Nana's Garden is Moving Along

The design is done, samples made, pattern transfered, ground fabric prepared, threads gathered up, fabric ironed & cut. Now for the hand stitching. A question people often ask me is how long a particular work took to make so I am keeping track of the time I am spending on this work; to date -7 hours.

Nana's Garden

I am developing a series of works using my memories of & associations with hydrangeas. I photographed many blossoms in the last days of their splendid show when I was in New Zealand this past May. The low angle of the late afternoon sun set off their fading glory.

A Strange Thing Happened Last Week

...while visiting in Vancouver. I came across this sculpture while walking along the waterfront. I couldn't find any information about what it was called or who the artist was so I snapped some images and thought I would Google it when I got home.

The morning after I returned home to Calgary, I opened up the morning paper to see a photo of the sculpture & the headline 'A big win for Calgary'. "Residents near where the sculpture 'Device to Root Out Evil' was located complained it blocked the view" so Vancouver is getting rid of it and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary has snapped it up even though they don't know where to put it yet.
Dennis Oppenheim is the artist of this controversial work that has been bumped from one place to the next since 1997. I'll post some images of the upside down church when it comes to rest in its new home here in Calgary.

A Show in a Boardroom

Donna Clement & I set up a show of our work in the boardroom of TD Waterhouse, Calgary, during their Customer Appreciation Day.

With the downtown skyscrapers in the background and lots of light it was an ideal place to show our work.

We talked to many people about fibre art and received many favourable comments about our work.

Toronto Dominion Bank continues to be one of Articulation's major supporters so the show was a great opportunity to show the staff and their customers what we do.

Home From the McMullen Gallery

After packing up our work in the McMullen Gallery, Donna & I had to battle through several typical prairie summer thunderstorms on the drive back to Calgary. Strong winds, heavy rain, lightening all around & a tornado warning with 2 of my biggest work in the back of a pick up was a bit of a worry but we all made it safely.

McMullen Gallery, University of Alberta Hospital

The show is over and it is time to take the exhibition down. It has been a most enjoyable experience to exhibit in this gallery. The staff & volunteers couldn't do enough for us, the ambience of the space is nurturing and the visitors so appreciative. Donna & I are looking forward to exhibiting with our group Articulation in the McMullen in April/May/June 2009 with a new body of work resulting from our week together studying the architecture of downtown Winnipeg.

Hand Printing Blocks, India

This highly skilled craftsman carves intricate blocks for printing fabric.

He carves ancient designs and he takes on commissions for new designs. See the Canadian designs on the left. He is making blocks for a Canadian textile artist.

Hand Block Resist Dyed Textile

Stage 9 - Dabu mud-resist is applied where the 1st shade of indigo blue needs to be kept. Dabu can withstand a maximum of 4 dips into the indigo vat.

Stage 10 - The textile is immersed again into the indigo vat & spread in the sun to develop the colour.

Stage 11 - The textile is washed to remove the mud & loose dye. The result is a textile with 2 shades of red, 2 shades of blue, black on white background & magenta where indigo over-dyes red.

More Stages in Hand Block Resist Dying

Stage 5 -Washing removes the printing gums.

Stage 6 - The textile is immersed in a hot alizarin bath for 1 hour to devlop the 2 shades of red.

Stage 7 - Mud-resist paste (clay-earth & gum) is applied with blocks to mask out areas of the design to remain red or white. Sprinkled with sawdust to aid drying.

Stage 8 - Immersed into indigo vat, then spread out in sun to allow blue colour to develop on all unprotected areas.

The Process of Hand Block Printing

One of the displays in the Anokhi Museum I was most impressed with was a sequence of waistcoats that showed the numerous steps involved in hand block printing & dying a textile. Stage one, the textile is treated with Chebulic Myroballan so the pastes & dyes will stick.

Stage 2, The textile is printed with a begar paste (alum) wherever a dark burgundy red is required.

Stage 3, A 2nd mordant paste (again with a temporary tint to guide the printer) is applied to the lighter red areas.

Stage 4, Horseshoes & molassas fermented into a sticky brown paste, oxidises to black when added.

Anokhi Museum, Amber, Jaipur

The Anokhi company, among other activities, helped revive the local hand block printing industry by supporting artisans & their families. It produces block printed garments & products that they sell in their Indian & international retail outlets.

They renovated & restored this old mansion and established a museum to showcase the history of hand block printing and to regularly exhibit work by contemporary clothing designers.

Carpet Weavers in India

The wool yarn is wrapped, knotted & cut in one quick motion.

Naturally dyed yarns from Ibyx goats, sheep and silk worms are used in the carpets.

Dyed skeins are wound into sausage-shaped balls.

The finished carpet is washed with water & salt then left out in the sun to dry for up to 2 weeks.

Paper Makers in Jaipur

We spent a wonderful morning touring Kagzi Industries, paper makers in Jaipur. I was so interested to see the range of papers they made, particularly because I had previously purchased a large amount of their paper from Costco in Canada. Understanding how the paper was made makes it so much more interesting when I work with it.

By the time our tour group was in Jaipur, India was experiencing the coldest temperatures in 40 years. You can see in these images how the paper makers were wrapped in thick shawls, blankets, sweaters & hats to keep warm.

Fresh rose petals are added to the pulp before the sheet is pulled.

This factory makes a vast range of hand made papers and paper products that are exported all over the world.

More Turbans in India

This collection of turbans is in the Cultural Museum in Udaipur. Sorry about the quality of the images. My point 'n' shoot camera couldn't handle the low light or the shiny display cases.