Portraits of Spirituality

Spirituality and acknowledging that there are forces at work greater than ourselves, that we are unable to control every detail and outcome of our lives, has always been an intrinsic part of who I am, and inspires much of the work that I create. This series, called Prayer Totems have emerged over the last several years. This is how I pray: for myself for others, and for the planet. It makes me ask myself what is prayer to me? It is asking the powers that be for greater insight, understanding, and capacity to have more positive relationships and impact on others, and that this positive interaction I have with those around me, will then inspire others to interact positively with those they encounter, thereby diminishing negativity and destruction. Yes, some will say this is naive and I gladly and wholeheartedly still subscribe to these beliefs, however challenging it is sometimes. I continue to work on this series each year. As my work has often made references to spiritual practice and working on my inner life, it seems that magically, similar energies are drawn to me, which I welcome, and have immense gratitude and appreciation.

Recently I received the following invitation:

"I write to invite your participation in Frequencies, a new web-based project to construct a collaborative genealogy of spirituality.
Frequencies is comprised of a series of essays, poems, and sundry other entries by scholars, artists, and activists. We seek to accompany entries with works from contemporary and emerging artists and photographers.
We envision these entries as fragments in a dynamic, large-scale critical portrait of spirituality as a historical subject and contemporary problem. Works selected will be exhibited on the Frequencies website and circulated among the multiple communities of interest surrounding this epic launch. To see the project, visit http://freq.uenci.es.
I invite you specifically to participate after seeing your work "Joy" at the Lowell Textile Museum last spring. I was impressed by the beauty of your tapestry. Frequencies is a collaboration of The Immanent Frame and Killing the Buddha, and was curated by Kathryn Lofton (Yale University) and John Lardas Modern (Franklin & Marshall College).
Sincerely,

Emily Floyd
Associate Editor, Frequencies

My tapestry Joy Is now posted on the their website. Click on the link here:

http://www.freq.uenci.es/

Community Threads: Week Ten

Sunday September 11 was the opening reception of my tapestry exhibit Wholeness, featuring mostly tapestries and some other fibre related work. This event was also the official launch day for the Community Threads tapestries initiative funded in part by the Ontario Arts Council and undertaken by the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners Guild. The event was well attended and by my count, about 60 people came by to the Gibson Centre for Community, Arts and Culture. Quite a few of the guests came from out of town and had a minimum of one to two hour drive each way. Thanks to them for braving it. Among the guests, shown here in this photograph, Lynda Mitchell Reynolds, the Executive Director of the South Simcoe Arts Council, Mike MacEachern, Mayor of New Tecumseth. To learn more about this lovely towship go to http://www.town.newtecumseth.on.ca/

Since I had two years to prepare for the solo exhibition, I was able to create about 6 new pieces.....5 of which were tapestries. Shown here, are two of my most recent pieces which the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners helped in the finishing. These two pieces entitled Chakra 5 and 7 are shown here left to right. The chakras present us with a system to weave together body, mind, heart and spirit. This system of beliefs works well in describing how I choose to live my life and practice my artistic and artisinal endeavours, always trying to keep in balance the various needs we have as humans.
The Gallery at the Gibson Centre is a wonderfully restored historic warehouse. It once was a home to manufacturing agricultural machinery. It has been in the Gibson Family a long time, who make a significant contribution to Alliston's economy. They have a fleet of transport trucks that do much of the hauling for Honda, who also employs a large number of people in the area. The building was donated to the community to host its various social and cultural activities. I liked that it had a cash bar for people which meant I didn't have to be out of pocket for refreshments.

I thank Sharon Robinson and Greg Rodrigo for taking most of the pictures (and videos) of the event. Most of the pictures here are ones that Sharon took. Greg put together an outstanding slide and video presentation of the entire process of the Community Threads project to date. Everyone stopped to look at it and were mesmerized and awed.

What has touched me so profoundly is the positive feedback, praise and support of so many people, of the exhibition and the Community Threads endeavour. Debbie Harris, herself a talented tapestry weaver, couldn't believe that the designs for the tapestries had been done by people who had never painted before. Only two or three people had had a lot of experience painting. The rest were novices.

