Heather Goodchild: The Wardens

The Wardens, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

The Wardens, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

Entering Heather Goodchild's The Wardens installation at Hamilton Artists Inc., one is immediately aware of the labour that has gone into every detail including the painted canvas walls, hooked rugs, inlaid patchwork textiles, and a herd of porcelain rabbits. There's a lot to take in. Once you've gotten over the painstaking handwork, you realize that you are walking through Heather Goodchild's imagination: The Wardens is the three-dimensional illustration of a story about a utopian society that believes that hard work will lead to spiritual purity. This fiction mirrors the real-life Mennonite emphasis of "faith without works is dead." Forget grace, you must earn your way to heaven.

The Wardens, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

The Wardens, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

The Wardens is comprised of five rooms and a long hallway, all divided by painted canvas panels. The above circular hooked rug occupies its own room. Heather painted the faces inlaid into the hooked rug with watercolour on felt. Impressive.

The Fire and the Knife, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

The Fire and the Knife occupies a front "room" in The Wardens. The backdrop is inlaid wool patchwork and the lamb is hooked. The inlaid patchwork boggles my mind.

The Wardens, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

Herd, Heather Goodchild; Photo credit: Karen Thiessen 2012 

The last room features a surreal installation of a herd of rabbits swarming an inlaid patchwork pillar. Walking through The Wardens is a strange, mysterious experience where one feels like Alice in Wonderland. The Wardens is up until Sunday June 24, 2012. The exhibition pamphlet features an essay by Thea Haines.