Postcards: Sandra Smirle

Sandra Smirle, Detail No place like it, mixed media on panel, 2006, 20" X 24"

Sandra Smirle has a thing for maps and X-acto knives. Is she a patient person, or did she utter a few colourful words as she painstakingly cut each strip and reassembled them onto a panel? This postcard was from the 2007 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition. When I look at this collage long enough, it reminds me of the aerial views of a landscape viewed from an airplane window. Do you see a river and hills, or do you see a hydro corridor surrounded by suburban cul-de-sacs? Either way, the No Place Like It series is impressive.

Quotes: Picasso

"A picture used to be the sum of additions. In my case it is the sum of destructions. I do a picture – then I destroy it. In the end though, nothing is lost, the red I took away from one place turns up somewhere else." 

– Pablo Picasso

Leslie Kaye: Black Magic and more

Byndan III Winged Presence 1975-6 © Leslie Kaye

Detail Byndan III Winged Presence 1975-6 © Leslie Kaye 

Every once in a while I'll encounter an image that is so powerful that words fail me. Writing about Hannelore Baron and Judith Scott was difficult because their work filled me with such wonder that words were superfluous. Leslie Kaye's textile Byndan III Winged Presence has the same effect. Byndan III is made of 28 pounds of wrapped wool that is stitched together and its dimensions (86" X 44" X 8") and irregular shape command attention. Made early in her art career, it is reminiscent of the forms and female subject matter from Magdalena Abakanowicz's Abakan series.


Leslie Kaye was an artist, designer, social activist, wife, mother, and more. A year ago, cancer cut short her vibrant life. Black Magic and more is a retrospective exhibit of textiles from her early career right up to a year ago, just before she died. Her work is on view at First Unitarian Church of Hamilton, located at 170 Dundurn Street South until September 25. An opening reception will be held tonight from 7 pm to 11 pm.

fragment #6: jacob's ladder 2002 © Leslie Kaye

Detail fragment #6: jacob's ladder 2002 © Leslie Kaye 

Leslie's mom taught her how to sew and her dad taught her how to knit. Other than parental instruction and a quilting class called Five Easy Pieces, she was self-taught. It was during the class that she realized her deep appreciation for black, so she made her first quilt in five shades of black and went forward from there. Leslie had a knack for integrating unlikely materials and techniques into her quilts, like fibreglass screening, felt, satin, and lace knitting, and making it work brilliantly. Fibreglass screening softens the high contrast of the black quilts against stark white walls, so that the wall becomes part of the quilts. The quiet, elegant quilts with a tease of colour engage the viewer. You can read about the exhibit here and can listen to an interview with Leslie Kaye and Lorraine Roy here.

fragment #3: through a glass darkly 2002 © Leslie Kaye

Detail  fragment #3: through a glass darkly 2002 © Leslie Kaye

Blur

My summer was busy with home and garden projects, family picnics, day trips, and a trip to Halifax. I managed to finish a long list of tasks like waxing and oiling a carved wood sampler that my grandpa gave me five years ago, plus old Coke crates that I've made into a foot stool and a rolling end table. All that accomplishment feels great, but naturally the frenetic pace of summer overloaded this introvert, so by Labour Day my mind looked like this picture. I'm pleased to be back in my regular work routine and my mental fuzz has dissipated.

Studio Series: Red: Fire

Red:Fire, © Karen Thiessen 2001, image by Julian Beveridge

Until I saw Red:Fire hung on my art dealer's tomato red walls, I didn't like it and I thought it was a dud. My studio walls are white and the stark contrast between the red and the wall were a turn off. Sometimes even an artist isn't a good judge of the work and it takes seeing it in a different context with proper lighting to appreciate what you've made. This was definitely the case for Fire. Thankfully my dealer could see what I could not and included it in Rich the Treasure, a three person show. Collectors from England had the same idea as my dealer and Fire now hangs across the pond.

As for fire, I really did use it to sculpt the edges of the textile. The piece is 46 cm X 130 cm (18.5" X 52") and that was a lot of edge to burn. The fabric is painted with screen-printing ink and I rust-stained, then painted, the longest strip of fabric to the left. The burning was especially stinky because of the inks, and thankfully I had the good sense to do it outside. Oh, there's more... I burned the edges after the piece was completely finished-- hand-stitching, appliqué, reverse appliqué, beading, hanging devices, label and all. One wrong move with the candle, and Fire would have been toast.

Postcards: Susie Brandt

Detail of Blur that Susie Brandt worked on from 1992 to 1996 

Susie Brandt is brilliant, funny, and thinks so far outside the box that she's in another galaxy. In 2004, I took a workshop with her at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto and was charmed by her humour and left-of-centre thinking. This is an artist who cut out polka dots from fabric with pinking shears and then sewed them back together with free-motion embroidery. I first saw her textiles in a four-person show called Fancy at the Textile Museum of Canada in 1996, so rubbing shoulders with Susie for a weekend was a real honour.


One of the things that stayed with me from the workshop was from a slide talk that Susie gave about her work and the work of artists who inspire her. At one point, she talked about artists such as herself who use "materials at hand." She showed a slide of an artist, Paul Villinski who makes art from used work gloves that he finds on New York City streets. The image of his glove wings along with her quilts constructed from shoulder pads, Barbie doll dresses, doilies, and pantyhose have stayed with me all these years. Materials need not be precious and can be found anywhere -- from city sidewalks to your underwear drawer.

Quotes: Voltaire + Owens

"No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking." – Voltaire

"My darling girl, when are you going to understand that 'normal' is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage!" – Stockard Channing as Frances Owens in Practical Magic