Live from Montreal "En Arvil" Quebec's fibre celebration

Almost a month to the day after my visit to Fiber Philadelphia I am on another Mega Bus destine for Montreal and the opening of their month long province wide celebration of textiles. I have been here four, days, have been to three openings and seen eight exhibitions. (Four of which were not part of the festival line up but easily fall in with textile themes as well as actual textiles)

Concordia University student piece "Hobby Horse 1" by  Emily Kathleen McIntyre, Digitally printed silk organza, wood, glitter, double-faced satin ribbon, 

As with most multi venue events you will run into student work, and in the past year I have seen student work from the Baltic countries, Philadelphia's many textile classrooms, Kooteny School of the Arts (and Crafts) in Nelson British Columbia and now Montreal and if I go back another six months you can thrown in several more America schools and almost all of Canada. I do make it a point; students are a litmus test for fibre health so to speak. The prognosis is complex, riddled with regional differences and institutional stances generating a displaced population of would be "something-s" Makers: yes maybe? Artist: yes no definitely Maybe "it is art, isn't". The indecision is just as much age as influence, trying to fit in and bucking the status quo. It is the lament of the Gen Xers being relived by their younger siblings and looking at opposites of the age spectrum, their children. (almost) At this juncture I feel like providing some visual evidence since the next opening isn't until Wednesday night. Let me take you through a sampling of pieces using the dress as subject: and as object. Be it wearable, hang-able (a wall piece), installation or concept.

The Dress by Eva Muston, 2010 tapestry Tartu  Art College Estonia, part of  The International Textile Students’ Exhibition STATE OF EXCEPTION, organized by the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty of Art

Chantal Traub: regional perspectives:
Silk and Various fabrics, silk screened and painted

ACAD University Class of 2011

"What you Take off isn't always gone"2012  Sandra Chirico, Silicone, Forton moulds, and Video, Concordia fibre program.

Sugar Childhood by Gertuda Zillute, 2011,VAA Kaunas Campus, part of  The International Textile Students’ Exhibition STATE OF EXCEPTION, organized by the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Kaunas Faculty of Art

Seathra Bell ACAD University 2011 Birdcage dress 2011, Menho Wool, silk, metal.

Fabrication Lauren Osmond, Concordia University 2012,  fermented tea bags, ivory buttons on light table (with video of the garment being worn by dancer Kim Flurry Bertrand

Diana Perez , Concordia, " Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel Live" wire, cotton and polyester fabric Chains Plastic Beads thread, dye

At the opening of the student show By Hook or By Crock, I asked Sandra Chirico maker of the silicone dress if she had heard of Eva Hesse or "The Meat Dress" ( I was referring to "Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic" (1987) by Canadian Jana Sterbak not the one Lady Gaga wore) she told me Eva Hesse sounded familiar. Granted Silicone isn't latex but for me it was a given that this piece even with its title "What you Take off isn't always gone" was referencing an entire genre with a large feminist context. Even the photographic and performance work of Martha Wilson came to mind. Give that Concordia students had the amazing opportunity to see Wilson's work last year at the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery I. You might want to throw Karen Finley into the mix and her Chocolate smeared body that cause such a scandal in the early 1980s and think of this pieces with its accompanying video with in it fits and comes out even if the maker doesn't know any of these other pioneering feminist artist. I was a bit interested by this total lack interest in my question. Granted it was the opening and she had just been explaining her work to her parents. You might think it is unfair of me to bring this up, but one of the things about openings that young makers need to realize is every stranger has possibilities. Its great to party but dealers curators and collectors or heaven forbid "bloggers" may be lurking in the shadows and you need to be able to provide and intelligent sound bite. 
 

