work in progress

large emptiness with small marks

A folder or a book containing at least 26 sketches,
a variety of fabrics layered and hand stitched
the cover is wool dyed with indigo, hand stitched

Q   Why make a book of sketches rather than a portfolio of sketches?
A   Because books are time based.   Because books engage the sense of touch.

(A very careful touch, because ancient silk shatters when handled.)

We can't see a book all at once.
We hold it in our hands.  This privileges the sense of touch.
In order to know it, we have to spend time with it, turning the pages one by one.

We can anticipate the end, skipping ahead like we do when we day dream about the future.

We can remember, reflect on, re-read the beginning.   Flip backwards in time.

everything is ephemeral

Why did you choose to go into fibre art?

two wrapped forms, 17" and 13" high, 2007 and 2008

From a young age I loved to work with thread and cloth. I sewed doll clothes and embroidered pillowcases. I sewed my own clothes from age twelve till age thirty-two. I knitted, crocheted, and sewed gifts for my family members while in high school.Now I notice that my daughters also feel connected to thread. Power of Red, cloth book, hand dyed fabrics and embroidery, 2007-9


I don’t think I really chose to be a fibre artist. I evolved into one.

read, look, think, write

Think. Metaphysical Thinking series, 2005 stitched wool and paper

These past few months I have been working at 'professional practice' through my UK degree. My favourite assignment has been to research the career paths of contemporary artists that I like and to then choose two to write case studies on. I've been examining the web presences, artist statements, and exhibition records of two amazing Canadian textile artists. Anna Torma and Dorothy Caldwell.

I've followed both their careers for a long time but am newly bowled over by the professionalism they have maintained.

Interesting for me is that they are both immigrants to Canada. Dorothy Caldwell came here in 1972 from the United States during the Viet Nam War. Anna Torma came from Hungary with her artist husband and two boys in 1982. While their personal lives are not part of their 'professional practice', those lives do influence the content of their work. Dorothy Caldwell's subject has remained the rural landscape where she and her husband live in Ontario. Anna Torma's subject has been her parenting of two artistic boys and her Hungarian heritage.

I am , I exist

Stitching adds the sense of touch, a sense that's more psychologically profound than the sense of signt.

The World

I do hand stitch every possible morning for three hours in a row. In the evenings, I aim for another three hours. This meditative concentration makes me happy and and the sheer amount of time spent provides results.
A Norman castle with moat.
View of the moat from inside.

Ten Titles

Hold Me
Today, Yesterday, Tomorrow
In The Center of the Body is the Soul
Cry Me a River
Flesh and Blood
Each Stitch is a Prayer
Fragile as a Leaf in Autumn
The Rescuer
Don’t Go Crazy
Love Never Dies
Ten (of thirty) titles of quilts and cloth books that were in the 'My Hand Sings Red' exhibition in Thunder Bay a hundred years ago in 2004.

Turning Twenty Three

What I want to say is that
there is nothing in your body that lies.

Darling,
stand still at your door
a white stone
a good stone.
Sure of yourself, as exceptional
as laughter.
You will strike fire,
that new thing.

Anne Sexton

2006 and 2007

How to Live a Life 2006
I enjoy blogging because it's a direct way for me to publish my artwork. However, the blog is probably the reason that the galleries on my website have not been updated for two years.
The Power of Red 2007
This week I am sending images of work made in 2006 and 2007 over to Dylon Whyte so that he can update the website.

late as usual

I make quilts, books, and mixed media drawings. I use cloth, sequins, thread, and old clothes. I dye, paint, photograph, and draw. The content of the work is autobigraphical, I suppose, but I've stopped thinking about that aspect and just keep making.

War Diary

Made during the time of the invasion of Iraq.

our hearts

The Power of Red

Red is the most powerful
the most vibrant
the most exhilarating of colours.
Red represents the blood of life, the blood of death.
Red fabrics have been used as protection in many parts of the world.
One way was to applique red fabric to the vulnerable areas of dress such as over the seams or around the neck. Red material used in this way should be more expensive than that of the garment.

from Embroidered Textiles by Sheila Paine

Poetry of the visual

I have attended four lectures today. My mind is bursting, my body is tired. The speakers that I listened to (and took notes from) were Melissa Leventon on Artwear, Elin Noble who demonstrated marbling on fabric, Julia E Phaff who spoke about art quilts and contemporary quilting today and Jo Stealey, who spoke about the poetry of the visual.

Artists each must make our own language. We use the following five elements to visually communicate our ideas. Concept. Formal qualities ( line, shape, colour etc). Technique. Materials. Process.
(from my Jo Stealey notes)

what is real?

I remain completely me

Shining surfaces express concepts of fertiltiy and survival.

Think

Women artists are not outside of history or culture.
Women artists just occupy and speak from a different position.
This position is essential to the meaning of western culture.

Red Book

Joyce Wieland

In my November 29 post, I complained that it was near to impossible to find any images of Canadian artists in art history books. This coment was in reference to Linda Nochlin's famous question "Why have there been no great women artists?" Let it be known that there are Canadian artists, and one of the great ones is Joyce Wieland. Joyce was one of three jurors for an Ontario Craft exhibition I entered in the early 90's with Redbook (pictured). Joyce Wieland (1931-1998)continues to inspire me because the subject matter and choice of media in her artwork celebrates being female. Very importantly, Joyce Wieland made quilts that hang in the national gallery of Canada.

clear the clutter

I'm glad that the big day (Christmas) is now over. I have begun to clear the clutter that has been blocking my art making and am starting afresh.

"Did you ever think, child, how piecing a quilt is like living a life?"

The above text is by Aunt Jane of Kentucky

We are given things in life. Things happen to us that we have no control over. Things like where we are born, or who we meet throughout our lives. Fate throws some accidents in but humans must find a pattern in what often seems like chaos. We must arrange things so that they make sense. We have to put the pieces together and build a life, like a quilt.