Sandra Brownlee Tactile Notebooks samples

Sandra Brownlee class samples; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

As I was cleaning out my blog photo files, I stumbled across two images from Sandra Brownlee's Tactile Notebooks and the Written Word workshop.

Sandra Brownlee class sample; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

The cut paper is a beauty. Enjoy!

Sandra Brownlee + string-making *updated 24/08/16*

Sandra Brownlee teaches how to make string; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

In July, Sandra Brownlee taught Susie Brandt and me how to make string, a technique that Sandra learned from India Flint, who learned it from Australian visual artist Nalda Searles. Earlier that week, Susie Brandt taught me how to make rope (more about that in a future post). 

Sandra Brownlee's string ball for Warren Seelig; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016

Sandra is making this ball of string for Warren Seelig. He wants it to be B I G.

Once home from Nova Scotia, I practiced making string while standing at my kitchen counter. I cut up several tea bags and got to work, making a fine string. It took a few tries before I found my rhythm. While cleaning out my studio, I found fabric strips leftover from a rug-hooking project that I undertook while I was a Sheridan student. The results are similar weight to that of the above ball. I am grateful to Nalda, India, and Sandra for passing on this skill.

Of Note

Here are a few things on my radar right now:

1. Is Mending the New Shopping? via Surface Design Association eNews

2. Angela Holland's collages!

3. Design Matters Podcast with illustrator extraordinaire Maira Kalman.

4. I just finished reading Ray Bradbury's semi-autobiographical novel Dandelion Wine (because of Sandra Brownlee's textile that I photographed in May 2014). It's a book about twelve-year old Douglas Spaulding's summer of 1928 when he woke up to the world around him. Basically, it's a book about wonder, awareness, and taking notice.

Gathie Falk @ BIG in Nova Scotia, MSVU

Gathie Falk, Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket–– Huyen, 1980; 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.

Gathie Falk, Canadian painter, sculptor, and performance artist, was born in 1928 in Alexander, Manitoba to a Russian Mennonite family and currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket–– Huyen is oil on canvas quilted and stuffed with fibreglass insulation and was purchased by the Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery in 1981. I had the privilege of seeing her retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2001. 

In addition to Aganetha Dyck, Gathie Falk is another artist of Russian Mennonite descent who has shown me what is possible. In recognition for her contributions to Canadian culture, Falk has been awarded the Order of Canada (1997), the Order of British Columbia (2002), and the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts (2003).

Gathie Falk, Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket–– Huyen, 1980; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

I had to spend time with Falk's painted quilt to truly appreciate it. Some works of art grab me immediately, others are a slow seduction.

Gathie Falk, Beautiful British Columbia Thermal Blanket–– Huyen, 1980; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Small details, like the paint texture in the above image, drew me in.

All the photos were taken with permission.

Of Note

1. Radio interview with Aganetha Dyck: CBC Radio Definitely Not the Opera interview with Governor General's Award-winning Winnipeg-based Canadian artist Aganetha Dyck: Aganetha Dyck collaborates with bees. Aganetha is one of my art heroes. She was the first visual artist of Russian Mennonite descent that I knew of and has been a role model of what is possible. The interview is just under 9 minutes long and in it I learned how she has moved an idea forward out of necessity (a bee allergy) and how her glass dress took twelve seasons to make (durational art).

On the hot afternoon of my grandfather's funeral, I learned that Aganetha Dyck won the Canada Council's Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts. News of her well-deserved recognition brought comfort during a difficult day.

2. Durational Art: Peter Jacobs' exhibition at Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey of a selection of nearly 3700 collages made every morning for ten years from The New York Times, an X-Acto blade, art pad and glue. It all began with a conversation with his wife Elizabeth, a sculptor, about "the importance of discipline, regularity, and relevancy in art-making" on March 31, 2005. Read more about his daily practice on his blog The Collage Journal.

3. A daily practice: Textile artist Helen Terry writes about her daily practice of mark-making in 40 day stints. She begins this challenge in February, 2015, and continues with a second round in March 2015 where she encounters and works through challenges and frustrations. In May, 2015 she writes about round three of her 40-day daily practice. Her marks are beautiful and she is learning a lot from pushing herself through her perceived failures. I'd like to challenge Helen to look at those "experiments that didn't work ... and couldn't be rescued" with fresh eyes to see how she can wreck them to the point that she saves them.

Tom Thomson @ Art Gallery of Hamilton

Tom Thomson The Birch Grove, Autumn; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

On New Year's Eve, my beloved and I trekked out to the Art Gallery of Hamilton to see what was up. Tom Thomson's The Birch Grove, Autumn (1915-1916) was a highlight. From the time I was in high school, Tom Thomson was my favourite Canadian painter. 