Diana Perez , Concordia, " Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel Live" wire, cotton and polyester fabric Chains Plastic Beads thread, dye

The next day while talking with one of the instructors from Concordia about obvious references and students awareness of if not textile history (Hessa and meat dress are recent history) then at least what is happening else where. She commented that they seem to be very insular and have no interest in what is happening outside the walls of Concordia. Considering Diana Perez's “Lloror, Sentir, Vivir -Cry Feel Live" direct riff on Jean Paul Gaultier corset come to life as a party girl. I saw The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts this past September a student or two must have stumbled upon it and got the class mates to go and look I would hope. I overwhelmed but determined to see the work rather then the elaborated 'decor" of it all. One of the things that has fascinated me (and thousands others no doubt) are his corset that photograph well and I was amazed by the number of years the corset was part of his vocabulary and how there was a twenty years between the next innovation or refinement to the making of these objects. Diana Perez's is at that point now. The finish may be a bit rough but impact and gesture of both confinement and support with all its social political intransigence are there. I want to see this piece displayed to its best advantage, which it wasn't. I won't say it was a student show there for the bad install, bad lighting and general haphazardness of the show should be excused. It shouldn't, this show have been presented just as well as the other student show "Out Of Place" at the Yellow Fish Gallery.

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Geodev#1, by Sophie Jaillet, 2012 wax, beads, leather felt and polyurethane foam. at Yellow Fish Gallery

 

"Out of Place" featuring the work of Sabrina Dufour, Florence Boivin, Sophie Jaillet and Stéphanie Coleman had some intriguing things and some disappointing things. I seem to be drawn to the things I am disappointed with, which may seem odd or just contrary. There is a Toile de Jou, in this show, and with all Toile old or contemporary you can anticipate what subtle frolics are happening in there bucolic settings. Renée Green's "Mise-en-Scène: Commemorative Toile" easily comes to mind since I was just at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia where created this work. I saw that work in 1997 at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto and its gentile drawing room staging of upholstered furniture, wallpaper and drapery the harshness of its imagery and "highly-charged yet surprisingly subtle commentary on social class, race, and aestheticism,"  This piece installed in such a way as to look like a scarp of wall paper remain on a wall that has been striped this bring to mind the subversive Toile wall coverings the Scottish design firm "Timorous Beasties" which have images of boys peeing behind brushes near a bench were a couple is making out, to work with Toile as a concept could have had a more surprising result then this piece has.

Stéphanie Coleman Toile de Jou

Installation shot from Yellow Fish Gallery east elevation Sabria Dufour's work is the black piece in the back corner,  knitted sack by Florence Boivin 

looking west the knitted sacks are "Lift Me If You Can," Florence Boivin

detail of Sky #2 by Sophia Jaillet, thread on printed polyester

This a close up of In the Corner of My Head by Sabrina Dufour, 2012 papier et panneau secge / folded paper

 Since the two Concordia Student exhibitions are only up for a limited time and they are having their crits this week I felt like chiming in on a few things, and encourage everyone to see where they are now so a few years from now.. who knows? I have to say that I keep running into misidentified techniques such as burn out labeled Devore' so when I run into actual  Devore' imagine my disappointment when it is ripped to shreds and used in an vague installation with other really nice printed textiles that have also been thrown into the heap. I will end hear with a few heaps I have seen this year.

 

Live Wire, Selina Doroshenko, mixed media,

Barbara Worden ACAD University, Quantum Soup, 2011, Weaving: wool, bamboo

Part of Master program art project exhibited at “Kaunas biennial textile 11” called “Artificial River”

Vilnius Art Academy’s Master student, Kristijonas Bakas, Vilnius2011

See piles of stuff can work if you bring them together well. and speaking of well put together I had a sneak preview of "Traverser sans la voir" embroidery by Chistine Peyret at Centre des textiles contemporains de Montréal / TRAMES la galerie. it opens Wednesday, with a talk from the maker at 4 pm and the opening reception at 5pm. if you are in Montreal you must see this show. Its incredibility rich imagery and the stories they evoke is some breath taking, this is one of the best solo exhibitions I have seen, to say this stitcher is a master is to under appreciate her work. So Students go and see where textile work can take you even if your instructors won't hold your hands on the way .

