Saz Mifsud is making a name for herself not only as a fashion designer but now as an artist. She speaks to Veronica Stivala about her first painting exhibition, Scene from an Island.

Scorched Balconies

You may be familiar with the Saz Mifsud design label. The fashion designer first made a name for herself with her beautiful silk scarves. From bold and bright greens and blues to more subtle hues of browns and yellows, Saz’s silk creations are special because she actually designed the prints.

Inspired by lilies, shells, the human spine and other natural elements, her silk creations – which have now extended to dresses and ties – are works of art in themselves.

Indeed, while Saz’s venture into painting is, to a certain degree, a different discipline, the two are really quite the same. Saz has been painting ever since she can remember.

“It was always something that I loved doing,” she says, confiding that she “never imagined that it would turn into a profession”.

Saz studied art and design for a year at Central Saint Martins in London, where she learnt a bit about different branches of the subject from fine art to textiles. She then moved on to a degree in fashion print design at the University for the Creative Arts in Kent.

This degree, although more fashion oriented rather than fine art, gave her a better understanding of colour and mark-making: creating interesting compositions on fabric and then turning them into garments. This is where the brand Saz Saz was born, creating digitally-printed silk textiles and transforming them to scarves, ties and today garments such as kimonos and lightweight tops. Her printed textiles are created from her own paintings and thus the transition from textiles to fine art was organic.

The artist describes her style as a combination of rough, colourful brushstrokes juxtaposed with more detailed line drawings. “I love working with textures to give my paintings a bolder feel,” she says.

The brushstrokes, combined with the use of light and shade, create ideas of my subject and leave something to the imagination

Textures play an important part in Saz’s art and she reveals how there are times when she lets her medium guide her:

“Sometimes, I have a good idea of the scene I am about to paint, especially when I am painting a scene from life like a street in Valletta. However, many a time I start a painting without really planning where I am going but just with a vague idea of what I’d like to achieve. I let the brush guide me so to speak.” This is, understandably, a very exciting method and allows lots of experimentation.

Luzzu in Blue

Saz’s upcoming exhibition is entitled Scene from an Island. The collection features snapshots of scenes of boats on the sea as well as Maltese balconies. Saz confesses how inspired she is by Malta and really appreciates its beauty. This emerges in her work. “I love the old Maltese balconies in all their different colours, the stepped streets of Valletta and the bright luzzijiet in Marsaxlokk. I don’t feel like I need to look far for inspiration as it comes to me when I step out the front door or take a walk by the sea,” she says.

For these creations Saz has used a mix of acrylics and ink with hints of soft pastels. She does not like tying herself to just one medium and prefers to give the painting what she feels it needs. “For example,” she says, “if I want a balcony to be really detailed I’ll use a combination of ink pen and Indian ink. If I want to go for a softer feel I’ll use pastels, always using acrylics as a base.”

Judging by Saz’s dreamy paintings it comes as no surprise that she is inspired by the surrealistic and impressionistic art movements. The two inspire her in different ways: the surrealists really believed that if what they created was done automatically, without much planning, they would create a better product, one which portrayed their true emotions.

Having studied this period and written a dissertation on it, Saz was totally inspired by the surrealist teachings. And here one understands better her love for throwing herself into a painting and letting her emotions speak for themselves.

On the other hand, the impressionists, namely Monet and Sisley, really inspire her painting style. These artists were actually criticised from creating impressions of things and not painting scenes as they look in real life. “However,” she says, “this is what gave them their name and it is what I admire most about them. I like to create semi-abstract works in which the brushstrokes, combined with the use of light and shade, create ideas of my subject and leave something to the imagination.”

While Saz will not give away entirely what is next in the pipeline, she does reveal that figure drawing is another of her passions, although this is still in experimental phase.

Scene from an Island runs until September 30 at Palazzo de Piro, Mdina.

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