An Astonishment of Flowers

Yvonne Kustec reveals an otherworldly Eden.

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From the public space of the sidewalk, it’s unsettling to peer into the private space of Yvonne Kustec’s installation, The Garden, a blush-coloured tableau vivant where a life-size ceramic female figure is on permanent pause in a what seems like an intensely personal moment.

Magically, the project space at the Esker Foundation in Calgary reveals her as a garden within a garden, an otherworldly Eden where giant air-brushed ceramic blossoms hang on a wall painted a beguiling colour known as "Streaks of Sunset." Green-glazed snakes attend the barefoot heroine, who will stand until June 6 on a round dais carpeted in pink faux fur.

Her porcelaneous skin is protective and permeable: areas of soft tissue morph into flesh-toned flora, foliage and fungi. An astonishment of petals and leaves abound: a garland of roses at her breastplate and chrysanthemums on her forehead, while multiple turkey tail fungi layer over her most vulnerable parts. With organic symmetry, these life forms create an intricate three-dimensional tattoo that’s embellished with braids and inhabited by slender snakes. 

Kustec made use of various hand-building techniques to construct and adorn the figure at the Medalta ceramic studio in Medicine Hat, Alta. As a current artist-in-residence there, she is making use of the extraordinary facilities and knowledgeable ceramics community to develop a new conceptual direction while mastering a new medium. She has a light and natural touch with clay. Detailed flowers and smooth surfaces both look fresh despite her labour-intensive process. 

The work recalls the ideals of beauty in European porcelain floral baskets and figurines of the 18th and 19th centuries. But Kustec’s first experience with the ceramic figurine tradition was living with their spawn, affordable collectibles, by way of her mother, who filled their home in Oakville, Ont., with mass-produced angels chosen from the catalogue for Pennsylvania’s Franklin Mint, which mass-produced everything from coins and medallions to plates and dolls for some five decades. 

The Garden marks Kustec’s return to making after a prolonged period of grief and healing in which she sifted through her memories after the death of her parents, John and Maria. They were loving, religious and industrious immigrants from Slovenia. Her father worked at the Mack Truck factory and enjoyed making and fixing things in his spare time. Her mother did the midnight shift at General Electric and took pride in growing a bountiful garden and collecting figurines. As a young girl with long braids, Kustec dreamed of becoming a ballerina.  

Kustec studied at George Brown College in Toronto from 2001 to 2004 and worked as a graphic designer before realizing art school was the place for her. Once enrolled at what is now the Alberta University of the Arts in Calgary, she explored feminine stereotypes from her upbringing. Her entry in the school’s runway show, Art Awearness, was an iconoclastic trio of full-body felt suits, Fat, Flesh and Skin, grotesque forms with open sores and bruised skin. 

After graduating in 2011, Kustec’s exhibition at Calgary’s Pith Gallery featured a cast of female media personas, including a life-size pageant queen. She constructed them somewhat crudely with inexpensive materials, a can-do spirit and the conviction that clothing was their armour. She worked for a time making mascots, an experience that honed her skills with an industrial sewing machine and triggered an abiding affection for faux fur. Kustec has a knack for foraging in pop culture’s prop department, and pink synthetic wigs were an obvious choice for the exuberant tresses of her garden goddess.  

The Garden gives form to Kustec’s self-proclaimed personal renaissance. Not only is she reaching a new level of finesse with ceramics, but she has adjusted her focus on the figure from a critique of stereotypes to a revelation of the body as a site of life-giving energy. She reclaims the territories of beauty, nature, gardening and female life force – including braided hair and the colour pink – on her own terms. 

Thanks to Medalta, the Esker Foundation and curator Shauna Thompson, Kustec is rejuvenating her art practice. The Garden is the 30th exhibition in the Esker’s project space and the foundation deserves recognition for its support of artists at key moments in their careers. Based on this positive experience, Kustec’s next step is to start an MFA this fall at the University of Calgary. ■

Yvonne Kustec: The Garden at the Esker Foundation in Calgary from Feb. 8 to June 6, 2021.   

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