 Montreal April 3 2012

To see more Images and get more information what is happening during this first week of "en avril" see my facebook album En avril.in Montreal
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Links to Makers referenced in this blog

Eva Hessa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Hesse

meat dress according to wikipedia Vanitas:_Flesh_Dress_for_an_Albino_Anorecti

MARTHA WILSON: STAGING THE SELF at Lenard and Bina Ellen Art Gallery Concordia University

Karen Finley http://karenfinley.com/

Renee Green/ Fabric Workshop

"Timorous Beasties" http://www.timorousbeasties.com/

 Kristijonas Bakas  The Back Page: “Artificial River” Master program art project by Kristijonas Bakas

If Wishes Had Wings, Too Many Textile Things; April 2012

Me presenting "the magic of getting published while tracking textile arts in the wilderness":at the ETN 2009 Symposium at the Textile Centre Haslach Upper Austria 

FIBER Philadelphia, "Identity: Context and Reflection" National Conference: Surface Design Association and Studio Art Quilt Associates March 31- April 4

En avril.in Montreal and across Quebec,: an annual event that underscores the vitality and excellence of fiber arts and textile industry in Quebec.Opening on  a month of exhibitions, conferences http://www.enavril.com/programmation.html

Opening night Concordia University Friday, March 30, 2012, from 16 h 30

Pavilion EV - EV 6-730 (
6th Floor, Mackay Street entrance, corner Ste-Catherine),  
1515 St. Catherine Street West, Montreal 
16 h 30: Introduction to Programming by the founding members of  "in April" ... from  Jake Moore,  Director FoFA Gallery

17: 30 pm:  "Social Fabric (fabric)"  talk by Professor Janis Jefferies from Goldsmiths University,      

18: 30 pm: Reception

20 h 00: Opening - By Hook or By Crook Exhibition of undergraduate students Fibers
   Eastern Bloc, 7240 Clark Street, second floor
     Montreal (De Castelnau metro)

 Cross Without Seeing: Christine Peyret

April 4 to May 11

Montreal Centre For Contemporary Textiles

5800 St. Denis Street, studio 501

Montreal.
April 4 to 16 pm: Lecture by the artist, followed at 17 pm opening of the exhibition
Monday to Friday from 9 am to 16 pm 30

The French artist Christine Peyret presents an exhibition of paintings embroidered, noting the fiftieth anniversary of Algerian independence. The artist has created over 15 large format panels in embroidery, inspired by images from photographic backgrounds family, press photos and military records taken in Algeria between 1954 and 1962. The artist expresses the universal suffering of those who try to survive in a country at war.

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One of a Kind March 28-April 1 and City of Craft. Toronto,

SOFA New York, April 20 - 23, 2012
Stroud International Textile and PAIRINGS II – conversations & collaborations April 28 –May 27 2012, Museum in the Park GL5 4AF Stroud, United Kingdom

Wood meets metal; metal meets stitch.
Paper meets embroidery meets radical knitting. Ceramics meet textiles It is inspiring and innovative challenging and encouraging new directions.

 New work from Alice Kettle, Jane Webb, David Gates, Claire Curneen, Sharon Blakey, Ismini Samanidou, Rachel Kelly, Jilly Morris, Jane McKeating, Dawn Mason, Nigel Hurlstone, Janet Haigh, Vanessa Cutler, Helen Felcey, Kate Egan, Annie Shaw, Shelly Goldsmith.

Sharon Blakey & Ismini Samanidou Photo: Ben Blackall image provided by Alice Kettle

‘Pairings II – conversations & collaborations’. Pairings II is co-curated by Alice Kettle with Lizzi Walton (SIT artistic director) Alice Kettle is one of the UK’s leading textile artists with work exhibited widely and Senior Research Fellow at Manchester Metropolitan University. Pairs of artist/makers will come together to share new technologies, techniques and materials that may be unfamiliar to them and their usual creative practices. Some leading names in the world of contemporary crafts will link and pair with lesser known makers to engage and explore; inspire and innovate.

Mending + Art at Borowsky Gallery, Gershman Y 401 South Broad Street.
left to right: Wolfie E. Rawk, curator Diane Savona, Dorothy Caldwell, Libbie Soffer and Erin Endicott

in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania..photo by Joe Lewis taken with understood intentions to post.

