A Chat with Remarkable Abstract Visual Artist Signhild Damus

By Signhild Damus and Albert Lightstone

This month, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with yet another one of OLT’s patrons, Signhild Damus, who happens to be a talented abstract visual artist.

First tell me about yourself. Where are you from originally?

I was born into a musical, artistic family and grew up in Bremen, west of Hamburg, close to the North Sea.

I just Googled Bremen and the town looks lovely with a mix of medieval and modern architecture. It’s also the location of the Grimm’s fairy tale of Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten or the Town Musicians of Bremen. How did you end up in Ottawa?

After high school I intended to study languages. I already had German, French and English and added Spanish while spending a year in Argentina. There I met my future husband who went to the University of Chicago on a scholarship that offered spousal support if he were to marry. So, young as we were, we took that chance to get married and start a family in Chicago. After finishing his studies, my husband applied for a job at many universities (not American, because the scholarship stipulated that we could not remain in the US). We didn’t know anything about Canada, but he got accepted at the University of Winnipeg and we spent 13 wonderful years (winters) there with our growing family. In 1980 my husband accepted a job with the Economic Council of Canada and we have been living in Ottawa ever since.

I understand that you attribute some of your artistic talent to your grandmother.

My grandmother was a fabulous artist, studying at the prestigious Munich Academy of Fine Arts around 1900. As many women painters of her generation, she sort of gave it up when she married. But she still painted occasionally and I have one especially memorable painting of hers which depicts a lovely landscape with a bit of a barren area where she had planned to put a group of deer. However, my father’s birth got in the way and she never did quite finish the painting. All that being said, her paintings and drawings still hang in our home serving as a constant inspiration.

And the source of your musical talent?

My mother was a professional singer and my father was a church organist and taught at the music academy. My siblings (two architects and one artisan) are all musical. I sang in my father’s choirs and played flute in his orchestra. And today in Ottawa, I still sing in a choir and play flute in church, and I spent many years traveling with the Anglican Chorale of Ottawa to sing in English cathedrals. I toured in Spain, Romania, and Greece with a choir from Montreal, just fantastic experiences!

Where did you study art?

In Bremen I attended a high school similar to Canterbury which had an extensive art program. Most of my instruction comes from there, the rest is self-taught and/or short courses/workshops.

When did you first embark on your path as an artist?

I didn’t paint much during the children’s early years, but I remember having a fairly successful exhibit at a boat club in Winnipeg. I switched from painting with oil to acrylics out of necessity. Oil paints and brushes are difficult and cumbersome to clean, and with small children you never have long stretches of time to paint. Acrylics are fast and easy to clean and the colours are bright and easy to work with. I just love their bright, strong and vibrant colours.

Is art your full-time career? If not, what did you do for a living?

Here I dabbled in real estate, some school bus driving, a lot of photography that came in handy capturing our extensive, adventurous travels. But not much painting – until one of my sons, who is a fabulous artist, dragged me to the Manotick Art Association. I started painting again and exhibited with several art associations throughout Ottawa. (The Ottawa Art Association included a couple of my works in one of their OLT exhibits a number of years ago).

You enjoy using different media. What are they and how are they used?

Over the years, I have worked and taken many courses in print making, photography, drawing, water colour, oils and experimented with different media like encaustic, batik, charcoal, gluing all kinds of objects into my work, even tissue paper!

The media used for mixing and preserving acrylic paint also act as glue for adding all kinds of foreign objects to my paintings. That very much appeals to me and adds to the scope of the art.

Can you explain what is “Encaustic” and what is “Batik”?

Encaustic – it is actually an ancient form of painting (there are old Egyptian works in museums). You melt bees wax and add pigment. While still hot you paint with the mixture on wood. Batik – same idea as Eastern European pysanky egg painting but on cloth. You cover the areas of the cloth you don’t want coloured with wax, then dye the cloth. Cover some of the coloured areas with wax and use the next colour dye and so on… In the end remove all the wax with heat and be surprised by the final outcome.

How are you inspired?

I simply adore the colours and imagery of the artist Marc Chagall who has always been one of my favorites. As a 16-year-old in Paris I saw the windows Chagall made for the United Nations and was absolutely blown away by colours, the light and the imagery. His storytelling and colours are unique.

What’s the actual process in developing the piece?

I may see something that inspires me or an idea just comes for no explainable reason. I start painting and more often than not I am not happy with the outcome. The painting may take on a life of its own which points in a totally different direction. So I paint over many parts again and again until I think ‘that’s it’ or I discard it to be painted over some other day.