Frances Dorsey: Shot Through The Heart

Frances Dorsey

When Frances Dorsey was seven to ten years old, she lived in Saigon, Viet Nam.   She remembers "a paradise on the edge of conflagration".  When she was twenty-one, she moved to Canada.  She has a duel citizenship with USA.  "I am a citizen of North America."

This piece, Shot Through the Heart, is made from used table linens that have been naturally dyed with extracts and earth oxides, as well as discharged and immersion dyed with mechanical resists.  Some have been  over printed with silk screen and also with block printing. The linens were cut up and reassembled.  They were embroidered hand stitched.  It is a large piece:  11 feet x 11 feet.  It was made in 2010. 

Suzanne Smith Arney saw this piece at a conference in Nebraska in 2010, and wrote about it in the fall 2011 of the Surface Design Association's journal.

"The napkins and tablecloths are soft with age and use.  Looking closely, I can make out a nine-block structure, with those blocks subdivided into four.  Each discovery revealed another level to decipher.  Stepping closer, I read the fabrics' histories written in monograms, embroidery, as well as small tears and stains.  Dorsey added her own text in faded yellow, red and purple dyes.  There are folds and stitchings and photo -derived images of her father's army photos and letters, such as b-52s and mortars.  I read the title and stepped back.  Shot Through the Heart infuses the room with a chilly clarity; the whole and partial circles are no more suns than dinner plates.  They are targets."

Frances Dorsey taught about textiles at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for sixteen years.  Her father was a rifleman "who relived his combat daily."    She currently lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and continues to make thoughtful and beautiful artwork with textiles.  

This is the first post about a new series on this blog:  

Canadian artists who work with Textiles  

a pilgrimage

pilgrimage:  noun

a journey made to some sacred place as an act of devotion

a visit made to a place that is considered special, where you go to show your respect

I visited the Royal Ontario Museum when I was in Toronto last month.  The main reason to visit was in order to see this quilt, then on display in the special exhibition of  Quilts: Made in Canada.  

I met my brother and Kirsten there.

Pieced Triangles Quilt 1880
  Maker no longer known. 
 Asphodel-Norwood Township, Ontario. 
 Roller-printed cotton, plain weave

Look closely at this quilt: it's made of over 8000 light and dark triangles, each less than 2 centimetres long and hand-stitched together to create an intricate pattern from the smallest scraps.

The patient maker who sewed it worked outwards from the centre, creating a series of rectangular frames that slowly increase to build a quilt.  (wall text)  

I look at the movement of the colours

I sense the amount of time that each triangle took to place.

I appreciate the passage of time that this quilt has remained even though the maker has passed on.

I marvel at the accuracy of the intricate handwork.

I understand this woman.  

My imagination is engaged.

My interior world is entered into.

Her repeated touching reaches me at an intimate, personal level.

The sense of touch is powerful. 

"The impact of art touches something buried deep in embodied memory.  It is a mystery."  

Juhani Pallasmaa 

never giving up on the art

september 28  hand quilting on something started earlier this year

 

september 29  hot wax, black cloth, a beautiful day

september 30  town studio

october 1 a new beginning

october 2  hot wax encaustic in Barb's studio

  october 3  visited the Cambridge art galleries with Barb
 Justin Ming Yong's two-sided piece, Sun In Eyes in foreground

october 5 recovered my studio bag with pieces of cloth that came to hand 

october 7 adding quilting stitches to the sleeve for Far Away Stars

october 8  packing up Far Away Stars / Cloudy Day to ship to Quilts=Art=Quilts

october 9 town studio

Blog update:  

For the next couple of months, I need to concentrate more on the neglected website. judithemartin.com  

My Process and Judy's Updates will continue as they are because they are both super easy to write, but the main blog, Judy’s Journal will morph to a photo journal (like today's post) for the next little while. 

Although I will continue the monthly emails until at least the end of the year, I may switch over to substack for updates.  We'll see.   

Thank you friends, for your continued support.   Never give up on your own creative practice.  

her vision grounds me

Stoney Island Memories 2019

Working alongside Penny Berens is one of the highlights of my career.  Noticing how she maintains her own heart felt vision helps to keep me grounded.  

