simplicity unafraid

Q:   What was your route to becoming an artist?

A:  I will answer this question, but it will take several posts.

I've been working steadily away for a long and rich time.   

The posts will include photos of my most current work as well as links. 

The links go back to earlier posts from this journal.

These are the inspirations that helped me find my voice as an artist. 

Amish Quilts

Women who originally designed our traditional North American quilt patterns  inspired by the awesomeness of nature

Women who designed the traditional patterns inspired by the connection to the bed.  (This link goes to more autobiographical info so be warned. 

I have been maintaining this blog for 14 years.  So much has happened in the world in that short time.  Take good care my friends. xo  

Canadian Pioneer

I started this quilt in 2008. 
First, I cut vertical strips from old blankets and then sewed them together. 
Then slashed a curve right through them.
Then mended that.
Then felted the whole in the washing machine.
It survived all these things.

Risk after risk.
"I do, I undo, I re do"  (Louise Bourgeois)

Made completely from wool.
Wool blankets, a woolen skirt,  wool fabrics, wool yarns

backed with wool, couched with wool

Finished in August 2012,
and named Canadian  Pioneer.

Carrefour exhibition in Oakville, Ontario

 

Rusty Gate, 2012 

 

by Penny Berens, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia

Strong  and Beautiful, 2010

by Gordana Brelih, Toronto, Ontario

3,600 (beats), 2011

by Kate Busby, Toronto, Ontario

Accumulate, 2011

 by Amanda McCavour, Toronto, Ontario

Dawn, 2009

by Chung-im Kim, Cookstown, Ontario

Shield of Colour, 2011

by Gordanna Brelih, Toronto, Ontario

 Stars All Around, 2007

 by Martha Schellingerhoud, Aurora, Ontario

And So It Goes, 2008

by Meredith Annett, Halifax, Nova Scotia

 Night Drawing #3

by Jayne Willoughby Scott, Edmonton Alberta

That Time of Evening in Winter, 2008

by Barbara Wisnoski, Montreal, Quebec

 Oma, Opa, Obi, 2011 by Judith Tinkl, Sunderland, Ontario

Laurentian Hills, made by a collective of 20 artists from Ontario and Quebec

Twenty Four Hour Care, 2010

by moi, Judy Martin, Manitoulin Island, Ontario

Energy Cloth, 2011

by Judy Martin, Manitoulin Island, Ontario

I attended the opening of Tradition in Transition on Sunday and am very proud to be included in this prestigious exhibition. Curator Sandra Reford spoke briefly about how the work in the exhibition (that first showed in Alsace France at the 18th Carrefour last September) highlights the sheer expanse of the country that is Canada and the many different points of view that those of us who live here bring to our work, whether heritage, society, or place.  Pictured here are only half of what is on display at the Joshua Creek Heritage Centre until January 6, 2013.  Try to see it if you are in the Toronto or Oakville area during the next six weeks. 

A French review

Another review of Tradition in Transition from the Carrefour in France last month. French blogger, Emma Coutancier has included my work along with that of Barbara Wisnoski , Gordana Brelih, Gloria Daly,  Chung im Kim in this write up. Like the curator, Sandra Reford, she sees them as 'transition' pieces within the tradition of patchwork.  

Barbara Wisnoski's "That time in the evening in winter" hanging in Tradition in Transition, Alsace, France last September.

Energy Cloth.  If you are interested in more information about the entire carrefour, Emma has written several posts about the exhibits.  Here are links to the original French text as well as the  translation into English.

Energy Cloth's embroidery stitching goes through two layers, and is a summer quilt.

Curator Sandra Reford just let us Canadian artists know about Emma's blog today.  Once more, Sandra, thank you for the love and attention that you has given to this exhibit.  

art at the cottage

It's was Ruth's cottage.  She always called it "The Bay".  

We have made a few changes with the art here.  Pared some things away, added others.  Always with respect for for family heritage.  This photo by W.R. MacAskell was brought home from Halifax by Jay after one of his University work terms.

It's on the mantel, under the boat Ned bought to celebrate his 60th when we were in Normandy.

I purchased this photo by Jon Butler at the LaCloche art show to mark the year I was their distinguished artist. 

This photo of Janet Susie Ormsby, the family matriarch, has hung in the dining room for my entire memory of this place.    
April made that magnet we keep on her grandmother Ruth's propane fridge.  We have more art at the cottage, but this is enough for now.  Ned and I are beginning the close up.

Links:
You might like to visit Sandra Reford's blog as she is hanging TRADITION in TRANSITION over the next two days.  That is the exhibit of Canadian quilts that Sandra was was invited to curate for this year's Carrefour textile celebration in Alsace, France.  It opens on Thursday the 13th September.  (I have two pieces in it.)
Also, Finishing School, the new fibrequarterly magazine published by Joe Lewis is out and there is an article about us three Canadians who graduated from Middlesex University last summer with a degrees in Embroidered Textiles.

dreamland

All Your Troubles Fall Away, wool, applique, quilted, 2008, about 80" square, by Barbara Todd Barbara Todd collected pebbles from her family cottage on Lake Huron all her life. The title for this quilt comes from a quote by Agnes Martin, "if you can imagine you are a grain of sand...all your troubles fall away" Self Portrait #4, paper, bamboo, double faced tape, 2012, 5'high, by Jerome Fortin Jerome Fortin selected the paper for this sculpture from his urban Montreal surroundings and from his travels. Inspired by the Japanese healing ritual of making 1000 origami cranes, it is displayed like a kimono. plain and twill weave home spun wool quilt, late 19th century, about 60 inches square, anonymous, Canada. Solar Breath, colour video 62 minutes of the curtain in his Newfoundland cabin, 2002, Michael Snow The viewing frame of the video is the exact size of the window. The sound of its movement dramatizes the simple natural beauty. Stag, cotton, wool, linen, nylon, polyester, silk, 2012, by Grant Heaps Thousands of postage sized cloth scraps were used to translate a small-scale vintage mass produced needlepoint to life size. Hudson Bay Company Point Blanket, wool, twill woven, early -mid 20th century, 60 inches wide, made in England. Commissioned since the 1780's, these blankets are strongly connected with Canada's turbulent history of trade and exploration. Over the weekend I visited Dreamland: Textiles and the Canadian Landscape, now up at the Textile Museum in Toronto. All the work honours human imagination and a personal lived experience of the Canadian landscape. I was inspired to see the older pieces, reminded of the ingenuity, every day struggle, and visions of utopia that early Canadians had. I loved learning that the first book of poetry published in Canada in 1868 was entitled Dreamland by Charles Mair.