Red Sky / Red Water

Just a quick post about my quilt, Red Sky / Red Water.  

Red silk fabric and silk threads, 64 x 36 inches, 2024
 

It was inspired by my daily experience of the sky and water.  

Sacred Ground 

wool dyed with leaves and barks from my environs, hand pieced and hand quilted. 64 x 36" 2024 

Red Sky / Red Water is the back (second side) of Sacred Ground    

The quilting of this piece is unusual.  Cotton embroidery floss is laid down in horizontal lines across the face of the quilt, and couched to the quilt with red silk sewing thread.   

 

I loved the idea of the wrapping with red thread because in many world cultures, red thread is a used on garments for protection.

I wnated to write about Red Sky / Red Water now because it is part of Convergence, the exhibition currently on view at the Tom Thomson gallery in Owen Sound until early January.  We attended the opening on Saturday, October 18.  I was glad to see that my two-sided quilt, Sacred Ground, was beautifully installed far enough away from the wall so that the second side could be glimpsed.

The best part is that there is a pink glow on the wall.  A reflection of Red Sky / Red Water. 

Look at that!  

For those interested, I wrote quite a long post about the Convergence opening on my update blog.  Here.

Harmony and Polly and Regina, oh my

Grey Scale I by Polly Apfelbaum,
marker on silk/rayon velvet, 60 x 37 inches,  2015

 

Ned and I went to the National Gallery of Canada to view Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction when we were in Ottawa last February.  

Grey Scale detail, marker on silk/rayon velvet, by Polly Apfelbaum, USA

This is the important exhibition that you have probably read about online.  It debuted in Los Angeles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in September 2023, and then travelled first to the National Gallery in Washington DC in the spring of 2024, and then to Canada in late 2024 until the end of February 2025.  The exhibition is scheduled to open at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in April. (April 20 - September 13 2025. ) 

Syaw (Fishnet) by Regina Pilawuk Wilson,
acrylic paint on canvas, 48 x 79 inches, 2011

Fishnet (detail) by paint on canvas by Regina Pilawuk Wilson, Australia

The exhibition was beautifully installed in our spacious national gallery.    

I was familiar with Regina Pilawuk Wilson's work as I own the catalogue for the Marking the Infinite exhibition.  It was great to see this painting face to face.  I really appreciated understanding with my body that that this painting is as large as one of my quilts.  (48 x 79 inches) 

Pink Weave, by Harmony Hammond, USA
 oil and cold wax medium on canvas, 24 X 24 inches, 1974 

Harmony Hammond   is a recognized artist in a wide variety of materials, and has, through out her 50 year career,  privileged textiles in her work.   I find it interesting that of all her work, the curators chose these two oil/wax paintings to represent her contribution to abstract art.  

Grey Grid, by Harmony Hammond, USA
oil and cold wax medium on canvas, 20.5 x 20.5 inches, 1974 

These two paintings by Harmony Hammond along with the velvet piece, Grey Scale I, by Polly Apfelbaum, (who is no slouch in the art world either, btw,) expand the thinking of those of us who unconsciously put art into categories.  Why? I wonder.  Polly Appelbaum's audacious idea to use permanent marker on sensuous silk rayon velvet gives me such pleasure.  (see top photo of this post)    

Untitled #8 by Agnes Martin,
india ink, graphite and gesso on canvas, 72 x 72 inches, 1977 

Untitled #8 by Agnes Martin, A Canadian who worked in the USA for most of her career.

It's rare to see an Agnes Martin piece in real life.  

I love that her pencil drawing is so much larger than the Harmony Hammond cold wax pieces.  That's one of the main reasons I like to go to art galleries.  The scale and the texture of the work can only be understood when you stand face to face with it. 

(By the way, the above artwork is not included in the beautiful catalogue, although two other Agnes Martin pieces are.  This makes me wonder if each installation of the exhibition is slightly different.)  

Floor Pieces II, III, and VI by Harmony Hammond,
acrylic on fabric, dimensions variable, 1973

Floorpiece by Harmony Hammond, paint on linen that has been braided  USA

I looked carefully at these floor pieces to see what had been painted and what had not been painted.  

