EVA STUBBS

Biography

Eva Stubbs was born Budapest, Hungary in 1925 andimmigrated to Canada in 1944.

Through drawing and sculpture installation, Eva Stubbs incorporates the human figure into much of her work as she expresses what has been described as "her intense concern for humanity" (Shirley Madill, 1987). This concern has ranged from feminist to technological issues, to an interest in the forms of ancient civilizations and their place in history.

Silent Voices (1982-83) is a series of crude female forms, features carved on their faces and bodies with a series of scratches and marks that cause them to resemble ancient or primitive carving and sculpting.

Memories for the Future (1987) consists of ten monumental seated figures and five large carved and painted clay columns. Painting her sculptural surfaces with oxides and colourants, and incising them with lines Stubbs's surface treatment underscores the affinity her sculpture shares with archaeological findings.  In an interview with Robert McKaskell in April, 1993, Stubbs described this work as "a strong female carrying the burden of society on her back." Also in 1993, Stubbs held an exhibition in Hungary with Caroline Dukes, entitled Pillars and Arches: The Art of Caroline Dukes and Eva Stubbs, exhibiting Memories for the Future and subsequently donating it to the Vasarely Museum in Budapest. Multiples (1995) is a sculptural installation consisting of phallic and womb-like forms and reflects the artist's exploration of contemporary issues regarding male-female relations, and the implications of scientific developments for fertility and reproduction and its impact on the family unit. Using pieces of piano wire, an old paddle and a sock darner, Stubbs initially fashioned these sculptures out of clay and later cast them into plaster.

In 1984 Stubbs was commissioned to do a series of bronze panels for Winnipeg’s Law Courts building. In addition to her sculptural practice, Stubbs has taught art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and Lakehead University and was a founding member of SITE, a gallery cooperative. She was also a mentor in the advisory program for Manitoba Artists for Women’s Art.

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