BRIDGING WATERS in Saint John, NB

The opening was Friday night and was well attended with people anxious to see a fibre exhibition.

Congrats to ReBecca Paterson, our east coaster, for getting the show hung and presiding at the opening. The Frazee Gallery is in an original Carnegie Library building - what a lovely setting.

Some photos she sent of the night...

Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters is opening in The Maritimes!

Articulation, a Canadian exhibiting art group working with textiles and fibre as a fine art medium, takes traditional fiber art techniques in new and contemporary directions. Since 2004 they have organised annual study sessions to unique places in Canada, which serve to unify the resulting individual bodies of work when shown in their group exhibitions across Canada.

A recent study of the Bay of Fundy coastline has generated a new path for Articulation leading to exhibiting internationally with another contemporary fiber arts group, Material Girls, based in London, England, who were inspired by their iconic River Thames. The resulting combined body of work, ARTICULATED MATERIALS: BRIDGING WATERS, consists of one 2D artwork each from ten Material Girls members and ten Articulation members. In addition, each group will have available more works to include in the exhibition while it is touring their respective country.

After a successful three-exhibition tour of London, UK, the work has arrived back in Canada and begins its cross country tour. Starting in Winnipeg it will be hung in time for the National Embroiderers’ Association of Canada’s annual May seminar. The next stop is a gallery on Vancouver Island that looks out over another historically important body of water, the Salish Sea. The work then travels to the Bay of Fundy where it will be exhibited in the Saint John Arts Centre, Saint John.

This exhibition will offer unique perspectives on both bodies of water encapsulating the local geological, environmental and social histories. In both groups there are members who have grown up living beside their waterway, while other members have responded as first time visitors to the shoreline. Articulation’s work reflects the experiences of seeing rapidly eroding fossil bearing cliffs, walking on the ocean floor and viewing the history of European settlement through distinctive architecture. Material Girls’ work explores memories of watching rowers competing, locks operating and days spent on the river’s beaches. It will remain for the viewer to make trans-Atlantic connections between places and people with long, interwoven histories.

Artist Talks: Nov 14th @ 1pm, Nov 27th @12pm, and Dec 11th @ 12pm.
Exhibition Schedule: Frazee Gallery, Saint John Art Centre, Saint John NB, November 8, 2013 - January 10, 2014

London in May - visiting artist

While I was in London for 10 days in May, I was lucky enough that the timing overlapped with a transAtlantic exhibition of my work.


ARTICULATED MATERIALS: BRIDGING WATERS is a travelling exhibition co-hosted by two textile groups. Articulation from Canada, and Material Girls from England. A commonality of major waterways in the respective countries was decided to be the theme and we selected the Bay of Fundy in the Maritimes, and they worked on the Thames River.

There have been 3 bookings in the UK through 2012, and it will travel to Canada for 2013 / 2014. We are currently working on securing gallery space.

The exhibition I attended was in Horndon-On-The-Hill in the Essex countryside, in a 400-year-old building called the Woolmarket Hall, in a small village on a hill. We took the Piccadilly tube to the end of the line (Upminister station) in a one hour train ride, then got picked up by Martin and Julie Chellingsworth who drove us about 20 minutes to the village. It was lovely to meet the ladies of Material Girls, they were all in attendance and so friendly.

The Woolmarket...

Upstairs the display walls held the art - we were limited to one 2D piece each to limit shipping costs...

They also added 3D pieces to fill in the exhibition (we Canadians will also do that in our country)...

Specialty pieces were Thames Sailing Barges (flat-bottom boats used in the 19 century, good for shallow waters as the Thames was still affected to the shifting tides)...

This is me with my piece, based upon the Hopewell Rocks in the Bay of Fundy...

BRIDGING WATERS 4

The Brits have been very successful in getting press coverage of our shows. Here is an article from WORKBOX magazine that was written:

BRIDGING WATERS 3

My exciting news is that I will be attending the UK event!!! I get to show up as the visiting Canadian artist as the dates fit in with my trip to England this month and I am excited to be able to represent Articulation in the UK. We are hoping to get some of the Material Girls over to Canada when it is our turn to host the exhibition.

With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee (celebrating her 60 years on the throne) and the Olympics later this summer, London is the place to be in 2012!

BRIDGING WATERS 2

The Woolmarket in Hordon-on-the-Hill is a 400 year old half-timbered building in the county of Essex, east of London, along the Thames estuary. The fibre arts group Material Girls have set up a weekend event promoting textile arts with demonstrations happening all day. These are the artists scheduled to appear:

Textiles on the Hill Demonstrations

The Material Girls can now announce the times of the demonstrations so you can plan your visit for  the weekend event. We are lucky to have a great selection of textile artist and you don’t have to restrict yourself to one visit why not come along on both days and see the wide variety of skills that will be demonstrated.

Saturday 26th May 2012

11.00 - 12.00 Beverley Folkard

12.30 - 1.30 Helen Wilson

2.00 – 3.00 Sara Impey

3.30 – 4.30 Chris Spencer

Sunday 27th May 2012

11.00 -12.00 Margaret Lacy

12.15 - 1.15 Lynda Monk

1.30 – 2.30 Janette Bright

2.45 – 3.45 Juliet Bryson

ARTICULATED MATERIALS: Bridging Waters

Show #2 in the United Kingdom is coming up. Next weekend features a textile event in Horndon on the Hill, Essex. Their poster for the event...

This is the continuation of the a joint venture between Articulation (Canadian textile group) and Material Girls (UK textile group) upon iconic waterways in their respective countries - the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and the River Thames in England. This show will travel the UK in 2012 and move to various locations across Canada in 2013 and 2014.

Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters 2

Here is an article that was published in the local newspaper in Essex about our British exhibition.

And some photos from the opening of the show...

Erosion at Hopewell Rocks

"Erosion at Hopewell Rocks"
Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick.
This is the piece I had to get off to England by the end of January for three shows in 2012.

full:

detail:

The project is called "Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters" and is a joint venture between Articulation (Canadian textile group) and Material Girls (UK textile group) upon iconic waterways in their respective countries - the Bay of Fundy in Canada, and the River Thames in England. This show will travel the UK in 2012 and move to various locations across Canada in 2013 and 2014.

The first showing was at The Brentwood Road Gallery, Romford from February 22 to March 2nd.