Margaret Stawicki
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Margaret Stawicki_Golden Line_c. 20 x 20 inches
Margaret Stawicki_Enter or not_c. 20 x 20 inches
Margaret Stawicki_Research_5
Margaret Stawicki_Research_4
Margaret Stawicki_Research_2
Margaret Stawicki_Research_1
Margaret Stawicki_Research_3
Biography | Biographie
Margaret Stawicki is Polish Canadian artist. Originally trained as a landscape architect, Stawicki and her family emigrated to Canada in 1982, after martial law was declared in Poland. She worked as a graphic designer for more than 30 years, and, together with her husband, co-founded Our Kids Media.
Stawicki transitioned to painting full-time in 2010, taking courses at The Etobicoke Creative Centre and Haliburton School of Arts with educators such as John Leonard and Steve Ross. Stawicki, from 2013 to 2020, was an Artist in Residence at the Living in Art Centre in Mississauga (now, she works from her studio).
She is sensitive to humans and their emotions. Most of Margaret’s work illustrates her observations of the possibilities we have and the choices we make in our lives as we experience life and the passing of time. Besides painting, she creates clay sculptures and 3D installations, all very closely related to the subjects of her paintings.
Her work has been exhibited across Ontario and Quebec and is part of private collections across Canada. Stawicki’s paintings can be described as modern, symbolic, and narrative. emotional, energetic, and imbalanced.
Stawicki is an elective member of the Ontario Society of Artists and the Society of Canadian Artists.
Statement Research | Démarche Recherche
The normal dead-end; a moment
As a contemporary artist, I am drawn to simplicity and minimalism. These effects I was able to achieve using oil, sometimes oil mixed with cold wax, and with oil pastels or pigment sticks.
Recently, I found myself in an empty and non-creative moment; “The Familiar End of the Line. The moment turned into a few months, almost a year of not creating anything. I noticed I had momentarily lost my spontaneity, brave strokes, and marks. Instead, my work became smoother and gentler with a lot of fine glazing and soft transition of colours and values. Although I still cherish quiet and meditative spaces, I now aim to more expressive and at the same time more minimalistic work.
At the beginning, during the exercises, drawing or painting using only black ink, I tried to cover the paper with marks, smudges and drops of ink. In time, I was using less and less coverage, or simple coverage with an expressive line. This simple sketching helped me to realize how powerful a strong stroke or a fine line can be and how little I need to be able to “say something”. I hope, finally, the time has arrived for me to start a new, simpler, and more minimalistic work.