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.    

the reason we are here is to grow

Untitled felt on felt 2017 by William J O'Brien

Festive Greetings from my family to yours.

This felt on felt artwork is by William J O'Brien, and I saw it on Saturday, part of his solo show at Shane Campbell Gallery,  Chicago, Illinois USA.
It has so much positive energy and exhuberance.

It feels to me like how I feel when I am in the USA.

This is my fifth trip to the United States in 2017.
All of them have been really positive experiences, full of energy.

Chicago, Lincoln, Athens and Rosendale, Anchorage, Chicago
Full of friendly people and beautiful landscapes.

Ned and I are here to see April's two exhibitions and to bring her  home to Canada.
We drove along Lake Michigan and will return the same way.  It's a big land.

Look at the circles and the hands and the upward energy in this large applique. (60 x 72 inches)
The wintery palette.   

William J O'Brien, thank you for reminding us that the reason we are here is to grow. 

le homecoming

a doe by Jenna Dawn MacLellan

Ned and I attended the opening of Le Homecoming at la galerie Du Nouvel Ontario in Sudbury on March 17.

a fragile deer at the Galerie du Nouvel Ontario in Sudbury - made by jenna dawn maclellan

I was pleased to meet the artist, jenna dawn maclellan.  Although Jenna exhibited and taught a workshop at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery at the very same time as the Mended World exhibit in 2013 we did not meet then.

A mosquito net made with gold thread by Jenna Dawn MacLellan

Jenna also told me that she knew daughter April from when they were both at Concordia University in Montreal.

A protective Mosquito suit made by Jenna Dawn MacLellan for her exhibition Le Homecoming

 Now she teaches art in an Ontario community not far from here.

Wood Pile made from cloth by Jenna Dawn MacLellan

Her show was very loose and playful - and gives permission to those of us who have ideas and just want to make things that we imagine and remember.

fire wood made from cloth printed and sewn by Jenna Dawn MacLellan

"as familiar as they are fantastic"
"being transposed into textile gives an air of storied marvelousness to their otherwise ordinary nature."

The Mosquito suit at Le Homecoming at the GNO in Sudbury Ontario until May 5 2017

"This is how objects found in Northern Otario sheds are transformed into icons of northerness"
(from the GNO's text  - read the full text and see more images here.

also here is a video with the artist

Canadian Contemporary Textile Collection - stitching

Dorothy Caldwell Untitled 1985  gold leaf, discharged cotton, resist, thread

This post is just a brief note about my visit to Cambridge Ontario today to see the Contemporary Textile Collection in the Idea Exchange gallery-library system there.   There are three exhibitions on now that feature the permanent collection of the gallery, which for over twenty-five years has had a focus on contemporary Canadian artists who work with textiles.

We went to the Queens Square gallery and to Preston gallery but were not able to go into the Design at Riverside Gallery because it is closed on Monday.  The two exhibitions that we did see were thoughtfully installed, with respectful space surrounding each piece or group of pieces.

Anna Torma Troubadour Song Part I 'she' and Troubadour Song  Part II  'he'  1998 

This post is focused on those artworks that are hand stitched.

Several pieces in the exhibition are by some of Canada's most beloved textile artists.

Heather Cameron Arbor Vitae 2012 crewel embroidery on canvas

One of Heather Cameron's set of new embroideries that translate the fantastical drawings of Louis Nicolas, 17th C French missionary to the new world, is included in the permanent collection and was part of the exhibition at the Queen's Square gallery.

Her careful enlargements of his naive renderings of native flora and fauna use the intimate method of hand embroidery and we are touched.   We wonder.  How strange it must have seemed.

Kirtley Jarvis  Victoria Hospital, 1991  2001 hospital linen, wool

Kirtley Jarvis also translates ink on paper into thread on cloth, basing much of her work on found lists and hand written notes.  This piece shows the shopping list her mother made as Christmas approached while she was in the emergency waiting room at a hospital as her husband sank into a brain tumor.   He wrote 'Billy Mink', his father's pet name for him on the surgery consent form.

Shuyu Lu  Welcome To The Village  2010 cotton, thread

The exhibitions continue until Feb 21 (Riverside) , Feb 28 (Queen's Square) and March 6 (Preston)
I wrote about just the stitching in this post, but crochet, felting, weaving, basketry, sculpture (such as Kai Chan's dyed bamboo and tooth pick pieces) are included in the exhibition.

Susan Bidinosti  Leave (the nest) 2006  paper and thread

 There is a call for entry out now with deadline of March 28 for fibre artists based in Canada.  here.

Mille Fleurs over Lake Superior

Mon Seul Desir

sight

smell

sound

taste

touch

We drove home from Thunder Bay in one 14 hour day while listening to The Lady and The Unicorn on audio book.  The long water views of Lake Superior and the Algoma fall colour remain with me still.  When we got home I googled and found lots of images of the tapestries that inspired the novel but these are all from author Tracy Chevalier's  website.  I love that they illustrate the senses.

NYC Journal: Judith Scott and Tracey Emin

It was a treat to be able to view Judith Scott's bound sculptures at the Frieze Art Fair.

I have long been an admirer of her cocoon-like pieces which until now I have only seen in reproduction. Judith Scott (1943-2005) is considered an "outsider" in the art world because she was born deaf and with Down syndrome and was completely self directed. Her work is included in several public collections including that of the Museum of American Folk Art.

Seeing these bundles casually laid out on tables made them seem so vulnerable that I wanted to pick one up, hold it like a baby.

It was also great to see a textile piece by British artist Tracey Emin. Her work (in several media) was well represented at the Frieze and was very popular. I wasn't able to get a clear photo but perhaps you get a better idea of the scale of her work with this young woman (not my daughter) in front. (apologies)

Past Reflection, embroidered calico by Tracey Emin, 2012. She refers to her new self portraits in this 2011 video.

Even the dark line is embroidered - satin stitch.