Up from Garlic Flats

by Victor Cicansky

This is a memoir of the ceramic artist Vic Cicansky. Detailing his childhood, and the influences of growing up in a multicultural neighbourhood in Regina, and the impact it had on his art and personality.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

120 pages, Paperback

Published June 21, 2019

About the author

Victor Cicansky was a Canadian sculptor known for his witty narrative ceramics and bronze fruits and vegetables. A founder of the Regina Clay Movement, Cicansky combined a "wry sense of style" with a postmodern "aesthetic based on place and personal experience". In recognition of his work, Cicansky was appointed member of the Order of Canada (2009) and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit (1997), and was awarded the Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts (2012), the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012), as well as the Victoria and Albert Award for Ceramic Sculpture (London UK, 1987). His work is found in the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa ON), Gardiner Museum (Toronto ON), Burlington Art Centre, Confederation Centre Art Gallery (Charlottetown PE), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, and the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (Japan).
Cicansky explored Prairie imagery – from fruit, vegetables and canning jars to outhouses and Volkswagens – in sculpture. Inspired by California Funk, his work included brightly painted figurative narratives with subjects – "characters rather than caricatures" – within architectural constructions described as "hard and rough, deliberately etched and maintaining the crude granularity of the reinforced clay." Other works reference art; his terra-cotta The Old Working Class-1 (Sturdy Stone Centre, Saskatoon) is a visual play on Van Gogh's Potato Eaters. His oeuvre also includes tables, benches or plates entwined with pear trees, grapevines and corn.

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely collection of Mr. Cicansky’s life stories growing up in the garlic flats of Regina, Saskatchewan. His stories left me filled with nostalgia of gardens and sweet prairie grasses. I hope to one day own a piece of his collection to reflect back on the 30s-70s in Regina. A real treasure to read.

[Debbie Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like the pickled cucumbers, red peppers, and garlic pieces preserved in a mason jar on the front cover, Vic Cicansky’s 120-page memoir “Up from Garlic Flats” preserves slices of the past and offers them on a paper platter for readers to sample.

If you like gardening and learning more about Canadian art, you’ll enjoy this feast! As Cicansky wrote on page 87: “Plants are like brush strokes”. He carved a living by incorporating images of garden produce in his striking clay and ceramic work.

This light-hearted book takes the reader to the roots of this award-winning Saskatchewan artist and follows him through the gardens of his youth, his initial struggles with school, and his hard-working ethics and artistic endeavours and achievements.

The writing reminded me of diary entries (even a few typos) filled with interesting details mixed with wit and memories taken from Cicansky’s over 85 years of living. What I enjoyed the most were the forty plus snapshots: the coloured photos of his whimsical clay sculptures and the black and white images from his past.

Overall, a great introduction to the man who won such prestigious awards as the Order of Canada, and the Lieutenant-Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It made me want to explore his art even more.

Cicansky leaves a legacy of a simpler life where “the open Prairie was our playground.” (p. 18)

[Ella Paterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was born and raised in Regina and I have always been transfixed by Cicansky’s work. I’ve seen his artwork at the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Southland library, and the Lakeview garden. It was really a pleasure to learn more about this artist who has been apart of my life.

I am currently in BC for post-secondary and I found a new appreciation for my home city after reading about its history from a new perspective. The writing inspired a sense of longing to be back in the prairies, and also to pick up gardening!

I am excited to visit the places mentioned in the book which are home to Cicansky’s work and I hope his memory will live on ever strong.