Looking Back at 2014... and Forward to 2015

Hard to believe that my last post was March 2014. Catch-up is overdue. 2014 was busy and productive. My work appeared in 2 publications.

I was honored to have one of my books selected by Lark Books for Volume 2 of its 500 Handmade Books series. Although this was published in September 2013,  I didn't receive my copy until early in the New Year. My "Grand Canyon" book is on page 120.

In September, I was one of 30 local artists and fine craft makers to be featured in "Back Road Craft, Fine Craft in Grey and Bruce Counties." Each artist in this publication had 4 pages devoted to outstanding photographs of their studio and process, along with explanatory text. Here are a few pictures taken by photographer Becky Comber.

Much of my time in 2014 was spent completing the big quilt/book project referenced in previous posts. Six quilts and six artists books (each in an edition of 3) were finally completed. "Comfort/Discomfort" was shown at the Durham Art Gallery from September 13 to November 9, 2014 as part of a show entitled Adaptation, I shared the large gallery space with Iriz Paabo, whose approach to the quilt form certainly differs from mine, but our selection of work complemented each other beautifully. I'm proud to report that the show was well attended and generated many thoughtful and appreciative comments. And I must acknowledge the funding support of the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. The project would not have been completed without that support.

With a successful show under my belt, I'm sending out proposals to other galleries. Meanwhile I will be participating in a travelling show of work by Canadian members of the Surface Design Association. I submitted 2 pieces to the jury. One was chosen to be one of 54 works exploring themes of boundaries and edges.

Forest_Fence_Field chosen for "Edge of the Forest" 

Detail from "Northwest Passage" not chosen

More Art Quilts and Artist's Books

The project is nearing completion. Five of six quilts and books are now complete. One more to go!
While I mull over how I want the final quilt/book to look like, I'm submitting display proposals hither and yon. And displaying at local venues: last November on The Wall in Walkerton and tomorrow in Port Elgin at the International Women's Day celebration.

Comfort/Discomfort: 5 of the 6 Art Quilts

Behind the Facade.

This is How we Disappear.

It Began With A Handkerchief.

14 Reasons

"The Price of Silence". Two new quilts.

I've now completed two more quilts in the Ontario Arts Council funded project. I'm currently calling the collection of quilts and books "The Price of Silence", These two are on display at the Paisley Mill until mid-August.

This is How We Disappear

Behind the Facade

Model for "This is How We Disappear" book.

Recent Book Art

Pandora's Cannister

A figure of Greek mythology, Pandora was gifted by Zeus with a beautiful box. When  the box was opened, a host of plagues escaped to harass mankind. Only Hope remained in the box.  

The term  “Pandora’s Box”  has since gained currency as a metaphor for unintended , negative and irreversible consequences.  It’s a term often used in relation to the nuclear industry.Most recently Pandora’s name has been invoked by the  opponents  of those who are searching  for a willing community to “host” a nuclear waste  dump.

 Pandora, now a student of alchemy,  journals about the issue in her childish handwriting  as she practises drawing alchemical symbols. Her notebook is  found tucked into a canister designed for underground storage of spent  nuclear fuel rods. The dyed and stained pages of the notebook evoke the smoke and steam we fear in the event of a nuclear accident.

Pandora's Cannister, closed

Pandora's Cannister, open

How to Mend a Barn

There is such beauty in the century-old barns that grace the rural Ontario landscape.  Sadly, many have fallen into such a state of disrepair that they are being  replaced by spanking new steel edifices.  But others have been patched and repaired over time.  Their owners, masters of the art of recycling and repurposing, use  whatever materials  are at hand to shore up the old buildings: old signage, rusty sheet metal, left-over paint and lumber.  In so doing, they create surprising patches of colour and texture;  images that are particularly arresting when seen against a grim, grey winter sky.

How to Mend a Barn insideview

How to Mend a Barn cover

“How to Mend a Barn” documents  these images.  I had  first re-imagined  the old barns in textile form. I  made  an art quilt using found and recycled materials to honour the barn mending process.   I then photographed  the quilt, and used the series of patchwork  images  in the book. The text is  a poem written by my husband in the voice of one of those  resourceful  barn menders.

And here's the quilt:

2013 is starting out well....

What a great start to 2013! I've been awarded an Ontario Arts Council Grant to complete a series of quilts and book art on the domestic violence theme. First in the series is "Blood and Roses:, already written about in previous posts. The second quilt and book, which explore the reality that domestic abuse happens in every neighbourhood,  are well on the way to completion. Here are a few early glimpses:

The quilt top, yet without borders, hanging to establish a "plumb line".

Setting up the top for quilting.

3 editions of the accompanying book in various stages. It's a carousel book, with an outer layer of drawn and painted images, a middle layer of text and a background layer of imagery.

The other news is that one of my books has been chosen for inclusion in Lark Books 500 Handmade books series.  "Grand Canyon" is a fold book that I completed several years ago. I'm honoured to be included in this book, to be published in September 2013.

Encaustic Myths. More encaustic and stitching..

Book front cover

I showed some of my stitched encaustic pieces in a group show in October and received a lot of encouragement to continue in this direction. So I designed covers for a unique hand made book of my husband's long narrative poem about Theseus and the Minotaur. From there I created some other mythic pieces.  I used cotton muslin that had been variously dyed in compost, rust or onion skins, and added inkjet printed imagery, some of which was then stitched or embellished with copper wire, metallic thread or upholstery thread. The pieces were finished with encaustic medium. The Atalanta pieces included collaged elements. Frames were made out of birch wood boxes, painted and sealed.

2 versions of "Atalanta" . Fabric dyed with onion skins with photo transfer and encaustic collaged elements.

2 versions of "Ceres". Fabric is compost dyed. One includes hand and machine embroidery in metallic thread and upholstery thread.

Icarus. Rust dyed fabric, photo transfer and encaustic medium.

The Labyrinth, with crocheted and couched fine copper wire on compost dyed fabric, glazed with encaustic medium.

Book back cover. Rust dyed cover with couched copper wire and encaustic medium.

Front and back book covers.

 Use of images in this series in accordance with copyright of the Trustees of the British Museum.

Rust Dye plus Stitching plus Encaustic

I have a fascination with the shapes and textures I see in rural barns and outbuildings. While planning  a fabric piece called  "Mended Barns" (more about this in another post) I started researching how I might capture the distinctive rusty patterns that develop in steel roofs and siding. There are numerous online resources on rust dyeing, but I found Kimberley Baxter Packwood's website and e-book most informative.

The move from rail to road transportation has meant the demise of the railroad. Many have been converted to walking and biking trails. Over the years I've walked a rail trail near my home, every time finding some rusted treasure: bolts and spikes and all kinds of metal objects that held the rail lines together. I have a big bucket of lovely rusty objects. I must have known that I'd find a use for them one day.

Canyon Study, 2009

My first experiments didn't generate anything that I'd use with "Mended Barns" but my results brought another one of my recurring themes to mind: petroglyphs, pictographs and ancient places of power. Here are two of my 2009 collagraph prints made after a memorable trip to the Grand Canyon:

Shamans' Gallery, 2009

And here are the first rust dyed, stitched and encaustic pieces:

Rust dyed cotton muslin

"Cedar Breaks"
Hand stitched and encaustic on hardboard substrate

Rust dyed cotton muslin, partially stitched

"Spirit Boat"
Hand stitched and encaustic on hardboard substrate

This may be the start of a series!