This Week has 10 days Oct 28 - November 7 2010



Champaign by artist designer Kate Jenkins repesented by the Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery from England [photo: joe lewis]

 Last year it was Champaign and Caviar to remind us of the "High Life" in 2008 it was sardines, cigarettes and a blue plate special. or at least that was the beaded and crocheted work by British designer and textile artist Kate Jenkins was showing at the Rebecca Hassack Gallery. One of my favourite Galleries that comes to the TIAF.

Thursday October 28th 2010 in Toronto is a very busy day with the 11th Art Toronto [TIAF 2010] opening at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West North Building, Exhibit Hall A and B with its now annual benefit for the Art Gallery of Ontario kicking of the event 6:30-10:00 pm.

TIAF October 28 - November 1

to see some images from this years art fair see this facebook album
TIAF October 28, 2010

Notes on the Art Writing and Publishing market place

It has become a growing concern for me as a publisher trying to find writers who specialize in textile in terms of research, reviewing of contemporary or historic material, and as a writer looking beyond the limited number of publications dealing with Textiles ranging from the newsstand available Fibrearts and Selvedge Associational publications like Textile Forum from the European Textile Network and Surface Design from the Surface Design Association which have a general subscription outside or membership  membership only publications like Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, from the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc. Specialized academic publications like Textile History from The Pasold Research Fund which has been publishing for over 40 years. The more specialized the publication the higher the price is to get it and there is an assumption of obscurity. Does anybody really want to read about The East Anglian Linen Industry. Rural industry and local economy, 1500-1850. [ actually today i started to read "The Linen Trade of Europe" by John Horner published in 1920 in Belfast by the Linen Hall Press at the Textile Museum's library so i for one would say yes to reading about the East Anglian Linen Industry By Nesta Evans in published by The Pasold Research Fund in 1985.]

 Then there are the interesting on-line experiments like Clothes line the on-line Journal of Costume which i just found today and of course there is John Hoppers "the Textile Blog" which I think is exceptional.

What this means is there is a market place for textile writing unfortunately every one is currently suffering financially and the institutional subscriber such as Museums and universities are not renewing subscriptions, printing cost are prohibitive and the Internet has become a new delivery system. Traditional publishers are losing their market share and we are losing places to publish and things to read. So who do you write for and do you subscribe to these publications. When a write ask me "How much do you pay" as a first response to a request for an article I realize my answer has to be "do you have a subscription to fibreQUARTERLY?"

I am just asking are we digging our own grave rather then watering a garden that will continue to nourish us? Or to put it terms of being a maker: Do you buy other peoples work? 

And now back to events in and around Toronto

Lois Schklar, Familiar Territory: Pathways opens Thursday October 28th, from 7-10 at The Department 13 89 Dundas St West, Toronto

http://www.thedepartment.ca/index.html

Lois Schklar is organizing a show for March 2011: Thirty Years of Dolls, will trace the journey of her doll making through the display of 30-40 dolls, early work from 1979-1986 and mid career work from 1991-2003. Half of the work in the exhibition gallery will be on loan from collectors and the rest from her own inventory. 

MADE presents:


A display of Bev Hisey's work at "FABRICation - Studio Production Textiles for Interiors"
August 24 - October 24, 2010. Cambridge Galleries; Design at Riverside 

 

OP: Hand Tufted Carpets by Bev Hisey
Wed, Oct 27, 2010 - Mon, Feb 28, 2011 
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West,
Toronto, Ontario 


Opening October 28th 9:30 - 11:00

An exhibition of hand tufted carpets by Bev Hisey in the Gladstone Cafe.
Since 2002 Bev Hisey's work is been in MADE Canadian Design "Radiant Dark" exhibitions presented during the what is now the Toronto International Design Festival for the past few winters.Her work is available through Made and other outlets across north America. visit her website http://www.bevhisey.com/

Dirty Dishes - Influenza  by Bev Hisey 4o" diameter 100% wool. Canvas
Made presents Radiant Dark 09 Elegant Corruptions

Notes for writing about Carpets:

The obvious market for stories on designers and interior design objects is the large number of popular interior design magazines which go from "How to" shopping driven publications like Canadian House and Home, or "in the know" design shopping magazines like Azure. Then there are more obscure academic journals, but because Bev Hisey is a designer of Contemporary Carpets  Hali Modern:Carpets and Textiles for Interiors  would be a good choice. 

