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.

Articulation's Upcoming Exhibition

After a successful 2012 tour of London, the Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters exhibition is touring across Canada in 2013-4.

Bay of Fundy Architecture
The first stop was earlier this year, in Winnipeg's Cre8ery Gallery http://www.cre8ery.com/, during the Embroiderers' Association of Canada's national seminar http://www.eac.ca/.

The Tide Is Out
The second stop will be in the Tulista Community Art Gallery, Sidney, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
From the gallery windows one can see across Haro Strait to the USA, which makes it a most suitable place to exhibit work about 2 other bodies of water: the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames.

Saint Martins, Bay of Fundy
The exhibition will be open daily from September 1st to 14th, 10 am to 4 pm.

Hopewell Rocks, Bay of  Fundy
Material Girls, a fibre arts group based in London, UK, has joined with the Canadian-based fibre group, Articulation, to exhibit bodies of work responding to studies of their respective country's iconic waterways.

Jane Dunnewold Exhibition - San Antonio

While attending the SDA conference in San Antonio this year, a group of us got to see a collection of Jane Dunnewold's more recent work.

And, no, it wasn't whole cloth work.
Jane had given herself the challenge of working with plaster, sand and twigs.

A real departure from the work she is so well known for.

She has published a small book on this body of work.

 

 

 

SDA Conference - UTSA Graduates

With the conference being held in June we were in time to see a graduates' exhibition at The University of Texas at San Antonio, in the Downtown Art Gallery.

I liked William Billy George's work. He studied at the Appalachian Centre for Crafts.
I looked closely at the folded paper and saw stitched letters.

I read the label. He called it 'Secret', so I looked at the work again, this time trying to find more.
This is just what the title of a work should do for the viewer - give a clue to take them deeper into the work and make them look at the work again.

First place went to a work installed high on the wall, above other works, with only just enough light on it to see some detail.
Julie Shipman cut up and cut out sections of a weathered door and added what looked like corrugated cardboard. The label said Paverpol was used, probably to stiffen the cardboard.
It certainly was a strangely intriguing work - to see something so familiar looking so not right. A door on its side, stuck high on the wall, cut up and its insides showing. Hmmm...

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.'