Wednesday, September 14, 2011

I Love Canada

I Love Canada -- J'Aime Canada 1970, quilted cloth assemblage by Joyce Wieland, collection of Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina

The newest Canadian Art magazine has an article by Sara Angel about True Patriot Love, the landmark show that opened in 1971 at the National Gallery of Canada. Reason Over Passion 1968, Joyce Wieland, quilted Cloth assemblage, collection of the National Gallery of Canada

Joyce Wieland threw a cocktail party for Pierre Trudeau in 1968, just before he ran for the Liberal Party leadership. She gave him the above quilt with his motto, "reason over passion" made from stuffed fabric. So feminine, so feminist.
So missionary position. The Water Quilt 1970-71 Embroidered cloth and printed cloth assemblage by Joyce Wieland, collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario

One of the pieces in that exhibition was The Water Quilt, made from 64 cushions, each with an embroidered arctic flower. detail of The Water Quilt

When the embroidery was lifted, one could read the text from The Energy Poker Game by James Laxer, a book that outlined the danger of selling Canada's water and other natural resources. installation of True Patriot Love in 1971, National Gallery of Ontario. That gallery's first solo exhibition of a living female artist.

She organized a 100 piece marching band for the opening that played "the maple leaf forever: in the lobby of the gallery. Joyce Wieland in 1964. Filmmaker, quilt maker, painter, ecologist, passionate lover of Canada. She died too young at age 66. (1932-1998).

I've written more about Joyce Wieland, an art heroine for us all, in the modernist aesthetic blog. Click here.

6 comments:

fabriquefantastique said...

yes...still going strong

helen salo said...

I do love seeing(reading) posts like this of yours. I don't get to visit galleries or museums, so this is the next best thing.

Anonymous said...

i love these posts too.

Nancy said...

I sure love that Water Quilt! Thanks for posting!

Montse Llamas said...

I do like reading this posts too. I also read your other blog, which is also a source of inspiration for me. I find a lot of information about technics, but less about concepts in textile works.

Karen Thiessen said...

Didn't Joyce make a quilt made of plastic pouches of water too? I recall seeing this at the AGO and marvelling at it. I love how she used textiles to convey her messages-- it's interesting that she worked with quilts but she was never pigeon-holed. I wonder if her work was the among the first textile art that was exhibited at the AGO?