To put it in a nutshell can you say "Beam me Up Scotty" it is a matter of "when it rains it pours". The opportunity to see textile work in galleries, trade/ craft shows, and museums to attend conferences about textile work  should always be taken advantage of if possible. Weekends like the last one of March where there is so much happening, granted they are happening in different cities that are reasonably near by can be amazingly distracting. Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal would make an interesting road trip if you had the time unfortunately attending a talk at 2 in the afternoon in Montreal and go to an opening in Philadelphia at 7:30 just isn't possible so I need to be depend on other people going to them and hopefully sharing the experience on facebook or in a blog posting (remember to ask permission to take photographs if you are going to post them and name the people and the work that you see).

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and now for some shopping 

ONE OF A KIND SHOW Toronto preview

Joanna Schleimer
True Sew Textiles
One of a Kind Show Toronto Booth: E-35 

"True Sew Textiles  aims to re-vitalize the tradition of preparing and collecting a trousseau through the making of hand printed and embroidered household linens. True Sew Textiles brings forth a fresh and wholesome re-invention of the trousseau for the modern woman, whether she is single, engaged or married"  from the website Joanna Schleimer

 

 transat chair a new product by Emanuelle Dion & Isabelle Bergeron
Foutu Tissu, One of A Kind Show, Booth: K-29 

"Within a few years, Foutu fabric, small manufacturing company and upholstery textiles, has developed a style all her own. She creates designs ranging from pop and modern to suit any decor. Emanuelle Dion Bergeron and Isabelle are true artisans." 

... Marie-France Léger La Presse February 20th 2012

Zipper Pouches from Jenna Fenwick & Kate Hunter
Jenna Rose at the One of a Kind Show Toronto
Booth: I-16 

"When I am not creating things in the studio, I spend the majority of my spare time creating things at home. Whether it is crocheting a blanket, refinishing an old cabinet, learning to play the ukulele, planting a garden or canning my own preserves, self-sufficiency and creating are a big part of my life — at least when I’m not tearing through the forest on a bike." 

The Etsy Blog: Featured Seller: Jenna Rose Handmade ,Jan 16, 2012

You can see what I saw on opening day in my facebook album 

A parliament of Owls? One of a Kind Show Toronto Spring 2012

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 This is a mock up of a concept to make buy hand made and local textile products easier, the products in this image are top left wise: "Great Out Doors" a picnic set by Kerry Croghan Images printed on Hemp, made of Hemp and cotton twill, and/ or wool fabrics available at MADE Design, Bag by "jenna rose", Felt Lampshade by Fiona Duthie of Barefoot Living Design, A selection or printed textile products from Arounna Khounnoraj of Bookhou Design, ottoman by Emanuelle Dion of Foutu Tissu, Hand tufted "Birch Tree" carpet by Andy Blanchette, baskets by Wendy Durfey Basketry, Black and white woven curtains by Armstrong Textiles centre Mohair Blanket by WILD HALIBURTON ELEPHANT WEAVERS.

the question is will the concept become a reality is there a need and desire for a directory of this sort in Canada for Canadian shoppers. I have created a facebook page to test the market so to speak

The question about shopping seems to have fallen out of the equation/ the discourse on contemporary craft practice. After being in Philadelphia for the opening weekend of Fiber Philadelphia  I found myself a few days later at "Craft and the New Economy" a one day symposium presented at OCAD University in Toronto presented by the Ontario Craft Council. While an interesting event with rather small quick presentations by a world class selection of presenters operating with in the contemporary design, craft and art worlds discussion of the market place and representatives of the market place seemed to be absence. That worries me. While I attend all categories of events and see the interconnectedness of hand and industrial produced objects (of desire perhaps) I see the approaches makers take to fit into specific curated categories and i see curators exploring functional. non functional and methods of making. Occasionally i see price tags and production work.

I get asked to make suggestions and questions about sources of local green and handmade. It seems there is a lot of curiosity and while trying to write I tend to ignore the buyers and encourage that at the same time. I think about this along with textile history and how textiles are used in contemporary art practice, and craft practice and then I look at more stuff, find out about more events and then Star Track technologies and then I lie down Can you say "Beam Me Up Scotty"

 

 Always more to come... the Spring issue of fibreQUARTERLY will cover these events and raise as many questions as it answers no doubt, see you some where soon.

