Winter Postillion - Saskatchewan German Council

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Auf eine Tasse Tee bei Waltraude Stehwien Waltraude Stehwien: HEr Art of Paper CUtting Sabine Doebel-Atchison & Barbara Stehwien 6 To most people in Saskatchewan, Waltraude Stehwien is best known for her paper cuttings. A visit to her Saskatoon home, however, reveals much more about a woman who came to Saskatchewan with her husband and four children in 1968. The family came to a city and province that was quite different from what exists today. Her role as a mother and wife, as well as her professional career, didn’t leave much time for her own art. For this reason, she didn’t produce a single paper cutting between the years of 1945 and 1985. It was only when the Saskatoon German Club’s former cultural group approached her with a request for a presentation about paper cuttings, that she thoroughly researched the movements and history of this art form. This sparked a renewed interest and was the beginning of a very creative and productive period. “An artist’s creative process is not definable.” Asked where she gets her inspiration from, she pragmatically answers, that many of her paper cuttings, such as the ones for the Saskatchewan German Council, are commissioned works. For other works, she gathers ideas from everyday life and her surroundings. While for many people, creating a two-dimensional drawing out of what they see, may be the most difficult aspect, it comes quite naturally to Waltraude Stehwien. Certainly her background and experience in graphic design may have an influence in this case. Waltraude Stehwien is challenged when asked to explain her art, and quickly replies, that if it was explainable, she may have become a writer. To create a new paper cutting, Waltraude Stehwien researches the topic, pre-sketches and finally draws the design, in mirror image, on the reverse of her specialty paper. The reverse of this paper is not black, as one might expect, but white instead. This is a little known fact to the viewer of the final works, yet an important feature of the paper, and one that makes finding a supplier difficult. In recent years, she has only been able to find suitable paper while travelling in Germany. While there are many styles and methods to cutting paper in an artful way, Waltraude Stehwien’s challenge to herself is to design and cut the 2 dimensional image from one single sheet of paper, with no unattached inner cuttings. There are only very few exceptions to this in her works. Her main tool is a small pair of scissors, more than 80 years old. Although she owns several pairs of scissors, including a newly acquired one designed especially for paper cutting, Waltraude maintains that as long as the favourite one, inherited from her father, does the job, there is no need to switch. While many artists have started to use small knife blades for their work as well, Waltraude Stehwien has not found that to be an improvement over scissors either. She says when using a knife blade, there is less control, and that scissors feel alive - they become like an extension of the fingers. “The scissors are alive, they’re in motion”.
Waltraude Stehwien and the Saskatchewan German Council Almost since its foundation, Waltraude Stehwien has provided the Saskatchewan German Council with a variety of paper cuttings. One of the first ones that were used by the SGC was her Lebensbaum (tree of life) for Treffpunkt celebrations in the late 1980s and 90s. Many paper cutting designs followed, used for a variety of SGC publications. In the spring of 2005, the SGC also started to collaborate with Waltraude Stehwien on its quarterly newsletter, the Postillion. Her unique paper cuttings gave the Postillion a unified and easily recognizable look. Waltraude Stehwien provided designs covering topics like German traditions, arts and crafts, as well as plants, flowers and lastly, cityscapes, for a total of 36 Postillion covers. In addition to the paper cuttings on the covers, Waltraude Stehwien also cut borders and smaller designs for the inside of the newsletter to go with the seasons. Besides these many designs, the logo of the postillion himself, the taditional coachman blowing his horn, is also credited to Waltraude. This new, stylized “Postillion” has adorned the cover of the newsletter since the 2005 winter issue. Her latest project is the new book In Black and White: A Stroll through Canadian Landscapes. The work on Canadian landscapes fascinated her so much that it resulted in an entire series of paper cuttings. In these motifs, Waltraude Stehwien was able to express her strong sensation for depth and contrast especially well. Paper cuttings of landscapes are relatively rare and in many of the works around this theme Waltraude Stehwien was able to express her courage to make use of large white or black spaces. The book was a result of an idea from Waltraude’s daughter Barbara, who then took to self-publishing these works, from concept to the bookshelf. The book is available from the artist and at many major bookstores and giftshops in Western Canada. To the question of what she is planning for the future, Waltraude Stehwien replies: “I already have some new ideas in my head, but I am not sure yet if they will come to fruition.” There are certainly many people that hope that they will! Waltraude Stehwien deserves immense gratitude for her contributions to the SGC as well as to the Canadian community of German-speaking backgrounds in the province. At the Saskatchewan German Council everyone also knows where to turn for expertise in questions of culture, heritage, art and tradition. Exhibition, book and what the future might bring This past fall, Waltraude Stehwien was part of the exhibition “Randscharf - Scherenschnitt heute” in Solingen, Germany with two of her works. This exhibition of the Deutsche Scherenschnittverein (German paper cutting association), included more than 100 paper cuttings by approximately 50 artists. Waltraude is also a long time member of this association. Waltraude Stehwien’s new book “In Black and White: A stroll through Canadian landscapes.” The book is available in major bookstores throughout Western Canada. ADVERTISEMENT 7
Page 1 and 2: POSTILLION Der Rundbrief des Saskat
Page 3 and 4: Board of Directors President Ilona
Page 5: weihnachtsbaum - A German gift Sabi
Page 9 and 10: DAs Schulhaus - Regina German Langu
Page 11 and 12: HIstory of Germans from Russia, Par
Page 13 and 14: 2013 SGC Christmas Card contest Sab
Page 15 and 16: ...this little light of mine... son
Page 17 and 18: News from the German Language schoo
Page 19 and 20: German CLub Regina Update German Ca
Page 21 and 22: K i n de r - & J u g e n d s e i t
Page 24: Publication Mail Agreement # 420865

Winter Postillion - Saskatchewan German Council

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