In this post, I am showing some of the artists who created work that highlights the idea of domestic textile methods, (woven cloth, braided rug, pieced quilt) with fine art techniques (painting, drawing).

I plan to write another post about this exhibition.  If you are near New York City this summer, I hope that you will visit the MOMA and walk through this beautiful exhibition.    

Sheila Hicks retrospective in Wakefield, England

grandes boules by Sheila Hicks

textile fresco 1969 in the background 

framed small studies done over 50 years, a rope piece in the background,
  evolving tapestry 1987 in foreground, all by Sheila Hicks

study

study Phare Rude 1978

study   whaler Malgorn 1978 

study Phare Inverti 1977

Pockets 1982 by Sheila Hicks, she stitched together pockets from a medical center in Jerusalem that had been used by patients who were undergoing treatment,
 they could store their belongings in the pockets 

Badagara White 1966 Sheila Hicks

Entrance to the Forest 1972  prayer rug series

grand portal 1974

Ned and I visited Wakefield last August just so that we could see this exhibition by artist, Sheila Hicks.

Images and several write-ups about this show can be accessed through this link to the gallery.

It was wonderful to see room after room of her experimental approach to textiles.  These kinds of exhibitions do not come to where I live in Northern Ontario.  I have to make pilgrimages to them.

My next pilgrimage is to see Magdalena Abakanowicz's exhibition of Abakans at the Tate Modern.  I'll post a photo once I'm there.  For now, enjoy the courageous approach of Sheila Hicks, an American living in Paris, who keeps working at age 85, and who is not afraid of colour and fun.  

Thank you Loree Ovens

Between Heaven and Earth, dyed rayon laid on cotton and hand stitched  by Judy Martin

Thank you Loree Ovens for organizing the Evolve exhibition that was installed in the Propeller Gallery from September 14 - October 2, 2022.  

It was nice to spend time with you, Loree, on the closing day of the exhibition, October 2 when we were both there for the entire time, (1 until 5:30).   

Thank you also for doing the installation of my work on September 12.   

The first thing I saw from the street was my bundle sculpture,

 "in my arms humble" , displayed on a plinth, leaning on the wall.

in my arms humble, wrapped and stitched silk, the size of a 2 month baby by Judy Martin

Thank you for receiving my three pieces in August and keeping them safe until the installation time.   

New Growth, acrylic, ink on heritage washi paper by Loree Ovens

I liked how right from the beginning  (late January 2022) you told us that we each would be given 8 feet of display space and that although the work didn't have to be new, it should reflect our endurance as artists through the pandemic.

Thanks also to your partner T C, who designed the invitation.  I printed some up and mailed them to my southern Ontario artist friends.   

I was glad to see my piece Turning Forever To The Heart hung near the entrance, next to your paintings on Japanese paper. 

Do you remember how I wrote about your work on this blog in 2015, Loree?  Click here if you'd like to read that post.

Turning Forever To the Heart, stitched taffeta by Judy Martin

Propeller is a co-operative art gallery located in the Queen West district of Toronto.

You, Loree Ovens, are an artist member.  Thank you for inviting me and the other non-members to be part of this exhibition.  

Chung-Im and Eva in front of skeleton v2 by Chung-Im

Also, thank you for leading the discussion about the title of the exhibition and the statement for the website.    

Evolve is a glimpse into the world of six resilient female artists who continue to show ingenuity and strength through their practice.  To evolve is to constantly learn, adapt and take on challenges.  Resolutions are found, perfected and the evolution continues.  Artists include Eva Ennist, Chung-Im Kim, Judy Martin, Liz Menard, Loree Ovens and Saskia Wassing.

skeleton v2 (detail) screen printed industrial felt, hand stitched by Chung-Im Kim

Chung-Im Kim and I have been curated into an exhibition before when Sandra Reford created a show of Canadian textile artists and took it to the Carrefour in France in 2012.  I wrote about that exhibition on this blog when Tradition in Transition showed in Oakville, Ontario. Sandra came to see Evolve on October 2.    

Chung-Im Kim's work in sculptural felt is fabulous.  It's fun to see how I wrote about both Chung-Im Kim's and Eva Ennist's work in 2015 when it was on exhibition with other Ontario College of Art and Design professors at the Craft Council gallery.  Click here.