Hali (the name means carpet in Turkish) " is the glue that holds the international rug and textile art market together. Described as "the benchmark against which all other art publications measure their quality", HALI is an international quarterly magazine of exceptional style, brimming with information. It is essential reading for the amateur and the connoisseur alike"

Hali Modern which they have published since 2005 is for a consumer of contemporary design. 

Hali Modern " Wider appreciation and the increased involvement of top-tier designers has taken contemporary design rugs to a new level. We look at the innovative collaborations and commissions that are changing the face of the industry"

Kai Chan: A Spider's Logic part two opens at the Textile Museum of Canada on Nov 7

Two Islands and a River, Kia Chan, 2010 Silk Thread, 234 X 333 X 5 cm, this piece is on display at the  Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery of Markham [photo by Joe Lewis]

Kai Chan: A Spider's Logic

Nov 7, 2010 - May 1, 2011
Textile Museum of Canada
55 Centre Avenue Toronto, Ontario

(Dundas St. W & University Ave., St. Patrick subway)

A 35-year retrospective at the Textile Museum of Canada from November 7, 2010 - May 1, 2011 and the Varley Art Gallery of Markham from September 26, 2010 - January 30, 2011. http://www.varleygallery.ca/

That concludes my round up for the next 10 days but November is just beginning and we have Hard Twist and Piece Work at the Gladstone to look forward to and the Christmas One of a Kind.

Hard Twist 5: Chorma
Nov 26, 2010 to Jan 30, 2011
The Gladstone Hotel

Nov 26, 2010 to Jan 30, 2011

The Gladstone Hotel’s 5th Annual Juried Textile Exhibition, held in the 3rd and 4th floor Galleries, opens on Friday November 26, 2010 – 6pm-10pm .
Year five of this annual juried exhibit is all about colour. Participating artists explore colour symbolism, meaning, relationships and perceptions through textile and fibre-based mediums.

Hard Twist artists present an exceptional palette of works ranging from the monochrome of Angela Iarocci’s subtle scientific exploration Sky Condition that visualizes the climate data of Canada’s urban centres, through American artist Joyce Melander- Dayton’s playful patterned expressions to Amanda McCavour’s intense “super-saturated, super-spiro-scribble decoration that is so bright it’s almost blinding”.

HARD TWIST 5: CHROMA! runs for two full months and is free to the public 12pm-5pm daily in the third and fourth floor public galleries at the Gladstone Hotel

2010 Participants:

Amy Bagshaw, Fiona Bailey, Susan Bidinosti, Monserrat Brandan, Kerry Croghan, Dhashi Farha, Lindsay Fisher, Holly Gabel, Angela Iarocci, Say Ivison, Shuyu Lu, Alanna Lynch, Amanda McCavour, Renata Meirelles, Joyce Melander-Dayton, Melanie Schaffer, Kat Shaughnessy, Mafalda Silva, Marcy Sperry, W Collective, Sarah Waldman-Engel, Jennie Wood

Curators: Helena Frei and Chris Mitchell,

2010 Jurors: Eva Ennist, Shaun Moore, and Julie Nicholson

Heather Goodchild:" hooked"  at hard twist 2009

 You can see images from last years exhibition in my facebook album
november 2009 more textile things to see
 

One Of A Kind

I bought these Susan Harris Spats at the Gladstone during pieceWORK which will be happening again this year during the first weekend of Hard Twist and as always you will find Susan at the One Of A Kind Show

Check out my facebook album from the spring One Of A Kind Show to remind yourself what it is all about 

March 31 2010, One of a Kind , weave in

So if you attend any of these events and post something on a blog, in facebook, or want to write about for me, leave a comment, send a link or just get in touch. This is just what is happening in Toronto, other exhibitions and events are happening across the country.

where do you share your information?

