Having Fun With Synesthesia

When building a ground with snippets of thread....

...one uses a lot of it.
I do love to empty a spool.

Collecting up fabric and thread for Synesthesia #4

Collecting up fabric and thread for Synesthesia #5.
I am enjoying working on this series.

Current Threads 2013 Artist Talks

On Saturday 21st, the Metchosin Art Gallery featured artist talks during the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association's annual Current Threads exhibition.
Curator of the gallery, Hailey Finnegan, made the opening remarks and introductions.

Sarah McLaren spoke about the processes and techniques involved in her monumental thread painting of a path through a forest. We are all familiar with this native, island forest, which makes the details and accuracy of Sarah's work so inspiring.

Kristin Rohr http://kristinrohr.com/combines science and art to produce maps about important social issues. She made the audience aware of how much sampling she does and how important it is in her process before she is ready to produce a major work. 

Linda Wallace http://www.americantapestryalliance.org/AP/ArtistBio/WallaceL.html is a tapestry weaver extraordinaire. She also makes a bridge between science and art to express how she feels about important personal issues. Linda also produces exquisite, small graphite drawings, most of which stay in her small sketchbooks but some have a second life providing the motifs in large woven wall hangings.

Then I spoke about the 'Synesthesia series I am working on.
I couldn't take a photo of my self but I will be posting more about this series later.

Articulation, Bridging Waters Exhibition

Here is my Postcards From Fundy series where I looked at the history of human settlement in the Bay of Fundy through the textiles the people made, wore and used.

When people entered the gallery Wendy Klotz's "Lost at Sea" work greeted them. It was so moving to talk to a man who had worked as a fisherman in Nova Scotia in his youth.
Wendy's work is about the statistic that as a Nova Scotian fisherman you are 19 times more likely to die on the job than any other occupation. She knitted 19 fish.

Miriam Birkenthal's 'Fundy Algae' caused most people to put their faces very close to the work to more clearly see the details in her bead work.

Wendy thread painted a series as a memorial to the now closed Bay of Fundy lighthouses.
Barbara McCaffrey made a series of small 3-dimensional studies of bivalve shells, found as ancient fossils in the Bay of Fundy and still found on beaches today.

Working in an Off-site Studio

While sitting the 'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' exhibition in Sidney's Tulista Gallery, I worked away in a basic studio set up. I was at the gallery everyday so it was an opportunity to see if I would like having a studio away from home.
After a couple of days of dyeing, I washed and blocked 'log cabin' style knit pieces depicting the colours of different crops grown on the prairies.

The main reason for setting up a mini studio in the gallery was to show people how fibre artists work: the materials, the techniques,  the processes.
There was a sign put up each day, outside the gallery, saying 'Artist Demonstrations'. It was effective in bringing people into the gallery.

Peas, right to left: Spring growth, in flower, pods forming.
Knowing I had to be at the gallery by certain time each day made me leave the house. I don't think I would give it the same priority if I was going to my own 'away from home' studio to work. I would find many excuses and reasons to delay going or to not go that day.  This revelation comes as a bit of a shock to me. Does it mean making art is not top priority in my life? Or do I lack self discipline? Or do I avoid hard work?

 I started machine sewing on the now dry knit farm blocks using my portable teaching sewing machine.
The Janome open-toe, free motion foot kept getting caught in the knit loops. I will continue this step at home using my Bernina with its large, circular free motion foot.
It was an interesting experiment to work away from home for 2 weeks. It has made me think about how I use the hours in each day.

Articulation and Material Girls at Tulista Galley

Barb McCaffrey and I have been sitting in the gallery every day, with breaks when 2 other Articulation members, Wendy Klotz and Donna  Clement, visited for a couple of days each.
We set up a mini studio so we can continue to work while people visit.
It has been sunny most days so I have been dyeing.

I have been dyeing protein fibres: wool, mohair and silk, with easy to use Gaywool dyes.
Over the 11 days we have had over 700 people visit the exhibition.

Current Threads 2013 Opens at MAG

The Vancouver Island Surface Design Association's annual exhibition, 'Current Threads 2013,' held its Artists' Reception at the Metchosin Art Gallery this afternoon.

This was VISDA's 1st exhibition of work selected and hung by an independent curator.

Guest curator, Kathy Guthrie, made the opening remarks....

...and announced the Surface Design Association Award winner, Linda Elias, with her work 'In the Garden'.

Linda Elias, 'In the Garden'
Congratulations, Linda.

First Pass Installing Bridging Waters

Here is what the gallery looks like after the first pass at installing 'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters'.

The labels are next.


Then lots of tweaking: straightening, centering, hidding hanging wires, cutting nylon ends....

Flowers, info sheets, posters, guest book etc still to come.

Bridging Waters Installed at Tulista

Here is the before shot.
Yesterday we installed Articulation and Material Girls' combined exhibition in the gallery in Tulista Park in Sidney, BC.

Drop sheets are laid on the floor beside all of the hanging walls so work is protected when laid out and while the hanging plan is worked out.

Windows at one end of the gallery look out over a playground while the other end windows look over Haro Strait to the USA.

Setting up a mini studio where the exhibiting artists can work while sitting the exhibition.