'Current Threads 2015: Garden Tapestry' Has Been Installed

Current Threads 2015: Garden Tapestry has been installed at South Shore Gallery, Sooke.

Here is the view as you walk into the Back Gallery.

The back wall

The lights haven't been adjusted yet but it was time to leave after spending all day installing the work.

The artists worked with the size restriction of 12" wide x 60" or 72" long.

The idea was to give a picket fence feel to the installation.

It appears to be currently a popular format to work in.

The artists also worked with a garden theme which they interpreted freely and widely.

There's my triptych on the left. 

Forest Flowers is about fungal flowering and fruiting bodies found in the forest.

It will be fun to meet up with lots of the artists at the opening reception, tomorrow, Saturday, March 5th, 1 - 3 pm,

Exhibition: Current Threads by Vancouver Island Surface Design Association

The annual Vancouver Island Surface Design Association exhibition Current Threads 2015 is travelling after its showing in Duncan last year.

Jessie Taylor-Dodds' gallery South Shore Gallery, in Sooke, is hosting the exhibition.

This is a great chance to view this juried collection of recent work by VISDA members.

Many of the artists will be at the Opening Reception.

Do hope you can make it.

Articulation Study Session in Victoria - Day 3

Articulation members at work; Lesley Turner, Donna Clement, Ingrid Lincoln, Leann Clifford, in the inner harbour. The Empress Hotel is in the background.

First appointment was a morning visit to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria http://aggv.ca/ to see 'Kimono: Japanese Culture in its Art Form' with many magnificent kimonos revealing the complex codes and etiquette of garments in Japanese culture. Articulation member Shannon Wardroper shared some of her extensive knowledge of Japanese culture to give others a better understanding of the exhibits.

A 2nd exhibit 'From Geisha to Diva: The Kimomo of Ichimara'  is a collection of personal effects of one of the most famous geishas, Ichimara. 

Next were visits to the Fort street auction houses Lunds http://lunds.com/ and Kilshaws http://www.kilshaws.com/ to see if there were any maritime history artifacts that may be useful to acquire. There were none this week but it was fun looking.

There was a long wait in the line-up to get into the popular Blue Fox for a late lunch.

Next was a visit to the Royal BC Museum to see the current 'Vikings' exhibition and a search through the museum's other rooms for maritime history-related displays (no cameras allowed).

The Victoria International Chalk Art Festival is on. A large chalk drawing is being made on the floor of the museum. The distorted perspective makes it look 3D.

A walk back along the inner harbour, past the Empress hotel...

...and a variety of street theatre acts.

SALTS sail boats (floating schools) in the setting sun with the Robert Bateman Museum (Originally the Steamship Company building) next to the legislature buildings, across the harbour.

It was a day focused on getting a deeper understanding of the importance of the sea in the development of Victoria from a shallow place to pull up a canoe to an urban centre.

'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' in Saskatchewan

The 4th showing of Articulation and Material Girls' response to the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames, respectively, will be shown in its 7th exhibition - 3 in the UK & 4 in Canada.

This time it is in The Gallery on 3rd, Watrous, Saskatchewan. 

It is the last time before the individual works will be boxed up and returned to owners in the UK and across Canada.

This international collaboration has been an exciting and rewarding project for both groups.

Feb 19 - March 10, 2014

Opening Reception Feb 20, 1 - 4 pm

Gallery open Thursday to Saturday 1 - 4 pm

Articulation member, Donna Clement has designed all 4 posters for the Canadian exhibitions. This last one features one of her works, 'Erosion as Joggins Fossil Cliffs -"Ammonite".'

Carole Sabiston 'Everything Below All of the Above'

There are 2 galleries full of Carole's work.

This one gave me a start because I used the same PK Page poem in my degree studies. 

'Planet Earth:after PK Page' 2013

It was so interesting to see how Carole worked with the same words.

'Connecting Threads: Arc of Carol Shields' 2013

This is a tribute to her friend, Carol Shields, the Noble prize winning writer of short stories.

This image doesn't do justice to the complexity of the silk layers.

3 friend, Esther, Kati, Sarah, all artists, enjoying looking through the large 'Touch Book.'

It is a large exhibition with lots to see, so I have visited twice so far and may go again.

Carole Sabiston Opens at Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

We attended the opening of Carole Sabiston's exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, a retrospective solo called "Carole Sabiston: Everything Below All of the Above"

Curator Pat Bovey, a former director of the gallery and now from Winnipeg, spoke to a packed audience about her long friendship with Carole and her observations over the years as Carole's oeuvre grew.

Left: Pat Bovey, Carole Sabiston, Jon Tupper, Director

Pat's text panel.

 Hope you can read this.

http://aggv.ca/exhibitions/carole-sabiston

Articulation & Material Girls in Saint John Arts Centre

'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' is open in the Frazee Gallery in the Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John, New Brunswick. This is one of 5 galleries in the building and what a beautiful building.

ReBecca Paterson, who lives in New Brunswick, was responsible for getting the exhibit into this beautiful space and she has done all of the work needed to mount the work. She will be giving artist talks in the gallery over the next 2 months.
Congratulations, ReBecca, on a job well done.

In this 3rd Canadian showing of work about the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames the viewer has to work a bit harder to place each work in its geographical location - if that is important to them - because both bodies of work have been combined. In the previous 2 exhibitions they were hung separately. It is interesting to see the differences.

ReBecca made a large 3D installation. Viewers are encouraged to touch the tactile, felted barnacles - an unusual feature of an art exhibition, already being enjoyed by viewers on opening night. 

 

 

 

The exhibition is on until January 10th, 2014.
If you are travelling through New Brunswick sometime over the next 2 months do drop in to see the work.
And please let your maritime family and friends know the exhibition is on.

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

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.

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.

Working in an Off-site Studio

While sitting the 'Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters' exhibition in Sidney's Tulista Gallery, I worked away in a basic studio set up. I was at the gallery everyday so it was an opportunity to see if I would like having a studio away from home.
After a couple of days of dyeing, I washed and blocked 'log cabin' style knit pieces depicting the colours of different crops grown on the prairies.

The main reason for setting up a mini studio in the gallery was to show people how fibre artists work: the materials, the techniques,  the processes.
There was a sign put up each day, outside the gallery, saying 'Artist Demonstrations'. It was effective in bringing people into the gallery.

Peas, right to left: Spring growth, in flower, pods forming.
Knowing I had to be at the gallery by certain time each day made me leave the house. I don't think I would give it the same priority if I was going to my own 'away from home' studio to work. I would find many excuses and reasons to delay going or to not go that day.  This revelation comes as a bit of a shock to me. Does it mean making art is not top priority in my life? Or do I lack self discipline? Or do I avoid hard work?

 I started machine sewing on the now dry knit farm blocks using my portable teaching sewing machine.
The Janome open-toe, free motion foot kept getting caught in the knit loops. I will continue this step at home using my Bernina with its large, circular free motion foot.
It was an interesting experiment to work away from home for 2 weeks. It has made me think about how I use the hours in each day.

Articulation and Material Girls at Tulista Galley

Barb McCaffrey and I have been sitting in the gallery every day, with breaks when 2 other Articulation members, Wendy Klotz and Donna  Clement, visited for a couple of days each.
We set up a mini studio so we can continue to work while people visit.
It has been sunny most days so I have been dyeing.

I have been dyeing protein fibres: wool, mohair and silk, with easy to use Gaywool dyes.
Over the 11 days we have had over 700 people visit the exhibition.