Connected Heritage

(I missed an entire exhibit!!)

Connected Heritage

by Articulation Textile Group

  The question is often asked: How does an exhibition come into existence?  In this case it is the result of the combined efforts of a group of artists who have exhibited throughout Canada and England since 2004. 

  The group, Articulation, visited Gimli and the surrounding area in 2017. They explored the Interlake landscape and cultural connections specific to the region. 

   Inspired by the heritage of this unique destination, members expressed their personal responses in textiles using thread, paint, and mixed media. These works explore the culture and landscape of the region and make connections between this region in the the heart of Canada and the diversity of the Canadian peoples. 

  The New Iceland Heritage Museum agreed to display this body of work. We are grateful for their participation in this project. 

Forest and Sea and the Place Between ART 2

My second piece in the Portals Gallery show is ARBUTUS.

One of my favourite trees on the west coast.

Artist statement:
Growing only on the rocky shorelines of the Pacific coast, the Arbutus tree is unique, with its dense wood and peeling layers of bark that expose the many colours beneath, from orange to cinnamon down to the fresh lime-green bark. This piece echoes that jumble of colours peeled away strip by strip, like layers of time, revealing regeneration.

 

Hand dyed fabric, selected threads to match nature colours, hand stitching to echo tree rings.

 

 

Detail shots

Exhibition: FOREST AND SEA AND THE PLACE BETWEEN
March 26 - April 18, 2019
Portals Gallery, Cowichan Valley Arts Council, Island Saving Centre, Duncan BC

Donna's Facebook

Lesley's Blog

Lesley's Facebook 

Articulation's website

Forest and Sea and the Place Between ART 1

In our current exhibition in the Portals Gallery in Duncan BC, I will have three pieces.

One is WESTERN RED CEDAR.

This piece was created from an 80-year-old woollen blanket found in a friend's grandfather's attic. After dyeing it, I felted three layers into one, echoing the way new trees grow from the biomass of the dead trees on the forest floor, which enables them to attain an enormous lifespan when free from man's interference. By transferring the motif onto the central square, emphasis was given to this sentinel of the forest - the Western Red Cedar. The spiral shapes echo the ferns that thrive in the shade, and the blues and greens echo the rain forest's principal colours that provide a calming presence to any who enter.


 Picking the threads and dyeing the wool

In progress with the stitching

More stitching

The completed piece

 

And detail - the bands of colour on the four sides are densely stitched by machine.

Forest and Sea and the Place Between INSPIRATION

Articulation then travelled to the west coast of Vancouver Island on our 2017 Study Session, to Tofino. Lots more inspiration there!

On Day 1:

Mudflats from the Tofino Botanical Garden - tide out...

 tide in...

lunch time in the Garden's lovely restaurant

Then off to one of the many beaches.

Mandy exploring.

Beach walking and its accompanying activities.

Kelp and pebbles/shells and sand and barnacles...

 

 

 

We then returned to the beach later for the sunset and it's changing colours.

Articulation - Ingrid, Leann, Donna, Lesley, Wendy, Mandy

Forest and Sea and the Place Between EXHIBITION March 26 to April 18, 2019

Articulation has a new exhibition upcoming at the Portals Gallery in Duncan BC. 

Six Articulation members were inspired by the Salish Sea. Sidney Spit welcomed us at low tide and we all had the opportunity to breathe in the luxury of salted air and sunshine on our creative journey of discovery. Each of us experienced learning, examining, ruminating and filtering our thoughts and reflections through our uniquely individual perspectives.

Here are some photos from our study session week in September 2017 to Sidney:

on the Spit and at the aquarium.

Lesley

 Ingrid

 

Leann

 Donna

 

WAR - A Personal Response WW1 INTERNMENT CAMPS

EXHIBITION runs October 16 - November 29, 2018 Sidney Museum, Vancouver Island, BC 
The six artists of Articulation Textile Group come together with their personal family  responses to war, in all of its forms.

Title: WW1 Internment Camps

Size: 12"x18"

Materials: maps, pages about each of the 24 camps across Canada, beads

Techniques: origami

For a country that prides itself on multiculturalism, we have a blind spot for certain elements of our history, one of them being the existence of internment camps during World War I and II. Twice, Ukrainian Canadian citizens have been held as prisoners, in dreadful conditions.

Canada’s first use of the War Measures Act was in August 1914, shortly after Great Britain, and therefore we, entered WWI. An order in council was issued requiring the registration of all ‘enemy aliens’ – citizens who had emigrated from territories controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, most of whom identified as Ukrainian. Some, including women and children, were interned, and their property and valuables were confiscated. Prisoners were required to work, their first task being to build the internment camps. Much of the infrastructure of Canada, including many of our national parks, was built using the labor of these prisoners.

This piece speaks to the convoluted reasons that result in such acts – racism tangled up with misplaced patriotism, loyalty to ‘king and country’, fear of otherness – and to the resulting effect on the incarcerated – increased isolation leading to hopelessness producing radicalization. Boxes within boxes within boxes.

Six boxes from maps showing the 6 provinces that had camps.

Twenty four boxes from pages detailing the 24 separate camps across Canada.

Forty eight boxes from pages of general information about the Canadian internment camps.

One hundred and twenty boxes and quantities of red beads representing the 8,579 prisoners from 1914-1920.

 

 partial shots of the piece: