"Bigdie Hakahen Hagadol"Silverman Garden Court, Main Floor,,
3560 Bathurst Street, Toronto M6A 2E1
DOROTHY CALDWELL Map of Tenderness, 2007
THREAD COUNT
July 19 - September 2, 2007
curator Susan MacAlpine Foshay
with Bonnie Baker, Dorothy Caldwell, Anneke Henderson, Laurie Swim, Janice Wright Cheney
Mary E Black Gallery
Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design
1061 Marginal Road, Hallifax
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Barbara Hobot Pelted
August 1-31, 2007
Rotunda Gallery http://www.kitchener.ca/visiting_kitchener/rotunda_exhibition.html
Kitchener City Hall
200 King Street West
Kitchener Ontario
Opening Reception Thursday August 2, 5-7
This July Toronto is alive with textile arts, you have to look for them but once found the variety is stunning. The "Toronto Out Door Art Show" has come and gone as always it was a mixed bag of quality and talent. The fibre and textile artist showed well and as always interesting were presented in different categories.
First we must congratulate Kate Jackson who stacked up numerous awards including a tie with David Thai for best in Decorative and Applied Arts Category ( prize provided by Vincent Lobraico) and Best in Show (woof) (provided by TD Canada Trust) Currently stitching on eyelet cloth her work has taken on this ghostly (perhaps a memorial to dead soldiers) subtler patina but the imagery remains interestingly controversial. embroidered toy solders seem to strike a chord some would prefer unstuck. To see Kate Jackson’s work on-line go to fibreQUARTERLY and the fQ Sampler and click on Gallery Archive.
Elsewhere in Nathan Phillips Square, Sarah Reynolds who shows as sculpture and for the second year running was awarded Best of category has moved out of the Student alley of last year and is now producing a stronger more intriguing body of soft sculpture. Her work comes from an odd place somewhere amongst taxidermy, Victorian doll making and 1960's pop art soft sculpture (ie Claes Oldenburg, Joyce Wieland) The work having qualities of both fetish and "art" object is charming yet some how horror ridden. These "fetish objects" more in the tradition of "sin eaters" ( animals usually rabbits buried with the dead) or scapegoats rather then fertility offerings lead into deeper tribal traditions Western cultural theorist have relegated to anthropological realm rather then the arena of the art historical.
Sarah Reynolds was not the only artist presenting in what I have come to consider the "Ugly Doll" category Monster Inc, Fibre Waku Waku among others were presenting "Soft Sculpture" Just google ugly doll and explore this growing genre. Even Christian Lacroix has jump on the band wagon with a series of "Fashion Monsters" for Habitat's range of "very Important Products for Kids" http://www.habitat.net/index.html
Christian Lacroix "Fashion Monsters"
In one of the two "student" alleyways listed in sculpture was Maria Litwin sitting in a chair knitting. This is not necessarily surprising since many of the exhibitors work away at something while waiting for consumers to consume. In this case however she was a performance installation. she was knitting a 12 inch wide ongoing strip that was rolled into a ball of approximately 40 inches in diameter. She chatted with people while she knitted and generally invited the viewer to tell their own stories ( which they will anyway and for an exhibitor that is a sign of no sale) Arounna Khounnoraj whom I met in the Interior Design Show 07 Studio North this past February won, Fibre - Best of Medium ( prize provided by Brookfield Properties Corporation) has just added a Baby Collection to her product line. http://www.bookhou.com/ Ann Henshaw received the Fibre Honourable Mention ( prize provided by David Kaye Gallery)
Maria Litwin sitting in a chair
Susanne Carlson
Below is a list of artist with websites that participated in this years show. More should be written on the artist and art being put on display at this event which has gone from a first in first served approach to a selection committee process. The assumption being quality control weeds out the wheat from the shaft unfortunately this isn’t necessarily true, but with the shear volume eventually speaks for itself and those whose work sell affords them next years entry fee. The same can be said for most large scale shows like the One of a Kind and the Art Expo.
Links
Toronto Out Door Art Exhibition http://www.torontooutdoorart.org/
Monica Bodirsky http://www.bodirsky.com/
Rebecca Erickson http://www.rebeccaerickson.com/
Fabricawakuwaku http://www.fabricawakuwaku.ca/
Stephanie Ford Forrester http://www.stephaniefordforrester.ca/
Beth Levin http://www.papermade.ca/
Arounna Khounnoraj http://www.bookhou.com/
Robin Polfuss http://www.roroart.com/
Lorraine Roy http://www.lroytextileart.com/
Diane Stewart http://www.shafleyandstewart.com/
Andrea Jean Vander Kooij http://www.andreavanderkooij.com/
Hillary Webb http://www.hillarywebb.ca/
This weeks interesting Bloggs
http://torontocraftalert.blogspot.com/
http://www.ideasonideas.com/2006/02/value_of_canadian_design
http://www.poppytalk.blogspot.com/
http://decor8.blogspot.com/2006/05/blog-of-week-print-pattern_23.html
Posts
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