'Aunt Flow Speaks Out' Has Been Installed

'Aunt Flow Speaks Out,' Kirsten Horel & Lesley Turner; size variable; cotton, silk, linen women's handkerchiefs, cotton thread, earth pigment, nails, notebook, pen; thrifting, laundering, ironing, lettering, painting.

This is Aunt Flow's official photograph.

'Aunt Flow Speaks Out' has been installed.

The Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria (CACGV) is commemorating International Women's Day with the art exhibition "Women Hold Up Half the Sky." It is in the Bay Centre, downtown Victoria, on the 3rd floor, next to Club Monaco.

The exhibition is on from February 25th until March 13th.

The Installation

The curators, Stepanie and Brin, have given Aunt Flow 8 feet. The ceilings must be 12 feet high so this is going to be the largest Aunt Flow has ever been. The bigger the better for Aunt Flow.

Step 1. The Template

Pin up the template and mark the wall through the holes.

The template is made from an on-point interfacing. The red dots are around holes in the template where I can make a pencil marks on the wall.

Step 2. Nail a handkerchief with a tag over each pencil mark.

Step 3. Place the plinth in the centre with the book and pen on top.

Complete.

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: Joggins Coal Trees

I sewed 3 different trees' leaf scar patterns on heavy cotton velvet.

Embellished with coconut shell and dried seeds.

Embellished with porcelain painted beads I bought while in India.

The sewn pattern on the velvet ends of each form suggest the trees' water carrying xylem cells.

'Joggins Coal Trees'

Luxurious bolsters referencing the wealth of the Industrial Age being dependant on the vast coal reserves these trees formed during the Carboniferous period.

Bridging Waters Body of Work

For the 'Fossil Tree' work I made and covered 3 forms. 

Then played around with various arrangements of them...

...to see if the sizes and shapes worked.

To see if they were going to give me the look I wanted.

Next step was to make covers for the forms.
I chose a thick cotton velvet. It proved a bit of a challenge to manoeuvre large amounts of such heavy fabric.

Memorial Art

After the 2 recent collapses of Asian clothing factories resulting in loss of life, I was reminded again of walking through the downtown core of Christchurch in New Zealand this past summer.

On an empty lot where a church had stood there was an art installation of white painted chairs sitting on artificial grass.

The sign tells of the many times empty chairs have been given meaning by artists: Vincent van Gogh, the site of the Oklahoma Bombing, the NY 9/11 site. . .

The site is a memorial to 185 people who died in the Christchurch earthquakes.
People are invited to select a chair and to sit for a while.
It is a very moving and graphic work.

Joshua Creek Heritage Art Centre

The Joshua Creek Gallery housed the World of Threads Festival exhibition De rerum natura ( On The Nature of Things). The festival curator, Gareth Bate, looked at all of the work submitted then decided on groupings and themes. He "observed that environmental work is the most dominant theme in contemporary fibre art."
These are some of the works I particularly liked in this exhibition.

Leanne Shea Rhem, Armour, 2011

Hand-made kozo paper and lambskin leather were stitched together to make a dressed, life-size human form.

Kozo was a popular medium in the festival but no 2 artists used it in the same way.

Emily Jan, Durer's Rhinoceros, 2011
Emily's title refers to the woodcut Albrecht Durer made in 1515, of a rhinoceros, an animal he had never seen. He worked from a description written by an explorer who had returned to Europe. Durer modeled it after what he was familiar with - metal and leather amour.

Wiki - "probably no animal picture has exerted such a profound influence on the arts".

Emily, likewise has made a rhinoceros from the familiar materials we cover ourselves with - our clothing. 

Recycled garments & textiles and resin.
Knitting, crochet, eyelet embroidery, button fastenings, lace edgings.

This suspended rhino made everyone smile.

Continuum Installed in Oakville Town hall

Denise Jones installing her work with Rena, the Oakville public art installer looking on. 

Monika Brueckner installing her work, with a World of Threads Festival volunteer, June, looking on.

Judy and Ned Martin installing Judy's large work.

The beginning of my installation. 

Ingrid Lincoln BA(Hons) Stitched Textiles

 

 

 

 

 

The Hanging Happens

The shipping box is opened. All looks good. The suitcase is full of the back-up research. 

My intrepid assistant springs into action assembling the frame.

He consults with another artist's assistant (Judy Martin's husband Ned) on the workings of the trapezes we are hanging our work from.

The bed sheets are slid on the frame before it is fully assembled.

The frame is pulled to the side to get the installation in the right place.

Done

Yes!