I was waiting I was waiting

By Chance

That's what John Cage said when Anni Albers asked him how he started to find his way in his work.

 so "Don't worry"

says Anni Albers

Images in this post are of two pieces of art that I have in my house this week that will go back to rightful owners soon.

The stitched piece (Beginning with Time), was loaned for an exhibition in Thunder Bay and the painting of pussy willows with text by Anne Michaels needs some repair.

Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder

Gros Morne National Park,  Newfoundland,  Canada

In this post I will speak about my participation in the exhibition Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder curated by Gloria Hickey and Philipa Jones for the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I saw the call in early 2014 on Gloria Hickey's blog and sent a proposal.

Beginning With Time: Day  2015  Judith e Martin  plant dyed blanket wool on re-claimed and over-dyed wool blankets
 90" x 78"  two sided

Here is the call to enter

WILD, PURE AESTHETIC WONDER

Fibre Explorations of Gros Morne National Park

The unique natural and cultural wonders of Gros Morne range in scale from the epic to the microscopic to the sublime.  Wild, uninhabited mountains, towering cliffs of a freshwater fjord carved out by glaciers, wind-wizened tuckamore, technicolour lichens, textural fossils.  The history of those who lived in the region and who live there today bring a human response to the spirituality of the landscape.  You are invited to dig deep and create a proposal for an artwork that can be a conduit for yourself - and for visitors - to a deeper visual and emotional experience of Gros Morne National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site and the venue for the Fibre Arts NL 2015 Conference.  Let the wonders of Gros Morne inspire you to explore your own wilderness.

rows of coniferous trees climb the cliffs along the highway between Deer Lake and Gros Morne

I was inspired by the words wild, pure, aesthetic and wonder.   My proposal stated that I would create a new work based on the ideas that a) unconscious memories and dreams are unlocked by the sense of touch, b) an emotional experience (such as wonder) gives self-revelation, and c) large spaces filled with subtle small marks distract us just enough to allow for deep contemplation.

beginning with time: night detail  2015  judith e martin

I had never been to Newfoundland but those tourism commercials have been calling.

fjord - western brook pond Gros Morne Newfoundland Canada

I live on Manitoulin Island, a large island in Lake Huron, Ontario Canada.  Manitoulin is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world.   Would that make my life experience similar to someone living on Newfoundland?   I asked Ned to go to Gros Morne Newfoundland with me in September of 2014.

Betinning with Time: Night  2015  by Judith e Maritn  hand stitch on repurposed wool blanket, a two sided piece,
this is the night side

I found out that my proposal was accepted fairly quickly and began dyeing yards of blanket weight cloth to use in the new work.  I wrote about my process through the summer and fall on this blog. I was so inspired by this project that I considered creating several large wool blanket pieces that would hang as a walk-in installation some day.  I want my viewer to feel enveloped by the intimate marks and be overwhelmed by the scale.  We are just specks within this awesome natural world.  

We did go to Newfoundland.

Ned and I flew to Deer Lake in September 2014 and I was gratified to see how the landscape was like I had imagined.  I kept on with my vertical rows of green stitch that represented the tree covered cliffs of Gros Morne.

We rented a car and explored the many small communities of Gros Morne park and area.  They have wonderful names like Woody Point, Sally's Cove and Neddie's Harbour.  We also drove up the Great Northern Peninsula to L'Anse aux Meadows and back again.  I wrote about that trip here and here.

western brook pond (inland fjord) in Gros Morne national park, Newfoundland

The curators, Gloria Hickey and Philipa Jones were very supportive throughout 2014 during the creation of my piece. I had two phone meetings with them and sent photos of the work in progress.

Today I listened to Gloria speak during a walk through of the exhibition.  She said " I wanted the artists to make work that they wanted to make.  I'm the midwife, not the mom."

May I take this opportunity to thank the Craft Council, the curators and the other artists who make up this exhibition.  The show can be viewed at this link.

beginning with time: night detail of sleeve.  (two sided piece this is the night side)

The exhibition continues at the craft council gallery in St. John's until April 25 and then it moves to the Woody Point Discovery Centre in Gros Morne in May.  It will be up through the season until the end of the Fibre Conference on October 18.  I am proud to be included.

The photos in this post of my piece were taken by Nick Dubecki.  More of his photos here.  Philipa Jones took some of the St. John's installation.  View here.

beginning with time: night

 

I finished the wool stitching I've been working on.  Today I took it into Sudbury for professional photography, left it with him over night.   'Treat it like a sculpture in space',  I said.  'Make it look as good as you possibly can'.