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Febuary 2010: Canadian Textile and Fibre openings, and ongoing exhibitions

This just a quick look at what is currently opening and up in different cities across Canada


Toronto

you can see more photos from February events  as they happen in my  facebook album 
February in Toronto 2010

He That Makes Himself a Sheep, a new sculpture by Barbara Hobot,

Peak Gallery, 23 Morrow Avenue, Toronto

On view from January 27 - February 13, 2010

You can read about Barbara Hobots recent work in an Interview with Mike Landry for Thingsofdesire.ca, April 30 2009

Nine Patch Quilt (1848). On loan from the Ontario Black History Society (photo by joe lewis)
Stitching Community: African Canadian Quilts From Southern Ontario
Wilson Canadian Heritage Exhibition RoomSigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum
January 29 Until September 6, 2010

Vessna Perunovich, ON EXHIBIT
Performance / installation / video / large scale wall drawings

PAUL PETRO SPECIAL PROJECTS SPACE
962 Queen Street West
February 1st to 28th, 2010 / 9am-5pm

Closing Party: February 26th,2010 / 7pm-10pm

Toronto based artist Vessna Perunovich transforms Queen Street’s Paul Petro Special Projects Gallery into a studio/residency site-specific space. Enclosed within the Gallery space and exposed to pedestrians through the gallery window, Perunovich will practice her art under the scrutiny of the public eye. For the entire month of February, the audience will have a unique opportunity to experience the artist’s creative process as a public display, rather than an intimate enclosed experience.

Pass by the Gallery and witness the artist as she performs her project On Exhibit.

As a sculpture she has used fibre strings, netting and fabric in much of her work. She was in the first Hard Twist at the Gladstone in 2006 with piece called "wounding"

Falling Water

Textile Art of Stephanie Ford Forrester

Campbell House Museum
160 Queen Street est, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3H3
Free admission to gallery, Hours: Tuesday to Friday, 9:30 am—4:30 pm; Saturday, 12:00—4:30 pm
www.campbellhousemuseum.ca

 

Wired by Susan Carr
Feb. 3 - 21, 2010 . reception on Sunday Feb. 14th, 2 - 5 pm.
*new* gallery . 

906 Queen St. W. Toronto ON M6J 1G6 , 416-588-1200
www.new-gallery.ca
Wed.-Sun. 1-6 pm.

In the passed few years Susan Carr has shown in Washi group shows that have continued annually after the 2008 World Wahis Summit here in Toronto.

Waterline SUSAN WARNER KEENE

February 6- 28th
DAVID KAYE GALLERY
1092 Queen Street West
(entrance on Dovercourt)
Toronto, ON M6J 1H9
416.532.9075
www.davidkayegallery.com 

 Water Line: recent paper work, and officially opens from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m. on February 6th. The exhibition continues until February 28th. Susan will also be at the gallery on Thursday, February 4th from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. to meet with visitors that may be out for the FIRST THURSDAYS WALK WESTWARD tour in the West Queen West District. Betty Ann Jordan leads tours to specific galleries each FIRST THURSDAY of the month. 

For more information go to < http://westqueenwest.ca/ > and learn more about the area and the exciting variety of galleries, restaurants and retail shopping offered in the neighbourhood that extends from Bathurst Street west to Gladstone Av

Coming up at the David K Gallery March 4 - 28, 2010
EVA ENNIST, A Curious Development: new mixed media sculpture
Meet the artist reception: Saturday, March 6 from 2 - 5 p.m.

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Ongoing
Textile Museum of Canada

Installation view of Fashionably Wrapped, showing the traditional male shawl

(image provide by TMC)

Kaleidoscope:Antique Quilts from the collection of Carole and Howard Tanenbaum, September 23, 2009 - March 21, 2010

In Touch: Connecting Cloth, Culture + Art,
September 30, 2009 - April 11, 2010
Fashionably Wrapped: The Influence of Kashmir Shawls,
November 18, 2009 - May 30, 2010

In Touch: Connecting Cloth, Culture + Art,
September 30, 2009 - April 11, 2010
Textile Museum Of Canada
55 Centre Avenue
Toronto, ON M5G 2H5
http://www.textilemuseum.ca/