____________________________________________ 

First night photos from the Toronto International Design Festival

First night photos from the Toronto International Design Festival are now viewable in a facebook photo album.

"Blue Gold", a hand knotted carpet, Wool Topography with Silk Rivers 72" X 108 " designed by Bev Hisey and hand made by a "Rug Mart" certified maker.

The tile of this rug is inspired by Maude Barlow's book " Blue Gold; The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Waters" written with Tony Clark and published in Canada by McClelland and Stewart

A RED Poppy garden chairs , reclaimed fabrics, salvaged school room chairs, by Grant Heaps

These are just two of the pieces to be seen at Commerce Court west Ground floor lobby, jan 20-24
Thursday- Saturday 11am -7pm,

MADE's Radiant Dark 2010- Assets & Values- an exhibition of modern Canadian Design

199 Bay street, Commerce Court west Ground floor lobby, Jan 20-24
Thursday- Saturday 11am -7pmRadiant Dark at Commerce Court

meanwhile at the Ontario Crafts Council Gallery on 990 Queen Street West, Toronto, Designer/ artist Annie Thompson is showing off her back and her dress of recycled materials

(look through ONE OF A KIND SHOW albums I have posted for more of Annie's work)

Stay tuned to the facebook album for more photos over the next 4 days
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

My January agenda; Toronto International Design Festival 2010

Fresh back from the frozen west where I had a birds eye view of Tammara Jowarska's Unity Tapestry in the lobby of the Gulf Canada Square, 401 9th Ave SW in Calgary

and a late night encounter with The Bow an architectural Goliath on the corner of Centre Street and 5th ave NE I have arrived back in Toronto with one thing on my mind. The Toronto International Design Festival

With my new Thinking Cap on, (orange enamel colander for my new Kitchen, the personal does sometime intrude on my blog and this picture taken by a friend on Christmas eve is too funny, yet appropriate)

With my Susanne Harris Design Spats on I am ready for covering the city from the waterfront to the Banking district with a few trips down Queen Street West. Here is the plan.

Body and Object

Jan 5 - 31

Ontario Craft Council 

Opening reception Wednesday, January 20, 5:30 - 8:30 pm

Gallery & Administrative Offices, 990 Queen Street West,Toronto, Ontario, Canada Telephone (416) 925-4222

Body + Object includes the work of Amanda McCavour & Silke Stadtmuller / Andrea Graham / Annie Thompson / Bebhinn Jennings / Dandi Maestre / David Dunkley / Gillian Batcher / Jessica Beauchemin / Karina Bergmans / Lois Schklar / Marina Dempster / Norah Deacon, Adrian Parks & Yvonne Ng / Tanya Lyons / and Tara Bursey.

Amanda McCavour: embroidered flock or birds at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, July 2009

Gallery & Administrative Offices, 990 Queen Street West,Toronto, Ontario, Canada Telephone (416) 925-4222

MADE presents

Radiant Dark 2010- Assets & Values-

an exhibition of modern Canadian Design 

199 Bay street, Commerce Court west Ground floor lobby

opening January 20  7_10 pm rsvp

jan 20-24 

Thursday- Saturday 11am -7pm

Sunday 11 am -6pm 

"Stag" (Wall Hanging) by Grant Heaps, 2,200 1"square pieces of cloth part of Made presents Radiant Dark 09 Elegant Corruptions: an exhibition of modern Canadian Design, February 4 th to 8th, 2009.

 

Dirty Dishes - Influenza, Bev Hisey. 4o" diameter 100% wool. Canvas' Radiant Dark 09 Elegant Corruptions

 soft lighting from MOLO design featured in the first  Radiant Dark in and IDS08  in 2008 

Wednesday January 20 is a busy night with the opening of Radiant Dark at Bay and King and Body and Object opening at the Ontario Craft Council Gallery at Queen st West near Ossington, but not as busy as Thursday January 21. The Best of the TOAE 2009 at the First Canadian Place Gallery opens between 6- 8pm featuring: Amanda McCavour FIBRE - HONOURABLE MENTION, Noelle Hamlyn Snell FIBRE - BEST OF CATEGORY,

then I get a sneak peek at "come up to my room" at the Gladstone and another at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre before the "Ultimate" opening night Party for the IDS10 in their new location

This year at the IDS the Rug Rules: A NEW ERA: EVOLUTION OF RUG ARTISTRY.

