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March 3, 2006
Artist’s passion gets its wings
Shaffer draws on cultural influences to create her bird sculptures.
BAILA LAZARUS
At first glance, Shelly Shaffer’s papier mâché
bird sculptures seem like nothing more than cool ideas, bright colors
and a sense of whimsy, held together by chicken wire, newspaper
and wallpaper glue.
It’s an enviable way to work – having so much fun while
creating beautiful artwork that makes people smile. I would love
to name my paintings “Fernando, the Flaming Flamingo,”
or “Olly Ostrich” or “Swanee” (the fact that
I don’t actually paint birds notwithstanding). But on further
inspection and discussion with the artist, the elements that make
up the Flight of Fancy exhibit at the Zack Gallery take on new dimensions.
Take, for example, “Gilbert the Goose” – a Canada
goose done in the colors characteristically used by Canadian First
Nations artist Norval Morriseau. Living and teaching art in the
White Rock area, Shaffer has interacted with many First Nations
students and has become familiar with the First Nations community,
so her work often carries a native art theme.
“I do have a strong connection with First Nations,” Shaffer
said. “The teachers who taught the First Nations [art] programs
were good friends of mine.”
With “Peli” the Pelican, Shaffer’s visits to Australia
with her family have had a similar effect. Her husband has taught
in various places in Australia and the family has had a chance to
learn quite a bit about the country. The dotting on Peli’s
decor, for example, is influenced by Australian aboriginals and
symbolize wandering. There is also a stylized fish on Peli’s
beak and symbols of food on the legs.
“Yoshi Crane” nibbles on a tree, looking like a white
crane with some interesting decorations on his back. The influence,
said Shaffer, is from Japanese woodblock.
But it’s not just the painted embellishment on the birds that
hold hidden meanings; the actual form of each sculpture is done
with attitude. “Raveen Raven” stands at a bit of a cocky
angle “because he’s a trickster,” said Shaffer. And
the feet on “Gus” the snow goose are askew as he comes
in for a sliding landing on some unseen frozen lake. A few of the
sculptures, such as “Yoshi Crane” and “Ms. Geraldine,
the Quilted Stork,” come with eggs at their feet, “implying
more to come,” said Shaffer.
It takes Shaffer 15 to 20 hours to build one of her colorful birds,
suspending them from the ceiling to work on them. The work in the
current exhibit was done over the space of a year. She often refers
to different types of books or other works of art in order to get
an idea of form and color.
For “Ms. Geraldine, the Quilted Stork,” for example, she
consulted quilting books in order to paint the baby blanket on the
stork’s back.
Although she covers her finished work with four coats of marine
varnish, she suggests that the sculptures remain indoors, especially
in Vancouver’s wet weather. She has no interest in pursuing
more chemical-based sealants or working in fibreglas, for example,
because of the toxins in the chemicals.
“I don’t want to get into the chemicals,” she said.
“I worked a day in the film industry [building icicles for
X-Men] and I said, ‘I’m outta here.’ It’s not
fun.”
Shaffer started her artistic career as a weaver, running her own
store in White Rock at the end of the 1970s. Pursuing a career in
art, she studied her bachelor of fine arts at the University of
British Columbia and printmaking at Malaspina College on Vancouver
Island. She followed that up with a bachelor’s degree in education
so she could teach art in high school. She gave up her full-time
teaching just a few years ago so she could focus on her own artwork.
Though she had specialized in printmaking at art school, her love
has always been sculpture.
“I’ve always like papier mâché and I’ve
always liked big and I do like birds,” Shaffer explained. “For
me, birds have a lot of symbolism; there’s a lot about nesting
and protection. They’re not just cute little animals.”
Indeed, in the Zack exhibit, the birds take on Jolly Green Giant
proportions, with extra emphasis (and therefore weight) on the oversized
feet. It’s a practical solution – since the sculptures
are quite large, more weight is needed to keep the birds from tipping
over. But the large feet serve a more personal purpose for Shaffer.
“For me, it’s a connection of grounding and freedom.”
In one case, Shaffer actually put rocks inside the bird’s feet
to make them more grounded. Even though the gallery viewers will
have no idea that they’re there, and the sculpture itself probably
didn’t need it, it satisfied Shaffer’s need for the sculpture
to be balanced. It also reflects her own need to feel grounded,
even as she participates in her own flights of fancy. ¯
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, photographer and
painter living in Vancouver. Her work can be seen at www.orchiddesigns.net.
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