DISCOVERING THE ARTISTS ON THE SUNSHINE COAST

(Marigold Studio – Diane Baron)

Sunshine Coast, British Columbia

by Susie Lee

After spending the day with Cindy Buis of Artworks Tours, I admired her dedication and involvement in the community and her endless support and contribution to the local artists on the Sunshine Coast. She shares her passion with others as she offers personalized custom tours through her company, Artworks Tours. I was delighted to be able to spend time with her and dropped by 2 local artists’ home based studios.

FROM RAGS TO CENTER PIECES (MARIGOLD STUDIO)

Sunshine Coast, British Columbia

by Susie Lee

Diane Baron is an artist who takes old t-shirts and turns them into beautiful pieces of art. She uses Paverpol which is similar to paper-mache to create her masterpieces. She fell in love with Paverpol after taking one class followed by another 3 more classes after which she began teaching others. Part of her home has been transformed into a studio to support her creativity.

As I sat at the table in her home studio, we began with a skeleton of wire as the frame. Sheets of aluminum foil were then wrapped around the wire frame. We twisted and bent the foil to the shape we wanted, which in this case was a girl in a sitting position. Once we mixed the Paverpol powder with Art Stone, we dipped in the strips of cloth into the smooth mixture and wrapped it around the metal frame. Paverpol is a textile hardener, which enables artists to create statues, wire sculptures and garden figurines out of textiles, paper, clay and all sorts of natural materials. Once the strips of cloth hardened, we painted our masterpiece. It’s truly fascinating to see these sculptures come alive after the cloth has been placed and highlighted with paint. Paverpol was easy to work with and manipulate. It reminded me of paper mache.

What’s amazing about Paverpol is that it is weather resistant, being able to withstand rain, wind, sun, snow and frost. It is safe and easy to use. You can usually finish your artwork in one day because the drying time is fast. Best of all it is affordable and environmentally friendly. I would definitely recommend taking a workshop with Diane at Marigold Studio to learn about this unique and wonderful art form.

PHOTO GALLERY