Harbourfront Centre: Winter 2010 Exhibitions Saturday 23 January 10 — Sunday 04 April 10

 J. Penney Burton, Unrealized Potential Three: Orange, Red, Yellow and Green Peppers, (detail), 2009 photo Joe Lewis (me)

LABOURIOUS; Contemporary textile-based work carries on the labour intensive traditions of central Canada to the eastern provinces. curated by j.Penney Burton. Vitrines in South Hall

Amanda McCavour's the kitchen, embroidery on  water soluble fabric , York Quay Gallery (photo Joe Lewis)

IT'S A BIG DEAL! The biennial exhibition of new work by Harbourfront Centre's current artists-in-residence.
Curated by Melanie Egan, Head of Craft, and Patrick Macaulay, Head of Visual Arts
York Quay Gallery and Studio Hallway Vitrines 

 

Norah Deacon, "nest" In the studio hallway cases

http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/

Calgary

Photo by John Hails provided by The Nickle Arts Museum

Reeds and Wool: Pattern Screens of Central Asia  

From the Sommer-Krieger collection of Kyrgyz Reed ScreensOctober 2, 2009- February 22, 2010,

The Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary Alberta, Canada.

Royal Alberta Museum, April 3-July 4, 2010 in Edmonton, Alberta

Montreal

tricot nouveau by Lysanne Latulippe (AKA majolie), prize-winner of the Prix Lucien-Desmarais, in 2008.

Centre des textiles contemporains de Montréal

5800, St-Denis, espace 501

Montreal, QC

To find out more about the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles and their twentieth anniversary year on their website 

To add to their 20th anniversary celebrations, they have produced videos on the career of five of our graduates : Marie Pierre Daigle, Josée Hamelin, Lysanne Latulippe, Dahlia Milon, Isabelle Sentenne. You can see these videos on YouTube at the following web addresses : YouTube

Vancouver;

 

Kate Jackson, I won’t treat my tears like tissue, 2008,Hand-embroidery, facial tissue, cardstock, plastic, 22 x l0 x 18cm

Kate Jackson is just one of the textile artist with work in Unity and Diversity. 

This photograph is from fibreworks 2008 at the Cambridge Galleries 

ART OF CRAFT .

Presented with Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad. at the Museum of Vancouver 

1100 Chestnut Street, Vancouver, British Columbia

Art of Craft showcases 173 spectacular fine craft works in three parts:

Unity & Diversity: Selected Works - 75 pieces from across Canada recently on display at the 2009 Cheongju International Craft Biennale in the Republic of Korea.

By Hand/BC and Yukon - 51 pieces from Canada’s West Coast with a focus on the artists’ creative processes and studio environments.

Craft from the Republic of Korea - 47 pieces demonstrating the excellence of traditional and contemporary crafts.

Museum of Vancouver

Winnipeg 

 Costume Museum of Canada
109 Pacific Avenue, Downtown Exchange District, Winnipeg

Find them on facebook and check their website for images and more information

Wartime Weddings, From Jan 19th, 2010 until Apr 4th, 2010

Special garments are an important part of many rituals the world over, but the wedding dress tops them all. This show will display bridal wear from the years of the First and Second World Wars, when weddings offered happy reprieve from hard times.

Native/American Apparel, From Jan 19th, 2010 until Apr 4th, 2010

Guest curator: Jenny Western, Urban Shaman Gallery

Bringing together artwork by Contemporary Aboriginal artists, Lita Fontaine and KC Adams, alongside pieces drawn from the collection at the Costume Museum of Canada, Native/American Apparel looks at the relationship of fashion, clothing, and textile to the representation of Indigenous identities. By juxtaposing historical artifacts with current artworks, Native/American Apparel encourages viewers to consider the role of the collection and exhibition of objects made by First Nations and Metis people in galleries and museums, particularily those objects made by women.

