WAR: A Personal Response Exhibition by Articulation October 16 to November 29th 2018

Articulation is very pleased to be exhibiting in the Sidney Museum, Sidney, British Columbia from October 16th to November 29th, 2018.

The exhibition coincides with the 100-year commemoration of the signing of the Armistice Treaty, the official end of World War I in Europe.

While the museum will feature displays full covering Canada's history of involvement in wars until the present day peacekeepers, Articulation will be taking a more personal look at war.

Unlike other studies where Articulation members research together, this war project research was done in their own time. It involved talking to family members to gather war stories and searching through family archives for war-related memorabilia.

I found other source material in many different places.

War displays started popping up in front to me when I wasn't expecting them such as the informative war display in the Mary Winspear foyer, in Sidney.

Around Remembrance Day there were moving displays to think about.

I studied uniforms in military museums.

I photographed war memorials whenever I saw them. This one is in Blenheim, New Zealand.

I caught this one in passing on a rainy day.

                           I began to recognise their familiar shape and looked out for them in every small town we passed through.

I was particularly interested in the airforce because my uncles enlisted.

Google is a treasure trove of early war photographs that say so much.

I visited war museums in England, New Zealand and Canada because they all played a part in my family's war stories.

I was particularly interested in learning about the Lancaster Bomber because my uncle flew one. I visited the Bomber Command Museum of Canada link in Nanton, Alberta. They have one of the last Lancaster Bombers and allow the public to climb up inside the plane. I was able to sit where my uncle would have sat. 

I began to focus on the textiles of war. It was something I could relate to.

I found the uniforms most interesting.

I studied the materials, the construction and how items were attached.

I read a number of books and watched many documentaries on war.

It became overwhelming. I let ideas percolate and captured them in a large notebook. In time a theme emerged. 

I began developing my ideas while collecting materials. I asked people to help me collect specific items. Carol bought me auction lots of military buttons and uniforms. Barbara gave me her husband's airforce uniform to work with. Friends gave me their husband's and father's worn and stained handkerchieves. I live in a very supportive community for which I am so grateful.

I do hope you can make it to the exhibition in the Sidney Museum where you will be able to see how all 6 Articulation members went through a similar process before they were able to begin to tell their personal war stories.

Nana Knitting: New Body of Work Begins with an Announcement

The first project for my Nana Knitting body of work began after a thrilling announcement.

Daughter Katherine made a surprise visit for my birthday. I opened her gift which included a card with the note - "I need this by July 2018." Inside were 2 skeins of yarn. Distracted by the prospect of a new knitting project I think I was the last family member to 'get it.' Katherine was pregnant and due in July. Our first grandchild, how exciting. 

And so my 'Nana Knitting' body of work began. 

I made the rabbit hat using the Rowan Kidsilk Haze yarn in my gift box but combined with an ancient skein of Lavenda 3 ply crisp crepe wool from my sock yarn stash.

I used the Ancient Arts Hat Trick Semi-solid, Ride the Pine skein in my gift box to make a jacket. 

Here it is washed and blocked.

I made up the checkered pattern to give it texture. The pattern is designed with ties at the back. Even though I made thin ties I still don't think it would be comfortable for a young baby to lie on the open back. I suggested to the mother it may be more comfortable worn with the opening in the front.

With the leftover yarn I made a pair of booties with rabbit fur lining the insides of the soles and a pompom for the toes.

Katherine loves rabbits and has had a number of them while growing up. Recently Katherine and Sebastion had a much-loved rabbit called Mango, hence all of the rabbit references.

With outfit #1 made there is no stopping me now. I feel as though the start flag has been lowered in front of me and I am off. There is a lot more Nana Knitting to come off my needles.

Garden Report: Spring Growth while I wasn't looking

While I have been away the garden has been at work doing what it does best - growing.

I have officially declared the Gravel Bed Garden test a success. Plants are growing and flowering profusely, much to the insects' delight. I will continue planting according to the plan.

I have left several parsley plants to go to seed.  I am hoping to transplant lots of parsley seedlings next spring.

The Globe Artichoke plant has come back again this year, evidence our winters aren't too cold for a lot of hardy plants. I have planted 2 more mainly because they provide a mulch cover for soil I haven't planted yet and supply a lot of biomass when they die back. I'll leave this top bud to flower because it will look magnificent standing tall in the bed and the insects will enjoy visiting it. We hope to catch the other buds before they open and enjoy eating them. Everyone will be happy. 

Jostaberry

Wikipedia says, 'The jostaberry is a complex-cross fruit bush in the Ribes genus, involving three original species, the black currant R. nigrum, the North American coastal black gooseberry R. divaricatum, and the European gooseberry R. uva-crispa.'

I have planted 2 shrubs and they are doing well. I am looking forward to tasting jostaberries for the 1st time.

The potato patch is telling us it is ready to harvest. This is a self-sown patch grown from potatoes I inadvertently left in the ground after the last harvest.

I bought a number of Borage (Borago Officinalis) plants as annuals. Here in our garden they are happy and acting more like perennials by growing back each year. The insects visit the flowers constantly. With the last of the flowers, I am now cutting these large plants back and placing them on the soil as a mulch layer. They will start to grow back again in a few weeks.