Tom Thomson The Birch Grove, Autumn detail; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

His use of line and colour is astonishing.

Tom Thomson The Birch Grove, Autumn detail; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Tom Thomson The Birch Grove, Autumn detail; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

The Birch Grove, Autumn (oil on canvas) was painted shortly before Thomson's (1877-1917) mysterious death, less than a month before his fortieth birthday.

Of Note

Happy Friday y'all! This week I've had my nose to the grindstone finishing a series of mixed media tags that I started early this year. By tonight I should have at least 75 completed and by Monday I should have all 122 resolved tags finished. The challenge of working with multiples is the completion part––the scut work of applying backs, labels, and then final coats of varnish. It feels good to finally tackle this. 

Here are some things that inspire me:

• Lindsay Cameron Wilson's essay about finding voice. I'm not a food person. I don't read cookbooks or restaurant reviews. The only things that I enjoy making begin with the letter "S": soup stocks, salads, smoothies, and salad dressing. But, I do make an exception for Lindsay Cameron Wilson's food writing. Man, can she tell a story and tell it well. As I have been finding my own voice in the writing of this blog, I've had Lindsay Cameron Wilson, Anne Lamott, and Rebecca Solnit in my head. They've proved to be fine company.

• Writer, avid knitter, and die-hard cyclist Claudia Manley from Proper Tension's Centerpiece: a short story on discontent. It's brilliant and has stayed with me since I read it several weeks ago. How she "materializes" an emotion is making me think sideways about what some of my own emotions could look like in material form. As I said, it's brilliant and it makes me think.

• On the fibre front, Rieko Koga's stitched work gets my creative juices flowing. Check out her website or her Facebook page.

Poster: Kenojuak Ashevak

I found this poster from The Owls of Kenojuak Ashevak (1927-2013). Sadly, the exhibition is over and I did not see it. The poster is pretty sweet though.

Susie Brandt

A few years ago I wrote about the lecture and workshop that I took with Susie Brandt during the 2004 International Creators conference at Harbourfront. Last week I found my notes in an old sketchbook. At the time I noted four main attributes of her work:
1. Transformation of materials
2. Uses readily available and cheap materials–– "materials at hand"
3. Invention–– she invents new techniques and new ways of putting things together.
4. Scale––at the time of the workshop she worked in the double-bed sized scale (54 inches by 74 inches), so theoretically her pieces could function as a bed covering, although she acknowledged that they wouldn't likely be used that way.

Today I'd add:
5. Humour/Playfulness–– Brandt work reflects her wacky sense of humour and playfulness.

Anne Wilson: Free Public Talk, Toronto

Eric Cameron, Gerhard Richter & me

Eric Cameron Another Brushstroke 1990-1999; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Another Brushstroke 1990-1999; acrylic gesso and acrylic on a single brushstroke of black acrylic paint (3704 half coats) from Eric Cameron's Thick paintings series.

Eric Cameron, Canadian, b. Leicester 1935, taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design from 1976 to 1987 and it was during this time that he began his Thick paintings. This blog is named after his practice. Image of Brushstroke, Another Brushstroke's sister. Another Brushstroke was difficult to photograph. Its shape is that of a flying saucer.

Eric Cameron Another Brushstroke 1990-1999; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Recently I came across an article about Gerhard Richter called "The Halifax Connection" (source: Canadian Art, Cathy Busby & Garry Neill Kennedy, Spring 2012, p. 136). Naturally, I was curious since I lived in Halifax while I attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. What caught my eye was a mention of a daily drawing practice that Richter began while teaching a summer term in 1978. Walther König states that "it was in Halifax that Richter began his ongoing practice of making one drawing a day."

To connect the dots, Richter and Cameron were both at NSCAD in 1978. Richter began a daily drawing practice during the summer of 1978. Cameron began his Thick paintings (a daily practice) in late April/early May of 1979. Textile Museum of Canada curatorial director Sarah Quinton graduated from NSCAD in 1982 and taught the day in and day out practice to my textile investigations class on August 30, 1993. It is possible that Richter influenced Cameron. Quinton definitely was impressed with Cameron's daily practice enough to share it with her students. Since 1993 I have maintained an almost continuous daily practice. In 2008 I started formally documenting the practice. I am curious to know who, if anyone, influenced Richter to begin a daily drawing practice.


To learn more about Eric Cameron, I highly recommend Cover and Uncover: Eric Cameron.

Paterson Ewen @ Art Gallery of Hamilton

Paterson Ewen Red Sea, 1989; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

The late Canadian mixed media artist Paterson Ewen (1925-2002) has long been an artist that I admire. Red Sea was one of the highlights of a recent visit to the Art Gallery of Hamilton. My last visit to the AGH was about four years ago and I was pleased to see that they amended their photo policy (photos are allowed, except in ticketed shows) since then. Red Sea is monumental. No size was listed, so I guess that the mixed media on plywood artwork would be about 12 feet wide by about 8 feet high.