It's easy for me to find artists in books who seem to know their own selves and are able to write about their making process and belief systems, but Penny is a real person with whom I can speak with on the phone.   I just spent nearly a week with her in Nova Scotia when we installed and spoke about our joint exhibition, In the Middle of the World. 

Resting Between Tides 2019

She notices details.    

Her work is drawn with needle and thread in her lap.  She does one artwork at a time. 

Each of her pieces is directly influenced by some particular event or sight or feeling that she has experienced.

Walking on Stoney Ground 2019

There's nothing general about her interpretations, although her works do have an atmosphere.

Our work complements each other because of the differences between our two approaches as much as because of the similarities.

When Autumn Leaves Fall 2017

Winter's Edge 2021

The large scale of my work makes an immediate impact on the viewer.  

My work communicates a lasting feeling of spirit and intimacy.  It sets you up to receive the details and imagination of her wall pieces, as you slowly move past them, one after the other.  

    

Details of Winter's Edge

You are ready to notice the details and the events and the change of seasons in her interpretations of nature.  

Also the boulders and the piles of smaller rocks.

The sun and the moon.

The wind and the beaches.  The grasses and the berries.

All the small repetitive marks that nature paints in the bush or on the beach are detailed in Penny's work and it is interesting to experience them, step by step, with close observation.

November Song 2024

detail of November Song

She says that she wants to work more abstractly and messier. 

The last thing she said to me when we hugged good bye was that she was going to start doing this right away.  She's five years older than I am and neither of us are going to retire.

I'm glad that she's only a phone call or a text message away.  She keeps me on track.  She encourages and inspires me.

Beaver Moon Dreaming 2020

I'm lucky to have an artist like her in my life. Making the two person exhibition together with her and also with our cheerleader and advocate, curator Miranda Bouchard, was an important step in both our creative practices.

Thank you for being real, Penny.  Thank you for being full of integrity and personal strength.

All artwork in this post is by Penny Berens.  More of this body of work can be seen on Modernist Aesthetic.  

In the Middle of the World was just installed in Nova Scotia.  Read Miranda Bouchard's curatorial statement and see my sculptural pieces at this link.   

World of Threads: three solo shows 2023

The Seventh Jacket by Victoria Carley
upholstery and fashion fabrics, embroidery floss

This post highlights the work of three artists who have solo exhibitions at this year's world of threads.  

The first artist  is Victoria Carley from Toronto, Canada.  Carley is showing three of her new Fairy Tale series.  You can view more of this body of work on her website.    All these quilt-like artworks are large wall pieces, similar in size to a child's 'big kid' bed.  (often called a twin bed)

The Beanstalk by Victoria Carley
upholstery and fashion fabrics, embroidery floss

"My illustrations of fairy tales are personal meditations on the stories.  I compare my recollections to other literary and visual retellings of the fairy tale.  Every version is a reflection of its era, artistically and morally."  Victoria Carley

Hansel and Gretel by Victoria Carley
upholstery and fashion fabrics, embroidery floss

"With the image the story presents to me in mind I start.  I select, cut and sew my fabrics, without preliminary drawings.  The final composition and the size develop as I sew.  My process is slow and intuitive.  I use a wide variety of fabrics.  My sewing machine is a vintage international and I hand-embroider to complete the image. "  Victoria Carley

Hansel and Gretel, detail of the witch's house by Victoria Carley

The second artist in this post is Roxanna Kantarjian, also from Toronto, Canada.  Her solo show highlights her Mysterious Veils series.  Kantarjian uses solid colours of cotton in bold original shapes, sewn together and then densely quilted using a sewing machine.  Each piece is as big as a large painting - about 45 x 35 inches in most cases.  

