Through time the practice of making textiles by hand has become rare and many techniques are threatened or lost. These pencil line rubbings are explorations of the fragmentation that occurs to the textile tool that is beneath the paper; and intern explores the fragmentation that has occurred to the object throughout history. The objects participation in the re-invention of itself is representative of the change in perception that may occur within the viewer as they, in discovering what the drawing is, have a deeper and more critical experience when thinking about the object and its history.
Block printing is an ancient printing practice where wooden blocks, which are meticulously hand-carved, are used like stamps to print fabric (usually cotton) with pigments. Very skilled people in India print cloth using this method and achieve seamless repeat networks by hand; a skill that is passed on through generations and requires an immense amount of experience to master. The first photo below is taken from the Maiwa website. It is of an indian-made cloth called an Ajrakh. Maiwa says, "Producing an ajrakh involves entire communities: block cutters, dye farmers (for the many natural dyeplants), cloth merchants, and of course, the ajrakh craftspeople themselves (those who mordant, print, dye and design the cloth)." -source
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I've just added this picture as my desktop background in hopes that it will help me to get around to actually making a fabric garland like this soon. I think it will be the perfect item for our Montreal apartment this Christmas. Plus it reminds me of my aunt Franca who is a great inspiration to me. Like me, she is a textile artist and has made a beautiful series of mini dolls like the one in the picture, but much more elaborate.
picture via Poppytalk I did some line rubbings of my wedding dress which was once my grandma Clara's. Above are the lines in print form; yet another exploration into my line rubbing series. This yardage will be a the background for a projected video; a story about Clara and I in abstract form. I had some friends participate in the video as well to represent my community in this time of grieving.
So my piece got into GRIS at Diagonale! YAY! Bellow is a link to the other pieces by the other 100+ people that are participating. Above is a submission by Ute Wolff, one of my personal faves so far. Even though I was running around like a crazy lady getting ready for the Hung Up installation I managed to make something for the upcoming fibre art show/fundraiser for the artist run gallery Diagonale. The theme is Gris (or Grey en anglais). I called mine Line, it was made using the beginning of (and later cut off part) of the painted warp sky weaving I did for Hung Up. I then sewed over it with grey thread and bunched it together in a way that met the size standards. Since it's a wall hanging I stiffened it slightly by spritzing it with medium.
Now for a response from the gallery. fingers crossed. Here's a link to a blog I follow by Alexis Boyle who also applied for Gris. I love her submissions. My very talented friend Ana of Dreamy Isabel showed her work at Vancouver Fashion Week recently. The big difference between Ana's work and most other people who show at shows like these is that her work is all made by hand from scratch. Yes that means everything is hand-dyed and most of the fabrics begin as a mere thread of yarn or piece of fleece which are then felted or woven by hand. All I can say is WOW. Images via VFW blog and creativitality.com Image 1:Sericin dress with magnets and shibori. Hand felted and hand-dyed. Image 2: Original felted shibori dress. Hand-dyed, hand-felted. Image 3:hand-woven and dyed dress and neck piece lately I've been working with ideas around 'traces of places'. I began by filling several sketch books with rubbings like these. I can't stop. The master plan is to translate them onto cloth. I am particularly excited about using them as cartoons for tapestry weaving.
Here's the time lapse video I did of me installing my pieces in the VAV Gallery last week, it's about five hours of filming crammed into just under a minute. Believe me the installation took a lot longer than five hours, but I got sick of waiting for the battery to recharge every 45 minutes. I'm on my way down there today to book an SLR camera to take some good photos.
I haven't had time to take pictures of the show yet, but here's some pics that some friends took at the opening. I also have a process video still to come.
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About me:
I'm a west coast Canadian gal who after completing a BFA in Fibres at Concordia University in Montreal moved to the New York metropolitan area where I am pursuing my art practice while learning the ropes of motherhood.
June 2021
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