Paterson Ewen Red Sea detail, 1989; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2015

Ewen gouged out lines with a router and then painted the raw plywood, knots and all. The cloud is likely made of aluminum and appears to be hammered out so that it bubbles out slightly from the background plane.

Dorothy Caldwell: Silent Ice/Deep Patience @ AGP 12

Dorothy Caldwell Comfort of Fog, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The intimate textiles in this blogpost were situated in a cosy space with deep grey green walls. All five 14" X 18" textiles incorporate plant dyed cotton with stitching and appliqué and are mounted on industrial felt. The textiles diverge from Dorothy's bold palette: they are paler, earthy, and muted. Comfort of Fog is one of my favourite of these textiles. If you look closely, you see that she resist-dyed the background fabric. It reads like the aerial-view of a landscape.

Dorothy Caldwell Complementary Calls, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Complementary Calls is the lightest and subtlest of any Dorothy Caldwell textile that I have ever seen. It needs to be viewed alone to be appreciated.

Dorothy Caldwell Weapons/Listening & Waiting, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Like Complementary Calls, Weapons/Listening & Waiting is especially subdued.

Dorothy Caldwell textiles & books, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

History of Stone and Red Hill/Black Hill in situ.

Dorothy Caldwell History of Stone, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell Red Hill/Black Hill, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Tonight this exhibition opens at the Cambridge Galleries in Cambridge, Ontario (now called the Idea/Exchange). Accompanying the show is Select Works: From the Permanent Collection at the Design at Riverside Gallery (just across the street from the main Cambridge Gallery and Library site). Both open at 7 pm.

Dorothy Caldwell Red Hill/Black Hill, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell: Silent Ice/Deep Patience statement

"This space contains artifacts and objects that reflect the experiences working on site during travel and residencies in the Australian Outback and the Canadian Arctic.

As I walked through exceptional landscape, collecting and touching became a way of knowing. Preserving indigenous natural materials including plants, ochre, seaweed, lichen and stones is my way of examining the contents of a place. Man made findings include rusted metal, hewn wood, and even a cooking pot. Some of the collection remains intact as found. Other materials were stitched and altered or used to dye and colour fabric and paper. Creating taxonomies and displays from these collections transformed the objects into artifacts. They became the material history of my experience.

In the Flinders Ranges, stitched cloth was taken to the ochre pit to be worked with earth colour and to literally absorb "place". Rusty metal, collected as mordant for dyeing fabric, often did not make it to the dye bath. Instead the objects themselves became artifacts, holding information and history of early settlers in the area. Wire shapes from the camp in the Flinders Ranges read as a symbolic alphabet, signs of European settlement.

A hike into the Chambers Gorge in the Flinders Ranges revealed another alphabet predating the Europeans. Rock carvings, or petroglyphs, are thought to be over 30,000 years old. To see these ancient symbols made by humans touched me deeply. In honour of this experience, I inscribed my own simple marks on small stones collected at the site.

In the Canadian Arctic fieldwork included walking barefoot on the tundra. It was as if my feet were tracing an ancient forest. A small section of this dense mat was extracted, deconstructed, and documented. Tiny leaves, lichens, reindeer moss, willow and other plants make up the natural miniature pattern of the land.

Field studies include journals. One Australian journal records earth collected each day over a two-month period. A book from a different journey is made from samples of pressed seaweed. Others are constructed from paper dyed with local plants....eucalyptus, mistletoe, arctic willow, purple saxifrage, arctic lupin, and Labrador tea, each with its own subtle colour.

From my traveling companion and fellow artist India Flint, I learned to make string. String has great importance to Aboriginal women who make it and use it to construct netted dilly bags, baskets, and other containers. It is also used for string games and storytelling. Anthropologist C. P. Mountford worked in the Flinders Range in 1940 and described how when asked to draw traditional stories, aboriginal women preferred to tell their stories in string and then trace around them.

The activity of making string, like knitting, became second nature and kept my hands active on long rides through the Outback. The plied string, shown in the cases, is a receptacle for earth colours of Australia and the plant dyes from the Arctic.

The creation of a museum of memories from the experiences of the residencies in the Australian Outback and in the Canadian Arctic is an integral part of the process of imagining this exhibition. I brought cloth and paper to my sites, much as early explorers would bring journals and magnifying glasses. These materials were marked, coloured, and rubbed with daily experiences. At the same time, found objects were preserved, transported and rearranged in patterned memory of the importance of marks to reinforce ideas that will appear as textile art. This small museum is a glimpse into the process of the maker." –– Dorothy Caldwell.