The weaving guild members continued weaving on the Community Threads tapestries during the reception. Here we see Janet Fayle at the top and Elisabeth Bishof at the bottom. Both of these two women have been working steadily during the entire project thus far.

Here a guest, Michelle Brady, an Art Director in the film industry, tries her hand at tapestry weaving.





Funded in part by the Ontario Arts Council.

Artist Statement: Wholeness

ARTIST STATEMENT

To be whole, is described as being healthy, entire; recovered from a wound or injury; restored; free of defect or impairment; mentally and emotionally sound; constituting an undivided unit; constituting a person in their full nature; not having omitted or disregarded anything; a coherent system or organization of parts working together as one; Referenced from Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary

Wholeness. Many of us seek to become whole. To be and become what we can be. To be given the opportunity and the circumstances to know wholeness as a human being. That is undoubtely a blessing. We can find wholeness by engaging in an assortment of activities and relationships that will help us grow, flourish, and lead to our transformation. This has been a theme in my art practice, and my philosophy of life ever since I can remember.

Most, though not all of the work I am presenting for this solo exhibition are handwoven tapestries. Two series or bodies of work are presented, distinguished by their use of colour and the manner in which they are hung. What unites the two groups of work is that both groups of work seek to interpret visually the human experience of emotion, states and interactions. They have been inspired by a large body of research on religion, psychology, spirituality and scientific studies on the effects of colour. The series that employs bright colours is called the Well Being series. The dark, large, three dimensional pieces are part of the groupings called Turbulence.

The colours in the Well Being series have been inspired by the colours used to describe the chakras. In Hinduism, there are physical focal points where psychic forces merge and interact and there are seven chakras, each associated with a colour among other things. Chakras work in dialogue and relationship with each other. It is a body/mind paradigm which is also the case in western psychology especially in the practice of cognitive therapy. The momentum of this movement of well being can be observed in bookstores and on television where it has almost become mainstream, yet seems still to evade so many of us.

The colours found in the Turbulence grouping are more ponderous and heavy. Thoughts, feelings and memories weigh upon us bringing us some measure of discomfort. Acknowledging our shadow side helps us to transform these denser feelings into new insights, that may bring us a more joyful, positive and harmonious dimension to our life.

The two distinct groups of weavings are united in their theme – giving visual expression to the wide range of human emotion and states, and this includes our shadow/dark/ side as well as our more pleasant emotions. The pleasant emotions, the Well Being series, are shown as bright and intense colours, simple in their composition and convey the lightness and buoyancy they bring to our spirit, body and energy. Our darker side/reflective side is represented by the pieces in the Turbulence group, and they incorporate black as the dominant colour, and also a three dimensional technical aspect. This dimension of ourselves is more complex, revealing insights if we the courage to face them, if we are receptive and willing to heed its message. Grappling with our inner uncertainties, fears and uncomfortable emotions in a way that honours them, can transform them and us. This is represented in some of my tapestries that are three dimensional which are also interactive and are able to be hung in different configurations.

It seems really appropriate that the opening for my exhibition Wholeness is taking place on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Who can forget that day? That terrifying day left all of us in shock, our sense of security forever shaken. Taking the time to create work that has been part of my healing journey, I hope my work will have positive transformative effects upon those that view them. I have another reason to feel that this is a good date as well. My nephew was born on that date. For him, and all others born on this day, is reason enough to go forward to make their life, their world a better one, and to not steal away their happiness because of our grief.

Exhibition: September 1 - 26 2011

Opening Reception: Sunday, September 11, 2011

Gibson Centre of Community, Arts and Culture

63 Tupper Street West

Alliston, Ontario

www.gibsoncentre.com

Community Threads: Day 5

Linda Needles, president of her guild, is one of the dynamic forces at the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners in Alliston. She sent me all kinds of links and pictures related to tapestry weaving. I'll post them at the end of the blog for you to reference and learn more about tapestry as well as about historical and contemporary tapestry practices. Of the many images she sent me, this one was included. It is taken at Stirling Castle in Scotland where they are recreating the historical Unicorn tapestries.