ERA will feature the winning designs of the ERA Rug Design Competition held this past fall. Weavers Art and the Interior Design Show accepted hundreds of submissions by interior designers, industrial and graphic designers, architects, and artists to design an 8 ft by 10 ft rug. Never before seen, these designs will be displayed down the centre aisle of IDS 10. A silent auction will begin during the IDS Opening Night Party and continues through the duration of the show. Proceeds are in support of the Rugmark Foundation (to provide education for rug-making communities) and Dare Arts (providing local art-based programs for at-risk children).

The "Provincial Baskets" surrounding this tree are the work of Katherine Morley, as a member of the Lemon Collective she has shown at the Gladstone Hotel a number of times in over the past few years,[this photo is from PieceWork 2008. This year at the Interior Design Show she will one of the 10 rug design winners being unveiled and auctioned of as part of A NEW ERA: EVOLUTION OF RUG ARTISTRY

THE STORY:
The brainchild of Johane Lefrançois-Deignan, ARIDO, Principal designer of JNSQ Design, along with Weavers Art Director of Marketing, Catherine Shea. Catherine agreed that the concept provided an innovative challenge to showcase Canadian talent while raising funds and awareness for local charity (DAREarts) and promoting ethical carpet and rug production (RugMark). Following IDS, Weavers Art, www.weaversart.com, will be hosting an exhibit at their Gallery location in Designers Walk, to showcase the winning ERA designs. Guests will have the opportunity to order limited edition rugs, and a portion of the proceeds will continue to be donated to RugMark and DAREarts.

THE JUDGES: Daniel Faria of Clarke & Faria Gallery, Rachel Gotlieb, design journalist and writer, Nelda Rodger, Editor Azure Magazine and Suzanne Dimma, Editor Canadian House & Home.

“From the originality and freshness of the submissions, it’s clear that the design community is ripe for this kind of creative opportunity. The ten chosen entries make quite a special collection that is uniquely related to the local reality while reflecting a global and contemporary spirit.”…Nelda Rodger

And that is Just the Beginning...

Friday January 22 is the opening of the winter exhibitions at the Harbourfront Centre

 

Rilla Marshall, The Count, 2008 -2009.
198 echo scarves.

“Laborious” is a group show featuring textile artists who work in time-consuming techniques LABOURIOUS Curated by j.Penney Burton, featuring Hélène Brousseau, Joanna Close Margaret Forsey Misha Gingerich Rilla Marshall Dorie Millerson Natasha St. Michael Contemporary textile-based work carries on the labour intensive traditions of central Canada to the eastern provinces. [most of these artist have been profiled or reviewed in the pages of fibreQUARTERLY, I have written about j,Penney Burton's curatorial work in my column in "Needle Pulling Thread"]

Margaret Forsey, Altar for the Magdalene, (detail), 2009.
Mixed media including hooked rug

It’s a Big Deal (work from the craft Studio) Opening Reception: Friday January 22, 2010 from 6-9pm
Runs 23 January – 04 April 10 at Harbourfront Centre, 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON. http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/visualarts/yorkquaycentreYQC10_1.cfm#b

Barbara Hulanicki's 1990's design for the clasic Deco refurbishment of Hotel Marlin in Miami Beach

Over the weekend of January 22-24 there are lectures and guide tours happening at these Toronto International  Design Festival events the ones I plan of getting to include the rare opportunity to hear Barbara Hulanicki creator of Biba one of the fashion designs revolutionary of British flower power era at 3:30 on the 23rd at the IDS.Barbara Hulanicki started her career in fashion as a fashion illustrator. She covered all of the important fashion collections in Europe for the major publications of the day, including Women's Wear Daily, British Vogue, the Times, the Observer and the Sunday Times.

