Love Letters

 

This post is about the beautiful catalogue for the exhibition In the Middle of the World, featuring the hand stitched work of Canadian artists Penny Berens and Judith E Martin, with a scholarly essay by Miranda Bouchard, curator.   All images are from the catalogue, all text is from the final paragraphs of Miranda's essay. 

As testimonials to their processes, experiences, labours, and love, the works of Berens and Martin communicate uniquely and bravely about what it is to be human and alive in this world.

During a talk delivered in March 2020, Martin expressed,  "I believe that the results of our work will be felt and understood by new generations, some not yet born.  They will feel the love held in our stitches.  All of us, all of you, who make hand-made objects, have this belief.

We believe that our work will be understood and appreciated in the future.  In this way, our work is life-affirming and full of hope."  The works are love letters to people and planet that help us look simultaneously inwards at ourselves and to reflect outwards at and onto the world.

For years, the artists have pressed beyond the limits, expectations, and norms they've been confronted with to make their marks and do their work.  Throughout the development of In The Middle of the World, they've courageously stretched, testing the frontiers of their creative practices to make and share, keeping their notions of truth in sight.

The slow nurturance of the work reflects the value in moving ever onwards, in spite of time and fear, at an intuitive pace that privileges real relationships.  

These works invite us to consider the importance of caring for the Earth as lovingly and attentively as we care for our bodies, and of sharing stories and skills so they can be cherished now and into the future.

They dare us to be courageously vulnerable amidst all the mending that needs doing in the world.

Penny Berens and Judy Martin offer poignant reminders that creation is ongoing and never static, as are the living processes of relating to our true selves, to each other, and the worlds we find ourselves in as time continues to pass. 

This work is never - nor should it ever - be done.

The artists and curator acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council during the long haul of preparing the exhibition and this publication.  

The complete catalogue can be viewed as a PDF, click here.  The soft cover book is 125 pages and is available for purchase.  Click here for more information.  

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.  

The Catalogue

"Mended World is Judy Martin's third solo exhibition at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.  In 2004, the Gallery worked with the artist to organize My Hand Sings Red and in 1991, I Will Remember You Until I Die.  Though she has lived on Manitoulin Island for the last twenty years, Judy was born in Fort Frances and lived a good part of her life in Kenora, so we embrace her as an artist from Northwestern Ontario.  Those who saw Judy's previous exhibiitons at the Gallery will be surprised at the developement of her work over the last nine years. On behalf of the Board of Directors and staff of the thunder Bay Art Gallery, I extend congratulations to her on the monumental achievement that is represented by this exhibition. "

Above text is from the foreword to the 24 page catalogue for the Mended World Exhibition written by Sharon Godwin, Director, Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Now, with this show up, my degree finished, my dad finally living in Little Current, and my studio collapsed into a bedroom at home - I feel that I am on an edge of something new.

It feels open.   I don't know what will come next, but something will.