'Edge of the Forest' Opens

Edge of the Forest Exhibition Opens

The first exhibition of the Canadian Surface Design Association's 'Edge of the Forest' opens in the 

 Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts. Richmond Hill

 It is up for all of March. There is an opening reception on March 11th.

Here is the rest of the schedule, to date: 

April 20-May 4th, 2015 –  Art Square Gallery Toronto

June 4-July 9, 2015 – Exhibition at Parrot Gallery Belleville, ON

August 15  – October 18, 2015 prior to & during Fibre Arts 2015 Conference, Woody Point, NL

The aim of this juried fibre exhibition is to present a survey of work currently being done by Canadian members of the Surface Design Association

Here is my entry.

'Forest Reliquary' 2014 

Materials: Vintage cotton table cloth, earth pigments, cotton thread, leaf skeletons, deer bones, maple tree samaras, fern spores

Techniques: Earth dyeing, spore printing, hand stitching (furrowing, whipped double running stitch, attachment).

Currently, I am using domestic linens and earth pigments as I explore the biological processes in the Pacific North West rainforest. 

Read more here.

I will be teaching a 2-day, weekend workshop on using earth pigments at the Metchosin International Summer School of the Arts 2015 MISSA June 27 - 28 this summer. Do come and join us if you are interested in learning about working with eco-friendly earth pigments and need a little MISSA Magic in your life MISSA

Cardboard Weaving & Embellishment Workshop, Nanaimo

In conjunction with Vancouver Island SDA's exhibition, Current Threads 2014, in the Nanaimo Art Gallery, Margie Preninger will be running a fibre based, 2-day workshop.

'The workshop will be a hands-on approach to exploring colour, texture, and symbolism.'

'The simple weaving will produce a seamless vessel, which can become a purse or decorative item.
A focus will be on connecting to the heart, and exploring your relationship with the creative process'.

Margie has a BSC from the Fashion Institute of Technology New York so her class will be in good hands.
Tuesdays, January 21 & 28th, 6:30 - 9:30 pm, 2014

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.

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.

SDA Conference Exhibition at the International Centre

The artists

The labels were intriguing.

Jay Rich, 'Indigo Butterflies'

'Indigo Butterflies', detail - side view

Lisa Grey, 'After the Fall' series, 22" h x 15" w, leaf prints

Lisa Grey, 'After the Fall' series, 22" h x 15" w, leaf print

Lisa Grey, 'Morphology I-XII', 10" x 10", mixed media collage

Lisa Grey, 'Morphology IX'
oops, this work is standing on its side and I can't rotate an image while posting.
But don't you think it still reads well and looks great?

..and another in the series.

There were so many other appealing works in this exhibition but I didn't have time to photograph any more before it was time to get back onto the bus and head out to the next gallery.

SDA are to be congratulated on their exceptional organization of Gallery Day.
All members visited all of the exhibitions without any stress or overheating - quite an accomplishment in San Antonio summer heat!

Another SDA Conference Exhibition - Elise Deringer & Kelsey Wiskirchen

'Looking Through: New Work from Elise Deringer (right) & Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen' (left) at the AnArte Gallery, San Antonio.

A close up of  'Olivia Wade and Lizzie' shows Kelsey's signature technique - free motion stitch over net.

This work is huge, 100" w x 53" h.
The gallery was barely wide enough to get back far enough to view the work.

The lighting added another dimension to Kelsey's works, creating repeated lines on the white walls.

Here is a low quality image of another large work where Kelsey drew with her machine a page from her journal.

'Residue #9 (Why I Wake Early)', 3 pieces, each 40" x 13"
Elise Dereinger's work is very different - opaque where Kelsey's is transparent.
Here Elise has run ink and sand inside silk, dyed pillow-case forms. Her spontaneity and lines-left-to-chance contrast with Kelsey's intense pre-planning.
I was sorry I couldn't get more images of Elise's work.

'Memory, poetry, and landscape come together in this two-person exhibition that examines internal self, the external world , and the space between.'

Maria Shell - SDA Conference Exhibition, San Antonio

Another stunning exhibition at the SDA conference was a collection of Maria Shell's quilts, at Gallery Nord.

"Color Grids"

Every quilt was made using the same quilt block.

But Maria played with 'line, shape, print, and color' to produce a collection of technically exquisite and very different quilts.

The quilts were installed in a 3-sided booth, which made viewers move in a complex dance back and forward between the walls as they looked, compared, and looked again as discoveries were made.

2013 SDA Exhibition - Kathryn Clark

Foreclosure Quilts
This is the intro members got before viewing Kathryn Clark's work:
"Clark's life as an architect and urban planner influences her work as an artist. As the foreclosure crisis spiraled out of control, this exhibit took its form from foreclosure maps that marked the disintegration of neighborhoods in major U.S. cities."
Many of us had also previously read articles about her work.

'Detroit Foreclosure Quilt' 

But I wasn't prepared for the impact of her work.
The fabric was torn and roughly cut away. Each exposed, raw, red shape documented the upheaval of family homes or businesses.

We had all heard the statistics but Kathryn's quilted cloth mapped out the reality of the situation.

She translated the collected numbers into a story the viewer could relate to.

Back to the SDA conference

Portia Roy's work was captivating - obviously very personal although her artist statement tells of universal trauma to the human body.

I found her series of small works repulsed me while at the same time they drew me in.
I've never experienced that before, while standing in front of art.

In another way I was captivated by the simplicity and complexity of work by Dawn Scent (Wei Sun).
She has used the essential design elements to show atmospheric perspective in a classical Chinese landscape scene - Xia Gao?

By using the simplest of techniques -burning silk to give a brown edge - she singed the fabric using burning incense - a strong and, at the same time, subtle reference to the sense of place and to her inherited culture.
Masterful!