Victor Cicansky
| Victor Cicansky | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1935 (age 81–82) Regina, Saskatchewan |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Movement | Regina Clay Movement |
| Awards | Order of Canada (2009), Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1997), Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2012), Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), Victoria and Albert Award for Ceramic Sculpture (1987) |
| Website | Artist website |
Victor Cicansky, CM, SOM, (1935) is a Canadian sculptor known for his witty narrative ceramics and bronze fruits and vegetables. A founder of the Regina Clay Movement, Cicansky combined a "wry sense of style" with a postmodern "aesthetic based on place and personal experience". In recognition of his work, Cicansky was appointed member of the Order of Canada (2009) and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1997), and was awarded the Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2012), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), as well as the Victoria and Albert Award for Ceramic Sculpture (London UK, 1987). His work is found in the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa ON), Gardiner Museum (Toronto ON), Burlington Art Centre, Confederation Centre of the Arts (Charlottetown PE),Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Japan).
Cicansky explored Prairie imagery – from fruit, vegetables and canning jars to outhouses and Volkswagens – in sculpture. Inspired by California Funk, his work included brightly painted figurative narratives with subjects – "characters rather than caricatures" – within architectural constructions described as "hard and rough, deliberately etched and maintaining the crude granularity of the reinforced clay." Other works reference art; his terra-cotta The Old Working Class-1 (Sturdy Stone Centre, Saskatoon) is a visual play on Van Gogh's Potato Eaters. His oeuvre also includes tables, benches or plates entwined with pear trees, grapevines and corn.
Victor Cicansky was born on February 12, 1935, in Regina, Saskatchewan. The eldest son of Mary and Frank Cicansky (Czekanski) of Romanian descent, he grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Garlic Flats, known for its vegetables gardens. At age 16 he left school to work in construction, but later returned to graduate with a Bachelor of Education from University of Saskatchewan (1964), and Bachelor of Arts (1967) from the University of Regina. Hired by the Regina Board of Education he taught elementary and high school and studied ceramics under Beth Hone and Jack Sures at the Regina College School of Art in his spare time. In 1967 while attending a summer workshop at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine, Cicansky met Funk art sculptor Robert Arneson who convinced him to attend the University of California, Davis. There he met painter Roy De Forest and ceramist David Gilhooly and assimilated new ideas, styles and techniques. At Davis, Cicansky was awarded the Kingsley Annual Award for Sculpture (1969) and he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in 1970. Cicansky then returned to Saskatchewan to teach art education at the University of Regina, and began to explore the imagery of his youth in figurative narrativion. In 1974 Cicansky moved "back to the land" and converted a former school in Craven into a studio.
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