I’m self-taught. I do a lot more work with my mosaics. I’d love to do more shows, but when it takes 50 to 100 hours for one piece, it’s difficult to find the time.”
Her children are also all makers.
“It’s about empowering your kids, and teaching them how to be resourceful,” she says.
Rug making is a relaxing, meditative thing to do.
“I can’t just sit around. I need to keep my hands busy. Hand work is something I think women have lost nowadays. So many are working outside the home, and don’t have time to make stuff anymore.”
Learning to work with what she has isn’t just economical, Loeppky says.
“It’s healing. We live in a world of excess. Whether it’s the vehicle you drive, the house you live in, or the clothes you wear. Reusing is important for me. Especially with the mosaics, it’s all junk that I repurpose.”
She adds, “I like it because it’s different. It’s this whole idea of creative constraint. When you don’t have a lot of blue, then you make your sky with a different colour. So it’s only when we’re really squeezed, and there is some limitation, that we live a life without limits. Without limits, where would you find the anchor? Even in art, if there’s no restraint, you’re floundering. It forces you to stretch your imagination, be resourceful and make use of what you have. These are the colours that I have to work with right now, and I will work with them. And sometimes something shows up that you didn’t even know you needed. That’s where creativity begins.”
