For many artists, the natural world is a source of inspiration that they depict with their medium, but for artist Sandra Moore, the natural world is her medium. Local Ottawa artist Sandra Moore’s work involves scouring the shores of the Ottawa River for pieces of driftwood to use in her one-of-a-kind driftwood sculptures, portraying all sorts of animals, from horses to herons to whales.
As a result of flooding along the riverbank in 2017, Moore, while walking her two dogs, noticed driftwood strewn across the muddy floodplains. These pieces of petrified wood—the remnants of Ottawa’s lumber hub history—had been buried in layers of sediment for hundreds of years. Moore began to envision these pieces of driftwood as pieces of a puzzle.
“I would slowly and methodically collect pieces of the puzzle that I recognized and needed to make up a driftwood sculpture,” Moore tells OLM. “Once an animal has been chosen, my walks become a mission to collect puzzle pieces that are unique and fit without alteration. Each piece has a distinct spot on the sculpture.”
Indeed, Moore’s technique is to find pieces of driftwood that fit into her impressive jigsaw sculptures without manual alteration. She treats the wood by cleaning, bleaching, and sunbathing it, but does not change the driftwood’s natural shape. In this way, the rhythms of nature—the falling of timber, the tumbling of grit and sand, and the churning of the riverbed—play a role in Moore’s artistic process
Since 2017, Moore has expanded her medium to include wire sculptures. Like her driftwood work, much of her wire work also depicts animals, highlighting the fragile state of the natural world and the threat of animal extinction. Moore’s wire sculptures of a bear and cub seek to showcase this very theme; the white, semi-transparent bears appear to be ghosts in the forest, offering viewers a dire warning of the future to come if we fail to take care of our ecosystems.
“When we walked along the Ottawa River just after the raging forest fires in Quebec, I was consumed with the thought from the thick smoke that mother nature’s creatures have no defense or protection. If we are not careful, we will lose them all, and the beauty that goes with them. My first attempt at wire sculptures was exactly that…making them out of porous wire with a natural backdrop gave the illusion that they were disappearing.”
Though much of Moore’s artistic drive is prompted by her love of nature and animals, her recent wire sculptures have taken on a more humanoid form. Her piece “Air Acrobat” was on display at the Carleton Place Gallery last year before being sold to a private collector. In this piece and others like it, Moore contrasts the rigid black wire with long, wispy strips of tulle.
“Having an Eastern European upbringing, I am by nature a strong-minded woman artist,” Moore, who was born in Poland, told OLM. “In depicting a woman air acrobat, I wanted to capture the beauty and elegance, gentleness and gracefulness of movement. The spinning acrobat that turns in a graceful pose is a reminder that perhaps women are undervalued for what they bring to the table and by depicting this theme it may rekindle sentiments.”
Moore also has a deep passion for serving her community through her art. She has donated several pieces to benefit foundations, local Ottawa hospitals, and has installed her work in parks to remind the public of the extraordinary art that can be made from ordinary items. Moore believes in “sharing the beauty of artwork for all to see, rather than having it hoarded only by the rich in a private collection, [which] does not spread happiness. Installing it in the parks for all to enjoy may inspire others to allow their fantasies to be brought to life,” she says.
Moore has recently donated sculptures to Arnprior Regional Hospital Foundation to help raise money for a CT scanner. She also has pieces installed at the Galilee Centre in Arnprior for the public to enjoy, including an 11-foot-tall driftwood statue of Groot—who she has dubbed “the Guardian of the Forest”—and several driftwood animals that she crafted after the Quebec wildfires, such as a deer, a beaver, and a raccoon. These creations populate the woods surrounding the Galilee Centre’s natural sanctuary. Moore hopes that the animals will serve “as a reminder to take care of mother nature” and that her donated sculptures will bring attention to the Galilee Centre—her self-proclaimed “hidden diamond” of the Ottawa River Valley—which is at risk for closure.
Moore says, “I am a firm believer that all forms of art should be part of the fabric of life. Too often, as they say, people don’t stop to smell the flowers or appreciate the beauty of life…. giving back to the community is a no-brainer and it takes little or no effort to embrace the community.”
What’s next for Sandra Moore? She has recently taken up sculpting with cardboard and continues to work with wood and wire. Like the driftwood in the river, Moore allows herself to be sensitive to the ebb and flow of natural processes; she begins to create when inspiration strikes naturally. “Creating a sculpture is the result of a culmination of ideas, dreams, and themes as one encounters them going through life. My next work is not known to me until it is. Life will send me a concept or fantasy for which my hands will attempt to materialize. The medium chosen is not known until I sit down to create the sculpture.”
You can see more of Sandra Moore’s work on her Facebook page, Sandra Moore Art Gallery.