Exasperated by the disastrous street fashion in England, her husband Fitz encouraged her to design her own clothing. Biba was born. Decades have past and when she arrived in Miami Beach in the 1990ies she designed interiors for Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones and Chris Blackwell’s Boutique Hotel Group. She is credited with the resurrection of Miami Beach’s crumbling Art Deco district.

Gladstone “Thrive: Design for 100%” design talk will take place in the ballroom on Saturday January 23 from 11 am -2pm. If it is anything like last year be an casual easy to enter and exit early afternoon of interesting presentations by:
Victor Willis – Executive Director PARC, Elizabeth C English, PhD – University of Waterloo, Parimal Gosai & Adam Harris – Public Displays of Affection (PDA) and Sandra Brewster, Jorge Dominguez, Rebecca Houston – SKETCH.

This years curators for Come up to my room are, Designer and busy person this month Katherine Morley (see above), along with Caroline Shaheed, managing editor of CHEEKMagazine.com,  Jeremy Vandermeij, design consultant and a runs the social enterprise called Public Displays Of Affection with his friends and  Deborah Wang working on a Master of Fine Arts degree, juggling the intersections between art, architecture and cuation

Mylene Boisvert, Mobile Aluminum, wool cotton 36” X 32” X 104”

When you are at the Gladstone remeber to go right up to the top floor and make your way down through hardTWIST, their fourth annaual Textile Arts Exhibition.

Images from these events will be posted on facebook and linked to fibreQUARTERLY group(ies)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FANTASY FASHION SHOW #12
Gallery 1313
1313 Queen Street West
Toronto
January 28th, 2010 8pm Tickets $15 

Gallery 1313’s annual art meets fashion runway show is set to heat things up Jan. 28th 2010
Gallery 1313 , 1313 Queen St. West 416-536-6778  | www.g1313.org

Now in its 12th year the annual fundraiser for Gallery 1313 invites fashion designers & artists to have a push their creative boundaries and present  challenging wearable fashion . Over 10 designers will be featured in this bold runway show of fashion and art.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Interior Design Show 2009

IDS 08 Opening Night: It begins with a shimmer of setting sun reflecting of the lake, the air is bitter cold with a mixture of rush hour smog, ash and the breath crystallizes as it leaves the body. the day before I woke up to news of the Queen and Bathurst neighbourhood in Toronto in flames. TTC stoppages, street closures and traffic jams. My first thought was of MADE's Radiant Dark exhibition at the Burroughs Building 639 Queen Street West (at Bathurst) which was supposed to open that evening and run for the next week. At that point the fire was half a block east and was still burning

It is one Year latter and the Toronto, Interior Design Show 2009, along with MADE’s second Radiant Dark exhibition “ Elegant Corruptions” and the Gladstone Hotel’s “Come Up to My Room” are putting together finishing touches and preparing for what is basically a five day orgy of interior design concepts, products, lectures and panel discussions. There is more then enough “stuff” to satisfy the ever increasing “Design Life Style” groupie’s appetite and provide a much needed distraction.

To quote the 1921 song by Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Raymond B. Egan and Gus Kahn which is often thought to be from the depression era rather the post WW1.

“Times are bad and getting badder Still we have fun There's nothing surer The rich get rich and the poor get laid off In the meantime In between time Ain't we got fun”

Julie Laschuk , home decor objects,

Chair seat and pillows, revese appilque wool with embroidery floss

---------------
Here is a story with two beginnings. At last years IDS I saw work in the DESIGNgenNEXT section by a Sheridan College student named Julie Laschuk. The work was flocked paper scrolls. a few months later I went to the Sheridan Graduate show at Lennox Gallery on Ossington Avenue and saw an set of interior objects by Laschuk, wooden chair with upholstered seat of reverse appliquéd wool with embroidery and beading, pillows of wool and leather, printed lampshade an again flocked paper scrolls. At this year’s IDS Julie Laschuk is presenting her line of interior design home products in Studio North the IDS annual New Canadian Designer Showcase. This is the beginning of the her second story as a design professional and I am looking forward to see if textiles have come to the fore of her production work or if printing on a variety of materials has taken precedence

pillows By Judith Gueth; 100% silk fronts, 100% polyester backs

Judith Gueth speaking of the production methods used to produce her wallpapers in an interview in OM (Organic Mechanic) Live Blog last July

Q. What sets your wallcovering components apart from others on the market? How are they Earth friendly?

A. Bold, illustrative or abstract patterns, clean lines and interesting colour combinations characterize my wallpaper designs. The paper is printed on a smooth substrate, that has a lot of the qualities of conventional non-wovens, but contains 50% less synthetic fibre, therefore decomposes twice as fast. The wallpaper contains no vinyl, therefore it's breathable, and doesn't contribute to VOCs and to the build up of mold. The water soluble top coat further contributes to its breathable quality."

