Frances Dorsey @ BIG in Nova Scotia, MSVU

Frances Dorsey Dragon's Teeth, 1994; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Last September I saw the Big in Nova Scotia exhibition at the Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery near Halifax. The show, curated by Ingrid Jenkner, ran from August 23 to September 28, 2014 and featured the work of nine artists. Painting, sculpture, and textile-based work made within a 33 year time-span (1980 to 2013) were included and, as the title suggests, all the artworks in this exhibition were BIG.

Frances Dorsey's Dragon's Teeth, one of several textile-based works in the show, was made in 1994 and was pieced with fabrics that were coloured with dyes, pigments, discharge, photo-silkscreen, and mechanical and paste resists. Its dimensions are 2.7m x 3.96 m x 8 cm and was purchased by MSVU Art Gallery in 1999. If memory serves, Dragon's Teeth is from a textile series about her father's experience as an American soldier during the Vietnam War.

Frances Dorsey (b. 1948 Tuscaloosa, Alabama) lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia and is an Associate Professor of textiles at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. 

Frances Dorsey Dragon's Teeth detail, 1994; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

All the photos were taken with permission.