Box One

I live on a sweet island.  

It is quiet here, just birdsong and wind in the trees.

The kinds of moments in nature that happen quickly and then are gone.

We remember them in our bodies.

I watch the lake every day.

The colours of the sky and the water change all the time. 

There are things in nature that we are unconsciously aware of.

The interconnectedness between the land, the air, and humanity is one of these.

I use all the senses in my work.

Smell, sound, touch, taste, sight and also the sixth sense - mystery.

Art is like nature.  It opens the inner world.

My work reflects the quietness of nature.

I work alone for long hours laying in repetitive marks inspired by nature's way.

I make large scale, hand stitched drawings and sculptures based on simple repetition.

I use domestic textiles and natural dye.  

I have been exhibiting my work for 40 years. 

The aesthetics of simplicity, time, labour and repetition ground my work.  

My completed works reflect who I am.  My work is me.

This is why I use dyes from my locale.  

This is why I use family textiles.

This is why I use large space. 

My language is the stitched mark.

I keep paring away anything else.

I've created a body of work using wool blankets, plant dyes, and hand stitch. 

Some pieces were inspired by the monumental rock cuts of Northern Ontario highways. 

I'm packing my work this week.  

The exhibition with Penny Berens at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte Ontario is finally happening.  

I have five boxes of completed work to ship.  

I'll show what is going into Box Two in a couple of days.     

I am so glad to be finally getting this work out.

You must be getting bored with it. 

medium regular

a six week update for this blanket piece 

photographed outside before the snow  

It's difficult to see progress on something this large when it is in your lap. 

Three full sized blankets across.   

Two or three hours each evening, during the netflix date with Ned, downstairs by the woodstove.

The stitch I"m using is couching, beautiful on both sides.  I was told that the reverse side (above) looks like a drawing of a field of grass.  I love that idea.

The front of the piece is shown in the photo below.            

Velvet and wool and rayon couched  to those blankets with wool yarn.

Walter Benjamin said that an original work of art possess an aura.

He said that a work of art emanates metaphysical qualities that can not be transferred by the photographic representation of it.

Benjamin said that the aura of an artwork is inextricably linked to its actuality or to the context of its production.

At the heart of his thinking is a conviction that real things have a profound effect on people.

We know this is true of textiles - they communicate so much more when we are with them in real life, rather than viewing them on our phone or laptop screens. 

Yet here I am, once again sharing my experience of this large work with photographic reproduction in a blog post.

This very large, very tactile object that I am pouring time and labour into. 

Maybe you can still sense the aura.

I'll post about it again in six weeks.

xo

notions of the body in nature

Today I continue from yesterday's post, my inspirations and route to my voice

I'll put some further links.  I'm using the new blogger and the links take you to a new window.  I'm not sure that it is for the best.  Also, if you are having trouble commenting, feel free to email me.  xo

African textiles   here   and   here   and here  and here  and here

Indian textiles       here      and here    and here 

Japanese textiles    here    and   here     and    here     and here

and my body

Outdoor Gallery

prayer to the sky  by Judy Martin
three layers of wool, indigo and madder dyes, hand stitched and slashed 60 x 64.5" 2019

Currently my work is simple.

I have to keep reminding myself about the aesthetic of simplicity.
It is challenging to be simple when the materials are lush.

I am concerned with the passage of time and use hand-stitch as a metaphor for time and touch.

red thread hearts by judy martin
 sixteen women's handkerchiefs, damask table linen, cotton and silk theads, hand stitched 76 x 76 "  2019

Subjects I keep returning to in my work are: vulnerability, female-ness, the inner dream world and love relationships.

The sense of touch is the mother of the senses.
I use it to reach the emotional inner world of my viewers.

I try to hold spirit within my work.