I have seen her line of products increase as time goes by, at the IDS and other public shows over the years. Rugs, wallpapers, and pillows all sharing a bold use of colour and line. Working out of an Op Art traditions borrowing on Marimekko scale and reaching back into Art Deco designs yet creating fresh subtle meandering patterns reproducing the ‘natural” world her work is current without being “Trendy”.

I hope to present a more detailed story of her working methods in the spring issue of fQ which will focus on Entrepreneurial Textile production

Arounna Khounnoraj and John Booth of Bookhou Designs will be back in Studio North this year, after a busy year in which this award winning design team has opened a Studio and Shop at798 Dundas Street West in the strip between Bathurst and Ossington that has been developing along with Ossington south of Dundas into a hot bed of restaurants, galleries, clothing and design shops. Bring together the hard and the soft in furniture along with the flowing yet simplistic printed graphic design on cloth accessories this pair always shows well.

This is just a quick look at what is coming your way at this year’s Interior Design Show. Schools presenting in the DESIGNgenNEXT are: University of Alberta, Ryerson University, Humber College, George Brown College – Institute Without Boundaries, Ontario College of Art and Design and Sheridan College.

One of the “Concepts” presenters is working with PaperStone. and all I can say is “ What?” I am intrigued to see what this is all about


ARCHITECT: Founded in 1995, PLANT Architect is an interdisciplinary firm that branches into the domains of architecture, landscape, ecology, furniture, art, and graphic design. Synthesizing the insights and expertise of related disciplines, the practice responds to and embraces the increasing complexity of the world and the ambiguity of where landscape, built form, and design intersect. PLANT’s integrated approach fosters a collaborative spirit, a multi-layered design solution and enriches each project with a fine grain of detail.

MATERIAL: PaperStone is a versatile material made from compressed layers of recycled paper and eco-resins. Like paper, it’s smooth, unusually strong and monolithic, is easily patterned and can be cut precisely. Unlike paper it's water and fireresistant and has a variety of uses, from countertops to exterior wall cladding.

SPACE: PLANT is creating Paperstone Scissors, an environment of cut screens, inspired both by thin, precise Japanese shoji screens and paper dolls.


This bench by an unnamed OCAD student from last years IDS08 is something I am still wondering about. I attended the year end exhibition hoping to find it or its designer and didn't. A chair from the year before ended up on display at the Umbra showcase store, again it was by an OCAD store and again I don't know who made it. There seems to be some sort of disconnect between the schools appearing at the IDS or between the schools their students and perhaps the media. In both instances I could not find a school representative with the display to identify the objects and the makers. This sort of defeats the reason behind the schools being there. I hope it has improved. Thou I must say the students from the University of Alberta come in numbers sufficient to promote their work, and are aggressively friendly and proud of their department.

----------------

carpet by Bev Hisey featured in Radiant Dark at Riverside Gallery in Cambribge Ontario

MADE is a store, presents

Radiant Dark 2009, ELEGANT CORRUPTIONS

exhibition of new Canadian design,

Opening February 4th, 7-10,

show runs February 5- 8th’

306 Dufferine St (south of Queen) Rear Building

Come Up To My Room, February 5-8, 2009at the Gladstone Hotel1214 Queen Street West,Toronto, Onatirio, This year the show was curate by Katherine Morley, Caroline Shaheed, Jeremy Vandermeij and Deborah Wang

There is more info about these shows and DIWHY at the Ontarion Craft Council below

I will be out and about at all these events with my camera so join me in this design run around ......