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 International
Canadian artists Nisha and Dan Ferguson knew
as children that they would be artists. Both
were fascinated with drawing since the
impressionable age of three. They both
answered without hesitation, when asked what
they wanted to be when they grew up,
"Artist!"
They spent every summer of their childhood
in their family's cottages: in the Kawarthas
north of Toronto for Dan, and in the
Gatineaus, east of Ottawa for Nisha. They
each traveled for a year before enrolling at
the Art Centre of Central Technical School
of Ontario, which is of course as you may
have guessed by now, where they met some 20
years ago.
Right after graduation Dan and Nisha
married. With as much precision and as sure
of one another as two trapeze artists who
meet in mid air, they began to collaborate
artistically and have never looked back. Dan
is the sculptor and mold maker, and Nisha is
the designer and painter.
When you hear people speak of DaNisha
Sculpture you will hear the words optimism,
excitement, innocence, wonder, and awe.
These descriptions accurately reflect the
source of a vision held since childhood.
Neither Dan nor Nisha ever wavered from
their early vision to be artists. Nisha, an
accomplished acrobat and choreographer, may
once have been tempted to run away and join
the circus, but she founded the successful
performance troupe in Ontario known as "Gravityworks",
and realized she could incorporate a long
held fascination for the circus into her
life and art.
"Working with my life partner," says Dan,
"and compromising my ideas in order to find
something new is a metaphor for our life
together. However, compromise is an
illusion. What it really does is allow for
possibilities neither of us ever may have
thought of."
Artists' Statement:
 Over time our work has evolved in
fundamental ways. It is very true that one
must always return to the basics in order to
improve and hone one’s work.
We use two materials; ceramic and bronze.
Our work then consists of three components;
sculpture, drawing/painting and design.
While Nisha has been naturally improving her
drawing/painting skills, and I my sculpture
skills, over the years we have found
ourselves compelled to re-study the
fundamental principles of design. In fact,
we realized that these principles were those
which we ignored, or deemed too boring to
pay attention to in art school. They are
precisely the building blocks our teachers
tried to impress upon us as impossible to do
without if one endeavors to design well.
My sculpture has improved in that I have
learned, and am continuously learning, how
to edit the forms of life so as to describe
figures elegantly and without clutter. Real
life contains an infinite amount of details.
It is my job to find and arrive at just the
right amount of detail (not too much!) in
order to create something beautiful. As in
all things, there is beauty in simplicity.
This is the art of sculpture.
As sculpture is my department within the
collaboration of “DaNisha”, drawing/painting
is Nisha’s department. She concerns herself
with two particular aspects of the art
of drawing/painting; color and line. She
says; “Believing in the power of color was
something I came to slowly. Grasping the
depth of emotion color can convey has been
my challenge. I cross into the world of
emotion and color with excitement, searching
for ways to express feelings and love.”
“The endless struggle for expressive line is
a challenge that confronts all artists.
Studying the masters and endless practice
are the solution. Creating a beautiful line
is a joy unlike any other.”
Nisha and I each create through a different
medium; however design is what unites us. It
has been a slow dawn but it is now more than
ever that we understand the subtle, yet
profoundly important principles of design.
Principles such as: shape, proportion,
balance, repetition, harmony, unity, the
relation between form and functionality,
decoration and thematic consistency to name
a few.
The art of design embodies as many
different principles as sculpture and
drawing/painting. In fact, all are integral
and necessitate a carefully considered
orchestration. Herein lays the true
collaboration of “DaNisha.”
For more information, please visit
www.danishasculpture.com.
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