In this post I'm showing my own photos of the work in progress.  This is the reverse side of the Wild Pure exhibition piece. (other side shown here )  The charcoal wool blanket in the main area is an old camp blanket from the family.  It, and the brown blanket section on the bottom were both over-dyed with blackberry vine and iron.  

 

now feeling a little lonely,
when it was with me, I knew what to do.

a morning and an afternoon and

night's queer knuckled hand

hold me separate and whole

stitching tight my daily soul 
Mary Swann

from Swann by Carol Shields 

thoughts that come through touch

this piece has taken on a stubborn silent quality - it will not be defeated.

a few things have become evident

the dots below the horizon - are they the safety net I think about - or are they in this case, a depth we cannot fathom

value - the lightness (and darkness) of the threads is so important and I've had to change some of the threads because they were too disturbing

there is no eye level focal point - instead, a feeling of being lost in the woods -
the comfort usually associated with wool blankets is altered

 gravity - the heavy materials and dark colours have an emotional gravity as well as a physical one

movement forward - it seems as if the piece is pushing against the wind rather than allowing itself to be blown freely.  An old man pulling his heavy coat across him, his hat down, shutting his eyes, trudging on.

touching - the marks made by the wool threads make us want to pet it with the nap, along the grain, up and down and in circles.  I do anyway.

"It is a surprising and memorable, as well as valuable, experience to be lost in the woods any time.  Not till we are completely lost, or turned around, for a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost - do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature.  Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are, and the infinite extent of our relations."  Thoreau

beginning with time: day

Another update on the wild pure piece.
I've been stitching diligently and have filled the central area with strips of plant dyed wool stitched with wool threads.

It's so large, I can't get back far enough to photograph it head on.  It covers the entire design wall in my home studio...the photo above was taken from the doorway.  98 inches wide, 85 inches high.

The earthy warm brown of the reclaimed overdyed wool blanket (previously pink) is becoming connected to the central part with rows of seed stitch.  

We've lost our snow.  The day is dark and rainy here.
I'll show the night side of  Beginning With Time in a future post.

go slow stop thinking

I have been working with intensity on my piece for Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder.
I've named the one panel I'm focusing on Beginning With Time. (continued from here)  The size has increased and I am glad that I can no longer touch the edges.

I used borders to achieve the increase in scale but now have some design challenges and not much time left before I have to ship the panel to Newfoundland.

I am loving the process.  Ordered seed stitch.  Accumulation.

I hope that what my work communicates is the quiet joy of making and at the same time the feeling that we are each just a tiny speck.

go slow....stop thinking.....look around
Van Gogh

touching and seeing

 there is a circle of the touched and the touching

 there is a circle of the visible and the seeing

there is even an inscription of the touching in the visible

of the seeing in the tangible

and the converse

Merleau - Ponty

wild pure

wild pure panel 2 side b

wild pure panel 1 side b

In this post, some photos of my piece for the exhibition Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder, curated by Gloria Hickey and Phillipa Jones.  Gloria has written about this exhibition on her blog,  here and here.    

wild pure panel 1 side a

hand stitch
repetition
small marks in big spaces
vintage domestic textiles (re-purposed wool blankets in this case)
plant dyeing 
archetypal pattern
traditional hand work,
an earthy minimalism 
wabi sabi

wild pure panel 2 side a

I am exploring the idea that both sides of a two-dimensional piece are the right side.

I consider the inner life of each of us to be more important than the outer surface we present to the world.

In this body of work I am striving to make the two sides equally beautiful and interesting.

Over the summer I dyed yards of blanket weight wool with plants that grow wild locally.

Three vintage wool blankets (two were pink wool when I started) were dyed with blackberry vine and iron and I am using them as the base for appliqué and stitch.

Both sides are the right side.  Above is panel one.

 Both sides are the right side.  Above,  panel two.

My grand idea is to eventually complete three-four panels and hang them from a curved support so that the viewers will feel wrapped with intimacy and awed by immensity. (sketch)

Like we feel when we are out in the wild places of nature.   

For this exhibition, Wild Pure Aesthetic Wonder, I will show one panel only and must choose.  Above is panel two  (shown with audition fabrics pinned to it).
I'll focus on it over the next weeks.

My piece has to be in Newfoundland by January 2015 as the group exhibition opens in St John's in March, and then it goes on to Gros Morne national park May through October. The wild pure exhibition is an important part of the Fibre Arts Newfoundland conference.