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March 11-12 2009 48 Hours in Montreal

Mitsuko Akutsu

The reason for going: The Japanese artist Mitsuko Akutsu presenting her most recent jacquard woven artworks at the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles


“ICHIGO ICHIE is a Japanese expression for Tea Ceremony, it means “once-in-a-lifetime chance". For Mitsuko, taking photos is also one chance, each time, in her lifetime. She always had a strong interest in photographing nature. She is also interested in the human traces that express or record the passing of time – such as scuff marks or other evidence of natural wear.”


A Japanese artist born in Tokyo, Mitsuko Akutsu is Associate Professor in Aoyama Gakuin Women’s Junior College. She has had twelve solo exhibitions in Tokyo and multiple selected group exhibitions. The work in this exhibition was created during this last year at MCCT, and are the result of her research during her residency.

The Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles
5800 St-Denis Studio 501
Montréal, (Québec) H2S 3L5 Canada

http://www.textiles-mtl.com/index.php?lang=en

Mitsuko Akutsu

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While in Montreal I went to check out some of my favourite places such as commissaries Design gallery/ shop who along with Toronto’s Ministry of the Interior presented Kwangho Lee “Comme une forêt de fil” (“Like a forest of wire”) in "ballroom" at the Gladstone during Come Up to My Room [February 6- 10]


Simplicité, volontiers chez / at commissaires is the current exhibition with works by designers from the Netherlands

Jo Meesters


Jo Meesters’ “Day Bed” is part of the “Odds & Ends, Bits & Pieces” collection from their Test Lab. This grouping consisting of four furniture pieces has been produced by working with a specific limited supply of recycled material re-purposed with a minimum of waist.


The collection which is entirely made out of 34 discarded wooden beams and 16 leftover blankets is based on upholstering and weaving techniques creating soft variations of everyday objects. http://www.jomeesters.nl/
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LADAK Blanket project

Roland

LADAK has named each blanket after a homeless person and/or hero. These names, from ‘Arie’ to ‘Willem’ refer to the type of blanket. But, just as ‘Willem’ is not always the same person on a Monday as he is on a Tuesday, no blanket is the same.

Each blanket is handmade and unique, and vary slightly in size. The basic size is 200 cm (78 inches) by 140 cm (54,6 inches). They can be machine washed at 30° centigrade (86° F). Just as easy. a portion of the sales of these Blankets is being donated to Rehab Mentrum in Amsterdam along with practical donations of their product lines

LADAK website http://www.ladak.nl/eng/index.html
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While talking with the owner he pointed out this Plaid Blanket and told me about the designers attempt to revitalize the weaving production of a mill founded in 1920.

Plaids by Scholten & Baijings, ( http://www.scholtenbaijings.com/ # ) Amsterdam woven at DE PLOEG http://www.deploeg.com/

As Commissionaires brings international design to Canada they are currently preparing to take Canadian designs to the international market place. they are currently getting ready to take "Babiche nouvelle" by design group made up of Laurie Bedikian, Mania Bedikian, Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte and Patrick Meirim de Barrosa. "Babiche nouvelle" is a new take on the traditional pine chair with a woven rawhide seat, but in steel tubing with babiche, the hand-woven webbing used on snowshoes and chair seats, that has graced country kitchens in Quebec since the 1600s, along with a modern take on the traditional ceinture fléchée to the SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEL MOBILE 2009 in Malian

you can read about Cienture Flechee at http://ceinture.connexion-lanaudiere.ca/

Commissionaires 5226, boul. St-Laurent, Montréal (QC) Canada H2T 1S1 http://www.commissairesonline.com

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Last week in Montreal saw a series of exhibitions featuring Concordia art students opened all over town. It was a mixed bag to say the least, and perhaps the most, Stuffed Dolls/ creatures, some printing, one artist in particular doing everything in one piece, again and again and again, you'll know it when you see it.

trendShedding march 9 to march 13
VAV Gallery, VA Building - 1395 RENÉ LEVESQUE W.