There were various tasks to accomplish today. The guild participants helped me in the finishing of my tapestries recently off the loom in an effort to have them ready for the exhibition opening Wholeness, September 11 between 2-5pm at the Gibson Centre for Community, Art and Culture, 63 Tupper Street West. An intensive effort as they soon discovered. This task requires hours of inserting the weft threads into the 'tunnel' that the weft thread creates as it passes over the warp threads.
In this picture, from left to right, Janet Fayle, Elisabeth Bishof, and Betty C.

The advantage of such a task when undertaken with others, is that it is one of those jobs that you can engage in conversation easily. So lots of chatting went on. From left to right, Nellie, our new OHS president Sandi Nemenyi, and Janet .
As I listen to them talking among each other I clearly see that these women make valuable contirubtions to their community. Sharon Robinson Rodrigo summed it up beautifully when she said that these kinds of cultural activities are community building activities. It builds morale, lifts the spirits of not only those who make the contributions but also those who will benefit from their contributions. People like Linda Needles who works to fundraise for a digital mammography machine, Sandi Nemenyi who puts in countless hours voluntarily and unpaid for the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners, Janet Fayle, whose good sense of order and organization keeps the Nottawasaga Guild running smoothly, Sharon Robinson Rodrigo who puts in volunteer hours for her church, and their youth camp as well as their endeavours to send aid to Haiti. All of you that have come out to participate in the Community Threads project ....I can only say it is such a generous gesture to participate in a project of this scope. I'm sure there are many more of you that contribute in other ways that I have not heard of and you deserve a great round of applause. These community and volunteer efforts contribute to our 'wholeness', to the 'wholeness' of one's community and various organizations , which makes this entire endeavour so compatible with my upcoming exhibit entitled Wholeness.
In this picture Sharon Robinson Rodrigo and Linda Needles prepare the paper that will be layered between the warp threads on the gobelin loom.

We learned today that the Gibson Centre has a TV monitor in the reception area where they post pictures of the activities that take place there. I'll be submitting pictures to the Gibson Centre for that purpose....so head's up, your picture might be there! The South Simcoe Arts Council friended us on 'Facebook' and is very supportive of our undertaking. They have made a contribution to the Community Threads project.


Libby Hoffman and Nathalia Smugden finished setting up the warps on the smaller tapestry looms we'll be using. Nathalia mentioned that she took Ukrainian weaving for several years at the Banff School of Art and recalls the luxury of having a swim morning and night, and weaving all day in between. We talked about how wonderful it is to be able to dedicate time to an activity we feel passionate about and love doing. Time out from the usual mundande domestic chores. Time to just focus on what matters to us. Time to not take care of anyone else but ourselves. We all need to do that once in awhile, to feel whole, to feel renewed!

The final preparations of the warp on the gobelin loom overseen by Gayle Wheeler on the right. Valerie Splaine and Elisabeth Bishof undertake the task. Gayle has studied tapestry with Marcel Marois and Archie Brennan ( and also studied with me!). You should ask Gayle what is was like to work with Marcel and Archie. I'm sure it would be intriguing and very interesting!

I spent the day on the floor preparing the colour combinations and butterflies for the one of the twelve tapestries. Everything had to be coded for the days when I won't be available to help.

Below the promised links to other tapestry information, historical and contemporary forwarded by Linda Needles.
This link makes reference to an artist who commissioned the Victorian Tapestry Workshop to create his designs for tapestries that are still hanging in Saskatchewan. See page 12 of the transcripts of this talk given.
http://tapestrycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/8th-annual-lecture-walker1.pdf
This link is to the Stirling Castle tapestries
http://www.stirlingcastle.gov.uk/tapestries
http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/edinburgh-scotland-c-2631/

Canongate Kirk - "kirk," that's what they call churches in Scotland - is at
the lower end of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, near Holyrood Palace.

Built in 1690, its plain, light-blue interior, without embellishments such
as stained-glass windows, reflects the country's conversion to Protestantism
in the 16th century, under fire-and-brimstone-breathing Scottish preacher
John Knox.

