Thursday, July 20, 2017

Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax



The count down is on. Just twelve days before Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax is mounted.

I received the final copy of the exhibition invite this week and it brought home to me the reality of the approaching completion of a project that has come to feel endless over the year that I have worked on it. Don't get me wrong. It has been a powerful experience and I have learned a lot about what it means to commit yourself to a long term project. I am also really excited to explore some of the new ideas that have been bottlenecking while I worked on this series.

Harrison Park - July, 12 x 12 x 1.5", Peruvian Highland Wool on Wood Panel


Yesterday, I gathered all of the pieces to photograph them and get them ready for hanging. It was the first time I had looked at the completed pieces together and I was surprised at the cohesion of the group. Ideas, colours, and yarns repeat themselves through the pieces in ways I was not consciously aware of before they were all finished.

Escarpment Ferns, 12 x 12 x 1.5", Peruvian Highland Wool on Wood Panel


Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax will be in the Rotunda Gallery in Kitchener City Hall from August 3 to August 30, 2017. If you go see it, get in touch and let me know what you think!

Here is a sneak preview of the Artist Statement for the exhibition.

Transcending: Works in Wool and Wax

Fibre Paintings Inspired by Harrison Park, Owen Sound

Harrison Park in Owen Sound, ON became a subject of my work during an inspirational camping trip in the summer of 2016. The park is an unusual mix of urban park and classic Ontario escarpment adventure. I experienced many moments of transcendence here and this series is an attempt to communicate those moments and the feeling of the park.

I began with six square foot studies of subjects chosen to reflect different features of the park and moments when I was stopped in my tracks by the sheer beauty of the view.  These pieces are worked in a single weight (called fingering weight) of peruvian highland wool.

Three larger works revisit the same subjects and explore the impact of scale and reworking of or ‘second chance at’ a subject, this time using different types and weights of wool to create textural interest and emphasis. The wools used were collected from diverse places such as Iceland, New Zealand, Britain, and Canada.

As an emerging artist, this series represents several firsts. This is my first solo show with an intentionally created body of work. This is my first series based on a geographic location. And, most gratifying, this is the first deliberate attempt to satisfy the statement “If I could do it again, I’d…”