Home

Showing posts with label weavers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label weavers. Show all posts

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Things Textiley in Greece: Fibres and Fabrics - Old and New


Goats on the road, every afternoon - milking time. 
The huge variety of goat cheeses and other dairy products was a gourmet's delight while travelling around Greece. Each village seems to have its own bacterial cultures producing distinctively different cheeses. It was the same with the many different fermented drinks. The fermented honey mead drink served warm on a cold rainy day was my favourite.
I was reminded of how standardized and limited the range of the bulk of commercially available food has become in North America.
Goat meat dishes were on the menu in most places and in the antique shops, I saw many goat hair textiles, often combined with wool. I suspect the goat has been a key item in the Greek economy for centuries.

The oldest textile in Greece has been found in the Church of Saint Sophia.
These ribbons were made between the 2nd half of the 14th century and up to the 1st half of the 16th century. Using gilded silver threads and metal beads they were woven on a tablet loom and embroidered in satin stitch.

Processing Silk
Local silk production went on during the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods - 320AD to the 1800s.
Notice the elegant Kelpht guard watching over the work.

'Metaxi present and past'
A new textile installation. The title plays with the 2 meanings of metaxi - 'silk' and 'between'.
It refers to the "unknown princess" whose clothing and hair was found when her grave in the church of Saint Sophia was excavated. 
Currently on display in the Museum of Mystras are her silk undergarment and her silk outer garment, remnants of her leather shoes and her hair still tied up and decorated in a variety of silk laces. These silk garments plus the history of silk production was the inspiration for this contemporary art installation. 'The 3D arrangement of yarns form linear patterns and reshapes the structure of the dress, reconstructing an immaterial and ethereal female figure.'
'By using yarn as a raw material, the weaving of a cultural bridge is achieved. A bridge that connects notionally the historical weaving position of women in the development of history and cultural meaning through a colourful path between past and present.'
The history of Greek textiles is long and interwoven with every aspect their culture.







Wednesday, April 13, 2016

'Know Your Place - Ideas In Art Form' Exhibition at Tulista Gallery, Sidney, Vancouver Island

Sherley Gordon Edey has invited 7 other artists working in different media to exhibit their work with her photography while exploring the many layers of meaning in the statement
'Know Your Place'

Sherley presents her work in a wide variety of formats, including video and keeps the viewer looking for the story. Often several different stories will emerge from one collection.

The artists who have joined her: Colleen Golumbia, Norma Lofthouse, Dale MacEwan, Terry Murray, Pamela Truscott-White, Lesley Turner, Jean Weller, tell their stories about knowing their place through their own media: clay, wood, baste fibres, fabric.
It all makes for a most stimulating exploration of the theme.

Section/Township/Range
Starting nearly 150 years ago twelve percent of the earth’s land mass was divided up by a straight line grid system, a system now deeply ingrained in western Canadian rural culture. A hierarchy of roads and fence lines mark the boundaries of land ownership. Land parcels have been passed from one generation to the next and continue to be bought and sold. The boundaries of one’s place are still defined by those original Dominion Land Survey lines now deeply etched into the landscape.

This is my contribution to the exhibition. 
Throughout history, many people have been told where their place is, whether a surveyed plot of land, a designated reservation, a placed they fled to or a legally enforced place of incarceration. 
Some have a long family history of living in one place with the passing of each generation reinforcing their feeling of belonging.
Others travel and respond intuitively to their surroundings sometimes arriving and knowing this is where they belong.

As a geographer, I explored one's connection with the land. The other artists explored very different 'Know Your Place' associations. 
I do hope you can make it to the exhibition and see the works for yourself.

CACSP Community Arts Centre at Tulista Park, 9565 Fifth Street, Sidney
April 11 - 17, 2016
Monday - Friday 10 - 4, Saturday and Sunday 12 - 4  

Friday, October 17, 2014

Sidney-by-the Sea: Art Happenings

Sidney-by-the-Sea is normally a busy place but over these next 2 weeks it will really be hopping with arts activities organised by the Community Arts Council of the Saanich Peninsula (CACSP).

  • ArtSea Festival - Many Sidney shops are hosting 55 artists and their work. Here to see more details. 
  • Sidney Fine Arts Show - It is open and on for only 3 more days, until Sunday. Here to see more details.
  • ArtSea Gala: Arts in the Schools Fundraiser - A night of music to raise money for art programs in local schools. Here for more details.
  • Artisans Christmas Gift Gallery - a show and sale of 53 local artisans' work, in the Tulista Park Gallery. Here for more details.
  • Fall Artists Studio Tour - Artists working in the Saanich Peninsula open up their studios to the public. This year 65 artists are involved. Here for more details.
While in Sidney, also check out what is going on in the 2 museums. Both are the places to go if you are interested in Sidney's past. 
The Sidney Museum and Archives currently has a fibre arts exhibition that is well worth a visit. The Deep Cove Spinners and Weavers have an intriguing exhibition called 'Alphabet Soup'. Here for more details. 

There is more going on in Sidney, waiting for you to discover - like the Sculpture Trail along the sea walk.
 On behalf of the CACSP, I encourage you to visit Sidney to take part and enjoy these events.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Textiles in India


Back to my travels in India. I didn't finish telling you about all of the textiley things I saw on my travels. We spent a morning in Patan with the Salvi family who are master weavers of double ikat. The family has been producing these unique silk saris since the 11th century.

The tying of the warp & weft threads is one of the steps in the process of making the textile. It takes 15 years of training to master all 15 steps.

They use natural vegetable dyes on the silk they import from China.

The patola is woven on a primitive hand operated harness loom made out of rosewood & bamboo strips. The loom lies at a slant.
Posted by Picasa