Shelter series, A Sure Instinct 3, 2, and 1, encaustic and mixed media by Eva Ennist

Eva Ennist was also at the Propeller gallery on October 2 and it was great to finally meet her.  I wrote about her Nesting sculptures at the 2018 World of Threads on Judy's Journal.   

I was charmed by Liz Menard's etchings of wild plants on eco printed paper.  Those and her small pinch pots grounded the back wall of the gallery.  

On Purple Loosestrife, etching on artist made purple loosestrife paper with embroidery and pastel by Liz Menard

Two of Menard's pieces had remarkable French knot embroidery.  Thanks Loree for telling me that the paper itself was made from loosestrife fibres which was then etched and embroidered.  

It was nice to meet Saskia Wassing on Sunday.  We talked about our fine art degrees in Embroidery from UK universities.  Her degree was in Embroidered and Woven Textiles from the Glasgow School of Art and mine was Embroidered Textiles from Middlesex.  Embroidery has as much respect as painting does in the United Kingdom.

Stitched Stories, embroidered and applique silk by Saskia Wassing

I appreciated visiting with many friends and colleagues on October 2.  David Kaye came and that was especially wonderful.  So many of us miss the David Kaye gallery which closed in early 2019.  David continues to keep his website entitled David Kaye Projects live.  Past exhibitions and artists' work are on the site.  You can find Eva, Chung-Im, Loree and Judy (moi) on his site. 

Between Heaven and Earth, rayon laid over cotton and hand stitched by Judy Martin

Loree, there are a lot of links in this post and I hope that is OK.  I will provide two more.  Your personal website,  Loree Ovens and my own,  Judy Martin.

The Evolve exhibition has come down from the walls now, but it continues online until November 13.   Read the artist statements and see close ups of each piece at this link. If you scroll to the bottom there is a video and an online catalogue (downloadable)

Thank you, friends, who came to Propeller on Sunday Oct 2 to see the show and to visit me.  I treasure the selfies of us that I took.  

it's a thing

Two Years Into Covid by Martin Kotyluk  2022 acrylic on canvas  (detail)

The pandemic.

It is a thing.  

To not mention it would be lying and I try to tell the truth here. 

Our lives have changed because of that pandemic.  

Our ways of being with other people have changed.  

(my baking got better, my introversion got worse)

Cabin Dream in the Big Muddy by Rob O'Flanagan 2020-2022 acrylic on linen (detail)

My eye doctor had to close her local office.  

Which meant that I had go into Sudbury for my check up.  

I have not been going anywhere other than to the mailbox so this was huge.

Ned came too.  It was his almost birthday and so we had a date.

(My distance vision got better, my myopia got worse.)

Sick and Tired by Andrew McPhail 2021 sequins on bedsheet

We went to two art exhibitions because they were there.  

Both exhibitions had a pandemic slant.

Pandemic Partners by Rita Vanderhooft 2021 photographic print on paper

Art Gallery of Sudbury:   "is this real life?"  

A juried exhibition with a wide variety of media including ceramics, glass, textiles, photography, sculpture and painting.  It was thought provoking.  It was interesting.  I found beauty too.

I recognized many of the names, I am friends with some of the artists.  

In The Shadows no 1 - 7  Trish Stenabaugh  2022  digital print on paper

Gallery 6500: (a new gallery that has popped up in the hallway of the steelworkers union office)

Also thought provoking, this exhibition was self organized by the 'peer mentors group' of artists and poets.  The loss of one of their members over the winter, Ray Laporte, may have been the trigger for this exhibition that was entitled  "Lost and Found".  

I am friends with some of the artists.

Lost Dreams  Elizabeth Holmes and Gunhild Hotte 2021 acrylic on canvas

I wanted you to know that all this is happening in Sudbury.

Art.  Poetry.  Loss.      

I'm changed because of our trip to the city.

I keep thinking about the art.  

Cabin Dream on the Big Muddy by Rob O Flanagan 

I'd almost stopped thinking about the pandemic, but it's a thing.  

It's a whirl.