Mysterious Veil I by Roxanna Kantarjian, machine pieced and quilted cotton

"Energy and healing have always been the foundation of my life - especially evident in my artwork.  I am acutely aware of the energy around me in nature - trees, stones, water, and mountains.  There is a specific vibration in every colour. How the colours live together side by side presents a different vibration.  I try to express this energy with colours and shapes."   Roxanna Kantarjian  

Mysterious Veil III, cotton that is machine pieced and quilted

"The Mysterious Veils were an exploration of that fine line between life and death. This series was prompted by my husband's death.  To explore, it was soothing and healing."  Roxanna Kantarjian  

Stones by Roxanna Kantarjian, machine pieced and quilted cotton

The third artist in this post is Karen Thiessen from Hamilton, Canada.   Thiessen's Hope Series of hand stitched wall pieces is highlighted in the World of Threads solo exhibition.   Most pieces are large wall pieces, although Lull is large enough to cover two people.    To visit her website, click here. 

Lull by Karen Thiessen  Cotton fabrics,
hand pieced using the English paper method and then hand quilted.

 

"The Hope Series explores post-traumatic growth - the gifts of difficult circumstances."  Karen Thiessen

In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See (for Theodore Roethke) by Karen Thiessen. 
Dyed cotton, hand and machine stitched, with applique.

"Some people are able to emerge from difficult times with greater resilience and more compassion, wisdom and awareness."  Karen Thiessen

Circles of Hope by Karen Thiessen 
 Dyed cotton and rayon, hand and machine stitched, with applique

"Difficulties disrupt our lives and can create openings and pauses for new ways of thinking and living."  K.T.

Constellation of Hope by Karen Thiessen 
Dyed cotton and cotton/polyester fabrics that have been stitched with hand and machine 

"The pandemic forced me to use materials that I had on hand and the Hope quilts were made from failed or abandoned textiles.  Over three years, I slowly stitched them during incessant pandemic lockdowns: I rescued and transformed the textiles while they rescued and transformed me."   Karen Thiessen

Beyond the Curtain by Karen Thiessen. 
Hand embroidered cotton fabric mounted on felt

Beyond the Curtain by Karen Thiessen, detail of hand stitch

The Seventh Jacket by Victoria Carley, detail of machine piecing

The World of Threads has more than fifty solo shows this year.  They are around every corner and in several open room type spaces that one can find in the Queen Elizabeth Park and Community Cultural Centre building, 2302 Bridge Road, Oakville, Ontario.  Plan to spend two days visiting this festival, you will feel rewarded and renewed.  I hope to post about more solo shows over the next few weeks.  xo

UPDATE: NOVEMBER 1:  the venue for World of Threads Festival will close to the public on November 2 until further notice as the staff that run the building work for the city of Oakville, and they will be on strike.  I will keep this notice updated and will let you know when the building will be open again.  The exhibitions of World of Threads are set to continue until December 17, so we hope that the strike is resolved soon.  

Colour With a U

2006

 In Canada, we spell colour with a u.  We also spell labour, favour, honour and neighbour with a u.

flesh and blood 2007

 That 'u' could stand for unique, unforgettable, universal, unity, understanding, utopia.

2008

 It could include the unusual, unexpected, unbound, unabashed, unaccounted, uncanny.

light of the moon 2009

 We care about the 'u', it makes us unique.  We care about the 'you', it brings us together..

2010

What do the Canadian values of diversity and inclusion mean to you?
How does your labour in your favourite medium honour your neighbourhood, your community?

energy cloth 2011

How do you colour yourself into our Canadian culture?

niagra falls 2012

We are looking for artworks that visualize these ideas and that together will give an insightful
perspective on our Canadian cultural identity.

2013

All types of work are encouraged, including representational, abstract, and social commentary,
in 2 or 3 dimensions.

lake 2014

Opening location:  Homer Watson House and Gallery, Kitchener Ontario Canada
March 15 - April 19, 2020

2015  providence

The exhibition will travel across Canada until March 2023.

This is a Studio Art Quitls Association exhibition for Canadian members of SAQA only.
Read the full Call for Entry at this SAQA link

Entries must be received by January 3, 2020.
For further questions, please contact Tracey Lawko, chairperson of the exhibition committee.

2016

 All text in this post is from the Call for Entry for Colour For A U for Canadian readers of this blog.

the cloud in me 2017  

 The images are a celebration of my years of blogging.
I chose one from each year:   2006 until 2019.

2018

See the sidebar for further details about this call and information about
the SAQA conference in Toronto 2020.

my awakened heart 2019