Merike Lugus
Merike Lugus is an Estonian-born painter and sculptor living in Cobourg, Canada. She has had shows in Vienna, Los Angeles, Toronto, Stratford, and Cobourg. Here are images of one of her recent paintings and two of her recent sculptures.
You Can't Go Home
- oil on canvas (1995)
- 30" x 40"
- An attempt to capture an emotional truth about childhood. The place is so vivid in our memory, but we can't get there.
Sleep
- plaster model shown (for casting in aluminum) (1995)
- length 16"
- My intent was to make the sleeping head a self-contained vessel by curving it gently like a boat or cradle
Goddess with Tulips
- bronze (1994)
- height 49"
- Riane Eisler's book The Chalice and the Blade led me to archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and her books (such as The Language of the Goddess ) about the pre-patriarchal culture of neolithic Europe. I want to capture the goddess themes in some of my sculptures. My "Goddess with Tulips" was my first in this direction. I carved tulips into the surface of the Goddess herself. During the show when this piece was on display at the Art Gallery of Northumberland, the woman who sells me vegetables in Cobourg mentioned that she had seen it (not knowing that I was the sculptor). "It made me feel happy," she said. The Goddess would have been pleased.
About the artist
Merike Lugus was born in Tallinn, Estonia in 1943, and has lived in several European cities, as well as in Phildelphia, Toronto and Los Angeles. She now resides in the country near Cobourg. She has a BA in General Arts and an MA in Sociology, both from the University of Toronto.
Most of her work has been oil or acrylic on canvas, exploring the human form, usually female. In 1993 she turned to sculpture. Her sculptures to date are in bronze, winterstone, steel, fibreglass/epoxy, and plaster. Her subject matter is expanding from the female form to an awareness of the larger landscape in the Northumberland hills.
"I have always been interested in transitions, whether in personal growth, social conditions, or the environment. The world is going through major upheavals and, while I find the integrity of an individual life the most important focus, each life is affected by the changes swirling around us. Some of these changes (the technological miracle that allows us to connect individually yet globally over the Interent) are exciting; others (the increasing numbers of the wandering homeless), profoundly disturbing."
To contact Merike Lugus
Snailmail: R.R. 5, Cobourg, ON, K9A 4J8 Canada
Phone: (905) 372-2410
Fax: (905) 373-6001
Email: roda@eagle.ca
I am grateful to the Harvard Square Art Gallery for permitting me to show you a few of my images on their site. You may see additional images, if you wish, at my own site. Click here to see over 30 images of my other paintings and sculptures
Last updated: September 1, 1995
Back to The Harvard Square Art Gallery
Sleep
You Can't Go Home
Goddess with Tulips