Just for fun

The quilts in this post are from the Whimsy exhibition currently up at the International Quilt Museum until November 30.  Above is: 

Fans  1890 - 1910
Ardis and Robert James Collection

The mixed striped fabric ground, the embroidered stars here and there.

Love Apple
Anna McGinty McNabb and probably also Ruth Deaver     1882-1885
Gift of Robert and Ardis James Foundation
Love Apple means Tomato

the spiral design

Friendship Quilt
Mary Elizabeth Shelby  1940

The buttons!  All those buttons entirely cover the surface.
This quilt weighs more than 40 pounds.

crazy busy September

3-D Expression
a SAQA global exhibition at Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Grand Rapids Michigan, September 23 until November 3 2019
These two photos were sent to me to show Not To Know But To Go On being installed
in the museum's lobby

There is a gorgeous printed catalogue with all the artists represented with photos and statements.
In the above photo, my work is in the background,
in the foreground is Saint Anastasia by Susan Lenz.

All Stitched Up
an exhibition of books that use stitch
My book Power of Red - is included.  It quotes William Wordsworth's text.
Collins Memorial Library, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma Washington
There is a printed catalogue available for purchase.
September 3 - Decemember 11 2019

Hard Twist 14: Entwined
My red catalogne is included, a safety blanket for the interior world.
notes, lists, thoughts, dreams and phone call doodles on paper, red thread, rescued linen tablecloth
A complete online catalogue is available with all artists and statements

Every year, curators Helena Frei and Chris Mitchell organize this exhibition
of conceptual textile art and mount it in the hallways of the 3rd and 4th floor of
the Gladstone Hotel.   September 5 2019 - January 7 2020

Craft Ontario 19
Ontario Craft Gallery 1106 Queen St West Toronto
My stitched 9-patch made from sketches I made with found cloth and acdrylic paint is included
title:  How Much I Tried Not To Worry (Best of North award)
September 5 - October 12, 2019

There is a beautiful online catalogue for this exhibition also, click here.  

my new stitching chair

Another weekend is here
and the regular children and the grand children
will be visiting.

The past ten days I enjoyed my new stitching chair

Managing my brief life 
Recconecting with my self

a brief gorgeous life
slow thankful work

horizon line
dream catcher
every day

 'Artists, take every opportunity to be alone.'   Agnes Martin

I continue to
make heart pieces
Soft pieces that reveal my inner world and emotions

'we are made of star stuff'   carl sagen

The materials and processes come first,
and the meaning comes after.

In the indigo horizon piece
I added crater-spiral moon marks over the seed stitches
to make a thunder moon 

 but then I took them all out.

Now it's not a moon piece,
it's another heart piece.

'and I've lived on this earth so long
and all this time stars in the sky in daylight
when I couldn't see them 
and at night when,
most nights, I didn't look'    marie howe

Artists, take every opportunity to live your life.

Magical Material Thinking

To Lips velvet, brass, porcelain, mirror 2019 by April Martin

This post is about our daughter's exhibition currently on at Harbourfront Centre of Craft and Design in Toronto.  Magical Material Thinking.

Romance Portal (detail) brass, wax  2019 by April Martin

The objects are whimsical hand made treasures created from solid materials that, like humans, change from within through experiences.

It's an exhibition of two artists, but this blog post is just about April's work.  It's up until middle of October at HarbourFront centre of craft and design where she is a resident artist.

"There is no denying the joy of encountering a group of objects that transport you to another
otherworldly place"  Melanie Egan, curator of Harbourfront Craft and Design

Ideal Solution pewter, cobalt carbonate fired to quartz inversion, earthenware 2019 by April Martin

I was able to attend the opening celebration on July 11, along with many of April's friends and family members.

Fashionista April in sky blue shoes.

Snek Out neon, earthenware, unfired cobalt carbonate 2019 by April Martin

"The sheer pleasure objects can evoke and the delight artists experience through their
engagement with making and materials is a cause to celebrate."  Melanie Egan

Brightening Visibly copper, wool, carbon fiber 2018 by April Martin

April made Brightening Visibly when she was home with Ned and myself the winter of 2018.  The title comes from a favourite saying of Ned's that she had heard since childhood.   It was his answer to questions or statements (mostly about food) such as me saying: "oh sorry, there's no more broccoli "  and him responding with a smile: "brightening visibly".

Hard to believe, but in the sculpture pictured below, there is no adhesive or indentation to keep the scales in balance.  Just balance itself.

Rising Libra fired and unfired cobalt carbonate, clay 2019 by April Martin

"Artist April Martin and designer-maker Natalie Sirianni present an exhibition of curious
objects and installations infused with the alchemical nature of materials, process, and thought. "
Melanie Egan, curator

cobalt carbonate in unfired state is pink

cobalt carbonate after firing in kiln changes colour to blue  Rising Libra detail

The photos in this post are from the opening, and suffer from the reflections on the glass cases.

Romance Portal

For much better photos and April's observations about the creation of this body of work, go to the blog Modernist Aesthetic.  

To Lips

Love you, proud of you, dear April xo

believing

 

 NOT that the art object is inherently significant

 

 meaningful or beautiful

 

 BUT THAT the value

 and meaning of art is actively constructed

 

 by the viewer.

 (Marcel Duchamp's belief)

the most beautiful thing

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science.

He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead - - - his eyes are closed.

The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion.

 

 

To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists,
manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty,

which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms.

 This knowledge,

 This feeling,

 is at the center of true religiousness.

 In this sense, and in this sense only

I belong to the rank of devoutly religious men.

Albert Einstein