Birgit Piskor was born in the town of Calw, situated in the Black Forest region of Germany, but immigrated to Vancouver Island at a young age. A self-taught artist, her indoor-outdoor sculptures are inspired by the transformative power of concrete and its ability to “fulfill both the mundane requirements of civil engineers and the sublime vision of artists.” Piskor has an uncanny ability to channel concrete’s industrial function into sensual organic shapes and textures that defy its inherent rigidity and harken back to artistic forebears like Brancusi or Moore.
I like to say that my body is my tool. Each of my sculptures is created by layering small, hand-mixed batches of modified concrete over an armature. A certain intimacy and honesty emerge by hand-building each sculpture —the process becomes like a beautiful dance that challenges the notion of what concrete can become.