Swiss Chard/Silver Beet is another plant I am experimenting with leaving to go to seed. The plant is over 6 feet tall and I'm not sure it has stopped growing yet. I am waiting for its seeds to mature before harvesting them.

There was lots of action in the garden beds while I was away. It is time to give the plants some attention which I am very happy to do.

Pathways Exhibition by Vancouver Island Surface Design Association - VISDA

During the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association (VISDA) 'Pathways' exhibition in the Portals Gallery, Duncan, a member sat in the gallery each day.

When it was my turn to sit with the exhibition I had a lovely day. 

When I wasn't talking to visitors I had time to look at every work, then I had knitting to get on with.

'Memories of Place: A Chromatic Narrative,' Sarah McLaren, left.

'Life is s Spiral Pathway, Not a Straight Line,' Donna-Fay Digance, right.

'River' Laura Feeleus, left.

'Deer Trails,' Jean Cockburn, right.

New Work - Geography of Memory, Beginnings

This new work began when the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association put out a call for entry. They were looking for an interpretation of 'Pathways' in a 60" x 12" format.

Sarah McLaren and I had been focused on colour for many months and were both inspired by the colour work of Jean-Philippe and Dominique Lenclos. This couple research the colours typical to a specific place in the world.

New Zealand Forest
Sarah and I have both lived in a number of different places over our lifetimes. We decided to show our memories of those places through colour with each inch of the work representing one year in our lives.

I began by making a life-size sketch then started sampling. My visualisation of this work was so clear my first sample was enough at this stage of my design process to be able to move on to the next step.

I made the base for the ground from a mix of upholstery fabrics heavy enough to support all of the stitching I had in mind.

Next step - deciding on the colour scheme, which was easy because of my strong colour memory of each place I have lived.

Picking the right ground fabrics took a little bit longer even knowing most of them would be covered they still had to be right. 

The base fabrics are bonded to the upholstery fabrics in the right proportions.

Painted bondable webbing ...

...to match each place's colours.

Ironing the painted bondable webbing in place.

Adding snippets of threads, yarns and fabrics to build up the complexity and texture of each section.

Selecting the right coloured nylon scarf from my stash.

Bonding the snippets and nylon scarves in place using parchment paper to stop the iron's sole plate from getting gunked up.

I sprinkled a few granules of 007 Bonding Agent to make sure thicker areas of snippets stuck well. It takes a higher heat setting on the iron to make these granules melt but once they have they stick very well and become invisible.

This is an old and well-used method for building a ground before stitching begins. I learnt this during my City and Guilds days and still go back to it because it is so effective and versatile.

Next step - the stitching. 

Backyard Project: Pattern Language #106 Positive Outdoor Space & #173 Garden Wall

I am making good progress filling the gabion baskets with rounded river rock to make a garden wall defining the edge of the guest patio. 

We are not sure if we will put a board on top to make it a seat or not. If we did it would add another Pattern, #243 Sitting Wall and so strengthen the other patterns.

I had collected up the rounded river rock from various locations around the previous garden and stacked them up along the side of the house. This rock had been brought in to the site by the previous owners. It is not natural to this environment but a permaculture principle is to use what you have. 

I have chosen to use it to make the guest patio a positive outdoor space.

Pattern Language #106 says the problem is 'Outdoor spaces which are merely "left over" between buildings will, in general, not be used.' p. 518.

'There are 2 fundamentally different kinds of outdoor spaces: negative space and positive space. Outdoor space is negative when it is shapeless, the residue left behind when buildings - which are generally viewed as positive - are placed on the land. An outdoor space is positive when it has a distinct and definite shape, as definite as the shape of a room, and when its shape is as important as the shapes of the buildings around it.' p.518.

In the previous post, here, I described how the gabion baskets' stepped form echoes the house shape while defining the edge of the guest patio and enclosing the space. The patio has 2 entrance/exits to give the feeling of sitting in a space which is 'partially enclosed and partly open - not too open, not too enclosed.' p.521. This pattern is particularly important for smaller spaces while they still need to open out to larger spaces. In this case, the patio opens out to the forest.

Pattern Language gives a lot more detail on this important outdoor element and links it back 'to our most primitive instincts.' p.520. where when we are sitting we have a need for protection while at the same time needing a view to seeing what is approaching.

Come spring I will start planting along the outside edges of the gabion baskets transitioning the garden to the Garden Growing Wild pattern #172 - more on that later.

Pattern Language #173 Garden Wall

Problem: 'Gardens and small public parks don't give enough relief from noise unless they are well protected.' p. 806. 

About the only negative of the convenient location of our place is we can hear traffic noise from the nearby highway. We are lessening the impact of highway noise with careful design, plantings, fences and walls. My studio building blocks a lot of the noise from reaching the backyard.

'People need contact with trees and plants and water. In some way, which is hard to express, people are able to be more whole in the presence of nature, are able to go deeper into themselves, and are somehow able to draw sustaining energy from the life of plants and trees and water.' p. 806. Pattern Language goes on to explain how people 'must be shielded from the sight and sound of passing traffic, city noises and buildings. This requires walls, substantial high walls, and dense planting all around the garden' p.806. while still allowing people to be in touch with nature.

The high walls have been built and the intensive planting will continue this spring.