Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Shortboard 1
2022
Charred (cedar) wood
SOLD — SOLD 

Neshka Krusche has a background in jewelry and graphic design, but driftwood found along the British Columbia coast has inspired her art on another level. “I went to the west coast, off Vancouver Island, and discovered this incredible cedar and fir wood on the beaches,” she remembers. The Polish-born Alberta designer transported the materials to her studio outside of Calgary and got to work.

“I didn't know what to expect when working with wood, and I didn't expect the attention to detail that goes into it,” she says. The first hurdle was getting the wood to adapt to the Calgary climate, which was no easy feat. If it's -20 or -25 degrees outside, propane (used to carbonize materials) completely liquefies. “I then have to heat the propane and the wood myself,” she explains.

“Wood is such a calm, forgiving and patient material. I was interested in how wood adapts, and how we can adapt to it, Krusche says, it was just a matter of finding the right time to do it. » She has always had an interest in sculpture, even when she was a design student at the University of Alberta Arts.

“There is no ‘one size fits all’ – every piece is different. »

Creating sculptures is also an instinctive process. “I almost never have to think, I just do it. It's another level of work. I probably look new-agey, she said with a laugh, I surprise myself. »

The response encapsulated the feeling each sculpture gives to the public, with several clients noting an “interesting presence” in his pieces. Someone called this “eloquent minimalism.” “That’s a great way to describe it, I couldn’t have said it better myself.”  

Ms. Krusche is proud of what she calls “the wink-wink feeling” people get from her work. She describes this as the first feeling her clients get when seeing her work, without having any knowledge of what the pieces represent or where they come from.

Free translation of a text by Mariah Klein, Western Living Magazine - April 21, 2021

Dimensions = 11” X 6” X 73”

DELIVERY: contact us for details and delivery possibilities