WEYBURN – Artist Sarah Cummings Traszkowski spoke about how she combined both her love of baking and her love of art, at a reception for her exhibit at the Weyburn Art Gallery, “More than Butter and Sugar”, on Friday evening.
To her, the paintings are a celebration of the relationships that mean most to her, namely her relationships with her grandmother and mother, and with her children today.
Sarah is a Regina Public School board trustee and has been an artist for about 40 years, and spoke about how she developed her love of baking, as well as her development as an artist, as she explained why she made these paintings of desserts.
Growing up, she watched her grandmother bake, learning along the way how to bake various types of desserts before she began to try baking herself.
A mom of three children, Sarah noted when her oldest child, Ella, was born 18 years ago, she began baking for her family which continues to this day.
As her children grew older, she would make items like chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, pumpkin muffins and banana muffins, because her children loved these items.
When Christmas comes around, she makes family favourites like Nanaimo bars, Cape Breton pork pies (which have no pork), almond squares, and her brother’s favourite, marzipan squares. Many of these were reflected in a painting of Christmas goodies, which she pointed out to the audience.
As far as her art, Sarah noted for many years she painted flowers, such as her grandmother’s Queen Elizabeth roses. Just under 10 years ago, she took part in a CARFAC mentorship with artist Marsha Kennedy, which was a game-changer for her as an artist.
“She really pushed me into the why of making art. She’d say, ‘don’t just make pretty things, Sarah, have a purpose to it’. That really changed the course of my art, and my life work as well,” said Sarah.
She began to do more experimental works, such as hanging items from trees, and making paintings with large texts on them, and even text-based art with words like “Resist” and “Rise Up”.
“I was partly screaming at myself to do these things too,” she said, noting she got fed up with the public education system in Regina, and put her name in to run for the school board in 2020. She got elected, and she is still on the board today in Regina.
In talking about her art, she spoke about particular pieces in the exhibition, including two of chocolate cakes made for her son, one without any icing, and the other with just a thin glaze layer of icing, and one of her youngest daughter’s birthday cake.
One painting was of a carrot cake that her mother made, and is shown on her mother’s favourite plates at her family’s summer cottage.
“Artists make art for different reasons … this series of art was done as a way to lift up women’s experiences and relationships. From my perspective as a mother, these paintings celebrate these relationships,” she said, both of her relationships with her grandmother and mother, and today with her children and friends.
