Quotes: Dani Shapiro

"I used to be angry with myself for my inability to live a normal life with normal rhythms, and also be a writer. But I've come to believe that normal is overrated––for artists, for everyone." –– Dani Shapiro, American author. From Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life, page 207.

* Amen! I read Still Writing a few pages at a time over the course of two months. If you are a creative professional or know one and want to understand him/her, I highly recommend this book.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice/Deep Patience @ AGP 8

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The Silent Ice/Deep Patience exhibition was a mix of Dorothy's signature wax and silkscreen resist textiles and some very new work influenced by her time in Australia with India Flint. A Red Hill/A Green Hill is the largest (9'4" X 9'8") of her new work and aesthetically is a significant departure from the work for which she is best known. This textile is paler, muted, is coloured with ink wash and incorporates earth ochre like the "five sisters textiles" that I wrote about in my first posts about this exhibition. Naturally, I'd like to know what kind of ink Dorothy used.

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The above appliqué is one half of a monogrammed woman's handkerchief edged with Italian hemstitch that Dorothy stitched and coloured with earth ochre and ink.

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

A detail of Dorothy's earth ochre encrusted stitching.

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Here's the other half of the handkerchief with a closer peek at rust-coloured earth ochre.

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The subtlety of the new work is evident in the above and next details. In contrast, Dorothy's signature textiles are densely patterned with screen printed and stitched marks, often dramatic, with notes of bright appliquéd fabric. A Red Hill/A Green Hill is fluid, painterly, and ethereal. I'd like to spend more time with it, perhaps when it travels to Cambridge Galleries early next year.

Dorothy Caldwell A Red Hill/A Green Hill, 2012; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Only in the hands of a master does subtlety register as powerful.

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 7

Dorothy Caldwell Map without words, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

With dimensions a staggering 9'4" by 8'5", Map without words is monumental. For curators and some gallery goers, size matters, and this textile, as well as four others (that I will share in future posts) deliver. Dorothy lavishes each textile with such care and detail that it frustrates me that, unless the gallery provides a skyjack, I can't see it all up close and personal. A passage from Canadian mystery author Louise Penny's exquisite novel The Long Way Home helped me appreciate large scale a little more. Her principal character Armande Gamache is standing in the middle of a gallery filled with the paintings of Quebec artist Clarence Gagnon and is moved to tears: "Gamache turned. He was surrounded. Immersed. Not drowning, but buoyed. Baptized (Penny, 209)." Standing in the main space of the Art Gallery of Peterborough, I was immersed in the deeply sensitive work of Dorothy Caldwell. 

Dorothy Caldwell Map without words, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

I am grateful for the details in which I could revel. The above image of the midpoint of the textile, reveals that Map without words consists of four large quadrants of cotton imbued with wax and silkscreen resist, then finessed with sensitive stitching and appliqué.

Dorothy Caldwell Map without words, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Note the couched horizontal thread is a tonal gradation from white to black. Did Dorothy dye this herself? Probably.

Dorothy Caldwell Map without words, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

To capture this detail, I had to summon my yoga training and stretch high. Thank goodness I have some height in my favour. Dorothy's screen printed marks echo her stitching.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice/Deep Patience, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Silent Ice/Deep Patience is 23" square. The drawn silkscreened grid was also used on Wet Lake/Dry Lake and Wandering Time.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice/Deep Patience, 2013; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

This cluster of appliqué from the lower left hand side of the textile is a modern equivalent to Boro.

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

Quotes: Donald Hall

"If work is no antidote to death, nor a denial of it, death is a powerful stimulus to work. Get done what you can." –– Donald Hall, American poet
*since the April car accidents, I am much more aware of my mortality and of how much work I have left to do. An awareness of death is the ultimate deadline.

Dorothy Caldwell Silent Ice/Deep Patience @ AGP 6

Dorothy Caldwell Wandering Time, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Wandering Time and Wet Lake/Dry Lake hang together nicely, like sisters who get along well. A common silkscreen resist grid pattern as well as a dark on the left half/light on the right half composition unites them.

Dorothy Caldwell Wandering Time, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

As always, Dorothy's sensitive stitching blows me away. She balances fine and chunky stitching with aplomb.

Dorothy Caldwell Wandering Time, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Here's a proper look at the silkscreen resist printed grid. Dorothy drew each line of the grid by hand. No rulers or computers were involved.

Dorothy Caldwell Wet Lake/Dry Lake, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

No sizes were listed for Wandering Time or Wet Lake/Dry Lake. I would guess their dimensions to be 48 inches wide by 28 inches high.

Dorothy Caldwell Wet Lake/Dry Lake, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Dorothy Caldwell Wet Lake/Dry Lake, 2011; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2014

This harmonious arrangement of plain and patterned appliqué sang to me.

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

Natural dyeing with hickory nuts

Hickory nuts and leaves; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2013

On a recent visit to my parents' farm, my hubby and I gathered 18 pounds of hickory nuts. They are small, so it took us a while to fill two grocery bags.

Hickory nut husk; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Hickory nuts are not mentioned in any of my natural dye books, but I did find a few mentions on the internet. There's probably a good reason for that, but I decided to see if the nuts would yield any colour. I soaked one batch of nuts and their husks in distilled water from the dehumidifier for a few days and am now simmering the vat on low over several days. I've thrown a small square of fabric in to see if there's any colour. My first observation is that the vat is slightly oily from the nuts. I'm confident that they will at least offer up some tannin to the vat. So far the fabric swatch is a mottled tan, nothing to get excited about.

Ninety percent of the husks are brown. Green husks probably yield more colour. Yesterday I separated husks from the nuts and will see if the husks yield any colour in a second vat. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

While visiting my parents, I also collected four pounds of Shademaster Honey locust seed pods and I'll see if they offer any colour once I have an empty dye pot (I also have a vat of black walnut dye on-the-go). I've read that the seeds are tannin-rich and that the pods were a source of food for First Nations peoples.

Quotes: Alan Watts

"Questions that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way." –– Alan Watts (1915-1973), British-born philosopher and writer. From The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are.