This has the work of

Olivia Mew, I am Busy Forever

Allison Book “Now What” 2008, stuffed cloth “Chimpanzees” with printed faces and ASL cards

Katie Earle “free Gazza Spring Collection” Printed textiles

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Obsession subtile / Subtle Obsession March 10 to March 14
Les Territoires
Belgo Building, 372 rue Ste-Catherine O #527

Curator:Julie Fournier

Madeline Pippa Bartlett (books) 2008, Linen, cotton wool, acrylic felt, hand made paper, printed, knitted, appliquéd, machine and hand embroidery, beading,

Stephanie Lau: The White Tube, 2008, glass seed Beads, thread, industrial eye screw

detail[ click on this image for an even closer view]

Jennifer Lupien (paper cast pudding cups).

www.jenniferlupien.net

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You’re Too Close: Body Politics, Spatial Relations, March 10 to march 14
Art Mûr, 5826 St. Hubert - Metro Rosemont

Curator: Sara Lawlor and Robert Vitulano

Alanna Lynch, Ugly White Fetishist, 2008, mix media. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Reprisé an coton / Darn!”.March 7 - 21 2009.

Diagonale: Centre des arts et des fibres du Quebec
5455 rue de Gaspe, # 203 (metro Laurier)

The Fibres Student Association (FSA) of Concordia University Faculty of Fine Arts, in collaboration with Diagonale gallery are excited to present their annual juried exhibition: “Reprisé an coton / Darn!”.

The jurors for this year’s show are faculty members J. Penney Burton, Niki Mulder and Kelly Thompson.

The 13 selected artists for “Reprisé au coton/ Darn!” are: Alia Ahmad, Shawn Barazuk, Alexis Boyle, Emily Comeau, Chloe Desjardins, Zoe Ducharme, Marisa Hoicka, Katie Jung, Alanna Lynch, Monique Mathieu, Barbara Mendoza Denis, Kendyl Rossi, Tessa Santoni

Alia Ahmad, Toile du jour, recycled fabric, embroidery floss, wood.

Barbara Mendoza Denis, The Blanket, felt blanket, nails with story

Kendyl Rossi, Lungs, needle felted wool, lace, thread

Detail

“Reprisé au Coton / Darn!” is an eclectic collection of undergraduate fibre works which range from printed and embellished surfaces to large scale sculpture and video performances. There is an intricate network of connections of themes and motifs that tie the works together in a unique lacework pattern. Many of the artists explore ideas relating to the body and processes of mending. These themes express themselves as both physical reconstruction and reconciliation of memories and ideas.

For example, in Barbara Mendoza Denis’ “The Blanket” we are confronted with the textile as a disquieting memory. Kendyl Rossi explores the body’s process of self-repair in her delicately constructed “Lungs” while Alexis Boyle isolates and abstracts the female form in her screen printed “Torso Pillow Project”. Through the many combinations of overlapping media and explorations, these artists find themselves on interwoven strands.


Diagonale: Centre des arts et des fibres du Quebec
5455 rue de Gaspe, # 203 (metro Laurier)
(514) 524-6645

For more information about Diagonale, please visit the website:

www.artdiagonale.org

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Coming Soon: Art Textiles of the World: Canada

From April 15 to May 22, 2009, the Montreal Centre for Contemporary Textiles (MCCT) will be presenting Textile Art in Canada, an important exhibition regrouping the art works of the best known artists on the Canadian textile art scene.

After having published several books on the textile art of difference countries such as Australia, Japan, Great Britain, Korea, Scandinavia, Telos Art Publishing, a British publisher specialized in contemporary textile art, is publishing a book entitled Art Textiles of the World: Canada. The book will present the work of twenty Canadian artists who have developed a very personal language through their mastery of one or more of the various techniques in the field of textiles.

The artists who are presented in the book Art Textiles of the World: Canada are: Jennifer Angus, Ingrid Bachmann, Sandra Brownlee, Dorothy Caldwell, Lyn Carter, Kai Chan, Barb Hunt, Barbara Layne, Louise Lemieux Bérubé, Marcel Marois, Mindy Yan Miller, Lesley Richmond, Ruth Scheuing, Joanne Soroka, Joanna Staniszkis, Patrick Traer, Barbara Todd, Laura Vickerson, Yvonne Wakabayashi and Susan Warner Keene

Telos will officially launch the book during the preview viewing of the exhibition at the MCCT on April 15 2009.

To learn more about the book, please visit: www.telos.net
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