Post Cards From Fundy - Research

Last post I was wondering which braid to put on the post card. Margaret sent me her opinion in that post's comments and I have gone with what her suggestion.
My research told me the heavier braid was right because the period covered by the post card was the industrial revolution when all sorts of textile related machines were invented. Many different braiding machines were built to satisfy the fashion demands of the time. But this vintage, metallic braid is too heavy for the work and the wrong colour. I considered the finer blue knit, tube braid but it doesn't stand out enough. I went with a fine black braid.
Thank you Margaret for your supportive comments.

The main source of inspiration for this post card is an 1816 sailor's uniform, reproduced by Charlene Delouchery-Roberts for a museum located on the shores of the Bay of Fundy.

The long-imported Indian ginghams were now being produced by UK mills.

For this post card I used the sailor's uniform colour scheme and similar textiles: cotton gingham, wool serges and felt.

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.

Post Cards From Fundy, Port-Royal

The 2nd post card in the series is about the French who settled in the Bay of Fundy at various times from the early 17th century until the mid 18th century.
I visited a reconstructed French fort, Port-Royal, a national historic site, to find out what sort of houses were built and what  textiles were used.

Wool felt and fur

Baste fibres and linen.

I stitched a simple house on evenweave canvas.
This will be the stamp on the post card.

I went through the materials I had been collecting for the past 6 months...

...and sorted them by colour to find the ones that would work together.
All of the colours are low intensity because it was a period of natural and bleached colours of the materials and natural dyes.

Then I laid them out by value, light to dark.
 I  decided to go with the mid values plus black and white to put the work in the major scale.

Mi'kmaq Material Culture

I continued my research on the material culture of the Mi'kmaq.
Inspired by the cover of this excellent book by Ruth Holmes Whitehead...

...I worked an image of a bark house in cotton on evenweave canvas.

After more reading...

...I collected materials to represent the ones the Mi'kmaq used in their daily lives.
Now what to do with them?
How can I tell a story about how the Mi'maq lived in the Bay of Fundy? 

Articulation Work

I have been working on a series for the Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters exhibitions Articulation and Material Girls have organised. Each member of Articulation made and sent one work to the UK where it was exhibited with a body of work produced by a similar group, Material Girls, based around London.
After a successful 3-gallery tour in 2012, the work has been returned to Canada, including one work from each of the Material Girls group. There are 3 galleries in Canada booked to show Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters over 2013 and 2014 (see side bar on the right).
In the meantime, Articulation members are in their studios producing more work to add to their response to the Bay of Fundy to complement Material Girls' study of the River Thames.

For my first work I researched some of the many rock carvings left by the first inhabitants of the Bay of Fundy coastline. I have continued my research of the Mi'maq material culture.

During 2 visits to the Fundy area I found Mi'kmaq artifacts in museums.
A chair seat cover (mid 1800s) made from dyed porcupine quills on a birch bark ground. The technique is often described as a form of weaving but I see it as an embroidery technique because the quills are manipulated the same way as thread. They are twisted, laid down and couched, while the ends pierce the ground.

This colourful porcupine embroidered basket is newer as evidenced by the use of aniline dyes to produce brighter colours. It was entered in the 1901 Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition in Halifax.
The small basket in front would have been produced for the tourist market. It is made from ash splints, hickory bark and grasses by a member of the Waban-Aki group in the mid 1900s.

I found Mi'kmaq footwear in the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto.
The white decoration on the vamp of these moccasins (1830-1840) is beadwork, using the smallest beads on any shoe in the museum's collection.

Beading techniques allowed embroiderers to move away from traditional geometric designs. The more organic lines and shapes were appropriated from European embroidery styles at the time. It is an indicator of increasing contact between North American aboriginals and Europeans.
My research continues...

The Quilters Hall of Fame

I found this such an interesting book.
I went through it twice, once for the photos and again to read the well written bios of mainly American quilters.

It is a 'Whose Who' of the past and present North American ( mainly) quilt world.
By featuring quilt artists from the early 19th century to the present it also does a very good job putting the contemporary art quilt in its social context and illustrates its historical development.

Sewing Machines

When I left home at 17 my parents gave me a Bernina sewing machine.

I gave my machine a thorough cleaning and oiling...

...and put it, with all of its accessories, into its case...

...and tucked it under my sewing table....

...because I have bought new machine.
There is much excitement in my studio.

My sewing corner got a thorough cleaning while I just looked at my new machine and felt a little sad about my faithful old Bernina tucked under the table (just in case I need it).
It will be a steep learning curve to go from an all mechanical 40-year old machine to working with the newest addition to Bernina's stable. I am ready to master my new machine.

Hard Twist - Toronto

Hard Twist 6:Touch Me, Feel Me  was an independent exhibition during the World of Threads Festival, held in the historic Gladstone Hotel as their annual juried show.

Jolie Bird (Halifax) wrapped gold thread around headphones but it looked as though she had gold wrapped the record player and the record as well. The exhibition title says Touch Me, Feel Me but Jolie's work had a bold 'DO NOT TOUCH' sign in front of it, which only made me think more about wanting to touch that gold thread.

Kali Brown's (Burlington) small, dark blue Block stuck on the wall was fascinating. It was so simple yet it strongly appealed to my memories of touching things.

Made from rope it had a utilitarian familiarity but I still wanted to touch it to remind myself of what rope feels like.

Kaili's work made me reassess what I thought I was familiar with. 

Gillian Collyer (Toronto) Bound

This work made me laugh. I thought about the chair no longer being touchable, how a soft tactile layer covered a hard surface, how the binding made the object unusable but mostly I thought about what fun this work would have been to make.