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.

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.

Decisions - decisions

Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll
After sewing the motifs I auditioned many red/green permutations for the sheers going over the top and behind the cut out motifs.
First decision was to settle on the right red and the right green sheers.
Auditioned 2 layers of red with the lung sandwiched between and the leaf between two layers of green.

Red behind with green on top for both motifs?

2 greens for the lung and 2 reds for the leaf? 

Red and green on white?

I settled on green over the lung and red over the leaf with white behind.
I opened up a soft, well-worn pillowcase, added the sheers then suspended the motifs between the 2 layers.
These images don't show the shadows on the white cloth from the cut out motifs.
Adding the snag found in the forest was an easy decision.
Done - all decisions made.

Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll - the process

The ground is a collection of domestic linens (pillow cases, bedsheets, table cloths, bed spread) I dyed in reds and greens then strip-pieced. The resulting fabric hung on my design wall for a long time while I tried to work out what to do next.
The image of the finished work appeared one day.
The next step was to get out my collection of machine threads and sort them by value and intensity...

...then make a selection.

After several drawings on paper I was familiar with the vein pattern.
I drew the leaf outline on the back of the stabilised work then free-motion worked the vein pattern from the back.

 I repeated the process for the lung.
Using the smiley-face foam was a big mistake. It became more problematic the further I went. And a fellow stitcher pointed out the archival life of the foam was not likely to be very long. I ended up cutting most of it out. Working around the stitching was a time consuming job.

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.

 

 

 

Mark Makers at Victoria College of Art

Victoria College of Art - where the Mark Makers are presently having their first public exhibition. 

In the Drafting Studio, first on the right.
I will be taking my turn sitting the exhibition tomorrow.
Lots of people have been visiting so it will be busy.

This is the first time 'Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll II' has been out of my studio.
The artist statement:

How many breaths has this well-worn, opened-out pillow case absorbed?

Capillaries, veins and arteries make up the lungs of our planet. The sister molecules, hemoglobin and chlorophyll, the red and green, are responsible for the rhythm of our lives.

Familiar, used domestic linens allow me to communicate without the need for translation, to reach across time, and to honour the often anonymous original makers.

Domestic linens were dyed red or green, strip pieced, then the motifs free-motion machine stitched.

Mark Makers at Victoria College of Art

Mark Makers is a group of fibre artists who took classes at Victoria College of Art and wanted to continue getting together after the courses finished.
Yesterday they installed their first public exhibition of work.
This is what the Victoria College of Art studio looked like before they began - a blank canvas....

....filled.
This is just a teaser of how the 82 works have transformed the space.
We do hope you are able to make it to the exhibition.
It is runs August 11th to 17th, everyday, from 10 to 4pm.
There will be a closing reception on August 17th from 1 pm to 3pm, with most of the artists in attendance.
We do hope you can come and celebrate their achievements with them.