All photos were taken with permission from Dorothy Caldwell and the fine staff of the Art Gallery of Peterborough. 

Nui Project embroidery

Nui Project embroidered shirts**

Writing about Dorothy Caldwell's Silent Ice/Deep Patience textiles has made me acutely aware of expressive stitching. As I continue my Lenten Intuitive mark-making practice, I've introduced experimental stitching into the mix. Here are two more images from the Nui project books. I have profound admiration for the Nui project artists.

These images are from Nui Project 2. **The above shirts were embroidered by (Top row left to right): Mikio Hamada; Machiko Yonetoku & Hatsune Doi; Natsumi Yokobaba & Noriko Fukumori; (Bottom row left to right): Mikio Hamada, Machiko Ikeyama & Aki Nozawa; Naoki Fujimura.

Nui Project embroidery detail of Keisuke Nomaguchi's textile

Each of us has our own intelligence. The embroidery of the Nui project artists exemplifies their deep engagement with intuitive stitching, not an easy feat.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice Deep Patience @ AGP 11

Dorothy Caldwell Walking on Tundra, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Walking on Tundra is 26"X 53" and is mounted on industrial felt. The acid green is the colour of moss.

Dorothy Caldwell Walking on Tundra, detail 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Fine and chunky stitching on appliqués. A dash of pink provides a complementary contrast to the acid green.

Dorothy Caldwell Quiet Place: Willow & Arctic Moss, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Quiet Place: Willow & Arctic Moss is another one of my favourites in this exhibition. Maybe one day I'll gather all my favourites in a separate blog post. Quiet Place is 23"X 23" and is mounted on industrial felt. It is a merging of Dorothy's signature wax and silkscreen resist with her new plant dyed textiles.

Dorothy Caldwell Quiet Place: Willow & Arctic Moss, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

This appliqué appears to be plant dyed.

All photos were taken with permission from Dorothy Caldwell and the fine staff of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice Deep Patience @ AGP 10

Dorothy Caldwell Fjord, 2008; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Fjord, How Do We Know It's Night? and Signs are all monumental. Fjord is 8'6" X 8'8" and is the oldest textile in the exhibition.

Dorothy Caldwell Fjord, 2008; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The details are gorgeous. I especially enjoy the appliqués of older textiles.

Dorothy Caldwell Fjord, 2008; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

As always, the stitching is exquisite.

Dorothy Caldwell Signs, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Signs is 8'9" X 8'8". I would love to have a close look at the upper details.

Dorothy Caldwell Signs, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

A discharged appliqué with acid green couched thread.

Dorothy Caldwell Signs, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell Signs, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy brings the back to the front with white couched thread over white silkscreen resist lines.

Dorothy Caldwell Signs, 2014; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell How Do We Know When It's Night?, 2010; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

How Do We Know It's Night is 10' X 9'6" and is the largest and second oldest textile in the exhibition. 

Dorothy Caldwell How Do We Know When It's Night?, 2010; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

 Appliqués border the textile.

Dorothy Caldwell How Do We Know When It's Night?, 2010; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

I counted seven lines (six strands each) of white and off-white embroidery floss.

Dorothy Caldwell How Do We Know When It's Night?, 2010; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Another appliqué of old textiles. 

All photos were taken with permission from Dorothy Caldwell and the fine staff of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice/Deep Patience @ AGP 9

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

In her 2003 In Good Repair solo exhibition at the Textile Museum of Canada Dorothy displayed several bound notebooks (along with white cotton gloves with which to handle them) in which she had made marks with ink and with burning/scorching. Collecting cards is a notebook in another form. One hundred and twelve cards are pinned to the wall with three-inch black specimen pins. The cards are about 2" X 3" and appear to be heavy cotton rag paper, similar to BFK Rives printmaking paper. The edges are nicely deckled and I wonder if Dorothy purchased the cards this way or if she moistened the heavy paper and then tore it against a sharp edge.

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The Collecting cards are small intimate studies that Dorothy stitched, wrapped, marked with earth ochre, ink, and appliquéd with plant material (leaves, small flowers).

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Together they resemble an ancient alphabet.

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Note the layers of shadows cast by the cards.

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

A stitched leaf. Could it be eucalyptus?

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Earth ochre, stitching, plant matter, and black charcoal marks.

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The middle card is adorned with either delicate plant matter or dead mosquitoes.

Dorothy Caldwell Collecting cards (journal); Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Collecting cards was one of my favourite parts of the exhibition. The cards are very personal and reveal the research and thinking behind Dorothy's new work.

All photos were taken with permission from Dorothy Caldwell and the fine staff of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.