More Christmas Knitting Completed

Take some delicious yarns: (left) -3 ply wool & silk hand-dyed by Fleece Artist & (right) Diamond's lace weight pure silk...

... add needles & follow Fleece Artist's Ana Bandanna pattern.

The 2 yarns blended together so well into a softly draping sunset-looking fabric.

Younger daughter modeled it before it was packed up and sent to her older sister.

The pleating at the back looks like origami.

I have heard it fits well.

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.

Post Cards from Fundy #5

The 5th post card covers the mid to late 19th century when Gothic Revival architecture was all the rage, particularly in the UK. Here is the 'stamp' for the post card, a simple wooden version of the style as built around the Bay of Fundy.

Here is a magnificent example of the Gothic Revival style translated in wood, found in the sea port of Yarmouth.

Two identical houses were built (1877-78) side by side by a father for his son and daughter.

This one survives after the other unfortunately burnt down in 1992.

Loving attention was given to the gable and window detailing.

 

Post Cards From Fundy #4

The 4th post card is about the Bay of Fundy in the early 19th century.
Everything 'classical' was all the rage.
Here is the 'stamp' in progress.

Many hours have been spent on the design of these post cards. I made mock-ups in paper (the inside of security envelopes) to check the range and distribution of values. I also use my camera to get black and white images so I can check the values are working.

I sampled the type and colour of stitching to use to attach the textiles: How wide to make the zig zag, how close together so the stitching showed but didn't dominate.

Auditioning different braids and cords to use as the lines on the post card.

This...

...or this?

Post Cards from Fundy #3 Arcadians

The 3rd post card is one from the Arcadians who settled in the Bay of Fundy area from the early 17th century.
Here is the 'stamp' in progress showing a typical house with animal shelter attached and dykes the people made. 

The Arcadians brought with them a high level of textile skills so their garments were made from a variety of sophisticated materials: fulled, felted, woven, dyed wools; bleached linens; soft, adorned leathers; fine lace; woven ribbons.
I have made decisions about which fabrics I will work with and arranged them by colour scheme, value scale and intensity.

Assembly of the post card. 

Auditioning different materials for the printed lines found on post cards.

Fundy - Cape D'Or

Our visit to Cape D'Or has been the highlight of our trip so far.

It was so windy it was a challenge to stand steadily enough to take photographs.

Sketching was out of the question.

But what fun!

Knitting and the Olympics

What a great combination. With all of the Olympic coverage on TV, I have been doing a lot of knitting. I just finished a pair of mittens from a kit a friend brought back for me after her summer trip through Nova Scotia a few summers ago.

The simple slip stitch pattern is easy to do while watching the screen so I started another pair using wool from New Zealand this time - a soft 10 ply fine merino with an variegated 8 ply wool. The colours are in short lengths so when used to make large textile pieces as for a sweater the colours look spotty. But the short lengths of colour are ideal for slip stitch patterns.

This winter I have been wearing these fingerless gloves. Yes, the winters are that mild here in Victoria. I bought them in 'Hands of the World', a very interesting store in Pike Place Market in Seattle. The owner, Cynthia Hope, has a great eye for quality hand made items that she sources from all over the world.

When visiting Seattle I got a bit caught out with the cold windy weather and having not brought a warm enough jacket with me. So I bought the mittens and a bright red Indian silk scarf in the store and they kept me warm during our days in Seattle.

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.

Pumpkin Art, Wolfville, Nova Scotia

While we were in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, we went to the Saturday market. Remember this is the second town in North America to apply to the Italian organisation for 'Slow City' status. Part of the idea is to encourage residents to live off food they produce themselves. Surplus food and products are sold at the weekly market. Consumers are encouraged to preserve, can, bottle and store food for the winter months.

The market this day had a competition for the stall owners. They were to decorate pumpkins. We, the shoppers, were given ballot forms where we could record our favourite pumpkins. And there were prizes.

This one nearly got my vote. It is called 'Hen Art' and was made by the vegetable store owner's hens, while the pumpkin was growing.

I think that qualifies as performance art.

The one I ended up voting for was a rather plain looking pumpkin called 'Pumpkin Pi'. You guessed it, a couple of students ( I forget to even notice what they were selling) drew with a red Sharpie the formula for pi around the pumpkin. I thought that was clever.

More Architecture in Yarmouth

Here are some more images of the outstanding, well preserved architecture to be found in Yarmouth.

It is unusual to find in a relatively small place such a wide range of styles within a few blocks of each other.

One of the explanations is many of the houses were built by wealthy sea captains who were inspired by what they saw in their ports of call.

The quality of construction and the size of the houses reflects the powerful position of Yarmouth on the sea trade routes in the hey day of sail.