Articulation in Saint John, New Brunswick

Articulation's recent study of the Bay of Fundy coastline has produced a body of work being exhibited  across Canada. It is combined with a study of the River Thames by the fiber arts group, Material Girls, based in London, England. ARTICULATED MATERIALS: BRIDGING WATERS had a successful three-exhibition tour of London, UK, in 2012 then returned to Canada for its cross country tour. 

The work is currently on the shores of the Bay of Fundy being exhibited in the Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John.

Artist Talks: Nov 14th @ 1pm, Nov 27th @12pm, and Dec 11th @ 12pm.
Exhibition Schedule: Frazee Gallery, Saint John Art Centre, Saint John NB, November 8, 2013 - January 10, 2014

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.

Art Deco

This semester I am doing the Art History: 20th & 21st Century module with the JC School of Textile Arts. I have chosen to study the Art Deco Movement, which happened between the world wars, 1920 to 1940. It is proving to be a most interesting period to study.

Since the summer I have been collecting images of all things Deco and have built up quite a collection I have been able to use in my assignments.

This silk georgette dress, 1920, was in the summer exhibition in the National Costume Museum in Winnipeg.

While in Wolfville, Nova Scotia I recognised their Art Deco style cinema. Like so many cities and towns across North America, in fact around the world, cinemas were built in the new style to be able to house the new popular form of entertainment.

Art Deco has shown up in the most unexpected places. In an earlier post I showed this Art Deco treasure stored in a woolen factory behind bales of wool, in New Brunswick.

Know as a total style, the Art Deco aesthetic was applied to literally everything, from flour sifters to car hood/bonnet ornaments, which meant everyone who had even a little money to spend could participate in the movement and be seen as modern. Finally art/craft/design came out of museums into people's daily lives and wasn't elitist.
Three cheers for Art Deco.

Briggs & Little

While in New Brunswick we stopped in at Briggs & Little, Canada's oldest woolen mill.

This is their new mill, built after a fire destroyed the original.

They still use vintage machines...

...and continue to make the same products, well loved by knitters and weavers throughout North America.

Art Deco in Canada

This semester, for my Julia Caprara School of Textile Arts degree studies, I am investigating the Art Deco Movement. While on holiday touring the Maritimes I was on the look out for evidence of the movement wherever I went.

I was rewarded with examples, often in the most unlikely places.

While touring the Briggs and Little woollen yarn factory in New Brunswick, we spied what looked like a car under covers behind bales of fleece. One of the workers threw back the covers to show a 1930s car the owner of the factory had restored. It was a perfectly preserved example of an Art Deco object with its aerodynamic shape that only recently has been reused in car design for fuel efficiency.

Hood/bonnet ornaments were works of art.

The 3 or 4 straight lines, called Streamline, were a distinctive motif that suggested speed, new technology and acceptance of the benefits of the machine age.

I am now developing my thesis for a 2,000 word paper I have to write on a specific subject in the Art Deco Movement. I am doing lots of reading of library books and articles from web searches.

Brennan's B 'n' B

The B 'n' B I was raving about in the previous post is called Brennan's.

Another interesting feature it has is the curved windows in the front. During a walk into town we noticed this is not uncommon in old houses in Fredericton. There must have been a very skilled glass maker in town at that time.

This house was built by the Chestnut family (of the Chestnut canoe fame) who were hardware merchants. As soon as I had heard a bit of the house's history I started more closely at the details. I found even the hinges on the doors are engraved.

The radiators have abstract floral designs on them.

I wished I had more time to explore the house but we had to hit the road and move on. There were still lots of leaves to look at.

B and B in Fredericton

While in Fredericton, New Brunswick, we stayed in a beautiful Bed and Breakfast.

These 3-way wooden shutters in our room cleverly controlled the light and themselves made lovely changing patterns on the wall and changing patterns of morning light on the other walls.

The house was full of most impressive examples of master craftsman woodworking.

I have no idea how these turned wood patterns would have been made.

They were amazing.

Kissing Bridges, St Martins, New Brunswick

Another special thing about New Brunswick is the large number of covered bridges in good repair and still in use, like this very picturesque one in St Martins.

In the days of the horse and carriage, owners would train their horses to stop whenever on the bridge so in darkness they could kiss the person sitting beside them and not be seen.

It seems this courting ritual on the covered bridges continues.

I was interested in recording the graffiti as part of my ongoing study of the thoughts and views of the 'Y' generation.

I have come up with several different scenarios about Jeff's love life and they are all complicated.

Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick

While visiting the Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick at low tide, we came across some community/spontaneous/environmental art -don't really know what label to put on it, if it needs one.
Each day, after the tide has gone out enough to reveal the beach, the park ranger collects up stones into a form. Throughout the day, visitors to the beach contribute to the installation.

Some like the challenge of balance, building on the Inukshuk idea.

Others add decoration.

Some are challenged to go higher than those before them.
The tide rushed in, levelled it all and made its own arrangement. The park ranger returned in the morning to rearrange the elements again.
It reminded me of the rise and fall of civilisations throughout the history of man.

Leaf Peeping in New Brunswick

More leaf peeping, this time in New Brunswick.

Highest Tides in the World

We have spent many hours this week driving around the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to find front row seats from which to view the rising and falling of the largest tides in the world.

The flowing water sculpts grasses growing in the mud flats.

This shot was taken from the same place as the first one just 6 hours later.