Sculptures by Lviv-born artist Oleh Lesiuk capture "The Cycles of Life" (03/14/99)

Sculptures by Lviv-born artist Oleh Lesiuk capture "The Cycles of Life"

by Nestor Gula
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

TORONTO - As many artists do, Oleh Lesiuk gets his inspiration from his surroundings, from music, daily events, street scenes. His series of sculptures, titled "The Cycles of Life," captures this diversity of inspiration. The 19 sculptures that make up this series were shown between January 17 and 29 at a solo show in Toronto's Cedar Ridge Gallery, a turn-of-the-century mansion in the northeast part of the city.

The sculptures capture various aspects of the continuum of life, from birth to death. In the show's brochure, Mr. Lesiuk is quoted as saying, "I use symbolism to express my feelings, my attitude and my own position in this life."

Mr. Lesiuk was born on August 25, 1959, in Lviv. He attended the Institute of Applied Arts there and taught sculpture and drawing at the Ivan Trush Academy between 1982 and 1992. His sculptures have been exhibited in Lviv, Kyiv, Moscow, Rome, as well as in Canada and the U.S.

He came to Canada in 1992 to check out the art scene, liked what he saw and decided to stay. "I felt really good about the possibilities here and what I can do here," said Mr. Lesiuk in a recent interview.

The sculptor affirms that he is not a starving artist - nor does he ever intend to be. Since arriving in Canada he has been active in creating new works and successful at selling them.

He has also been active in the artistic community. Since 1995 he has been an executive member of Sculpture Society of Canada, in charge of special projects. He is also a member of Visual Arts Ontario, the Union of Ukrainian Artists, an executive member of Ukrainian Association of Visual Artists of Canada and a board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation, where he currently serves as the interim executive director.

Mr. Lesiuk's bread and butter are sculpture and teaching sculpture.

He designs and creates sculptures and plaques for corporations, governments and individuals on contract. His plaques adorn Scarborough City Hall and the City of York Public Library.

Mr. Lesiuk fashioned large plaque that hangs on the Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation's exterior and commemorates its founders, Mykhailo and Jaroslava Szafraniuk. He also made the statuette for the President's Award for the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto.

The Lviv-born artist teaches his craft as a participant of the Art Discovery Program run by Arts Etobicoke, The Metropolitan Toronto Separate (Catholic) School Board and the Toronto Board of Education. He also conducts evening classes at a studio called Parox Ceramics in Concord Ontario.

The recent immigrant said he has no problems getting his ideas across because, while studying art in Ukraine, he was also learning English. "I always thought learning English was important," Mr. Lesiuk said, adding, "I wrote my dissertation in English on English art of the 14th century."

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