But in 2000, some truly lovely and moving elaborations were made to the
otherwise Spartan church in the form of embroidered seat cushions for the
stalls in the apse.

Commissioned by the Fife, Lothians and Borders branch of the Normandy
Veterans Assn., they commemorate the soldiers who died, fighting to liberate
Europe during World War II, on D-day.

Fine three-stranded wool thread dyed in a rainbow of colors was used by
textile artists from all over the world, in patterns well-known to crewel
workers, including Scottish and Gobelin stitchery. The result is radiant,
though it's doubtful that Knox would agree.
Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

Community Threads Day Three

My drive to the Gibson Centre for Culture, Art and Culture takes me through pastoral farmland. It's always pleasant to get there no matter what time of year. Everyone is eager to contribute to the Community Threads tapestries project and everyone's contribution is welcomed and finds its way into this absorbing endeavour. Much of the project depends on their contribution and their contribution is one of the reasons we are fostering this artistic and creative undertaking. Donations of time, materials, expertise and labour. In the picture above, just some of the yarn we've collected from many. One of the activities we did today, headed by Chris H, was sorting the piles of yarn we received into colour groupings. Chris was helped by Sharon Robinson-Rodrigo and Linda Needles, the President of the Nottawasaga Weavers and Spinners.















The first thing we did today was collect up all the paintings that had been done. I shared with the group how we were going about editing the paintings and abstracting from them the designs that we would be using for the tapestries. It was hard at first for participants to imagine the purpose of this exercise, but as it evolved, they 'got it'! Creativity, for those who were brave enough to venture there, was/is very much about relingquishing control and having somewhat of a blind faith as to where you feel you are being led. In the above picture, Sharon Robinson-Rodrigo with her son, Nicolas.














Linda Needles, president of the Nottawasaga Weavers and Spinners editing the paintings.














I admired many of the participants who, despite having no confidence in their own artistic abilities, put their fear aside and jumped in feet first! Here, Janet Dryden and Valerie Splaine. Yes, I'm sure many of us had to beat back our inner self critical voices and allow ourselves to find some beauty in the marks on that page that are distinctly and uniquely our own.














Gayle Wheeler is herself a talented tapestry weaver. Her husband Norm Wheeler is a well reknowned potter. Gayle will be lead technical assitant for the bulk of the weaving of the tapestries.














Dawna Beatty (I think I spelled your name right this time!) at work editing her painting.














Today saw a few new participants. Corrie Parsons, shown above at the left, sitting beside Elizabeth Bishof.

We also had a visit from Maija Hoggett, a journalist from The Herald, the newspaper for South Simcoe and based in Alliston. She took all kinds of notes and will be writing an article in the near future about the project.














We were very glad to be graced with the every graceful and abundantly enthusiastic and creative Executive Director of the Gibson Centre, Angela Drainville shown here third from left, wearing black. She came up with the name of the project, Community Threads, which of course, is such a perfect metaphor for what is happening at different levels as well as captures the artisinal aspect of the project. She also donated the space and administrative resources to undertake this Ontario Arts Council funded undertaking. She has lined up an exciting list of entertainers that will be coming to the Gibson Centre soon. To know more go to http://www.gibsoncentre.com/













All the pieces of the edited paintings come together. We are taking the sections of paintings and reorganizing them into strips that work together aesthetically. From left to right, Corrie Parsons, Gayle Wheeler, Elizabeth Bishof and Nicolas Robinson-Rodrigo.












So we designed our tapetries, 12 altogether. We won't let you see the final designs because we like to maintain some surprise and make you curious enough to come to the official launch of the Community Threads project on September 11 2011 between 2-5pm when I will also be having a solo exhibition of my tapestries.














And finally, another task that got done today is creating the warps for the tapestry looms. Above, Janet Fayle and Elizabeth working on the 10 yd warp for the gobelin loom and below, Betty (who I think would like to remain annonymous...if not please let me know)














We all felt really enlivened and invigorated after todays events. Nothing is as exciting to me as sparking the creativity in others. I know how much joy I derive from my artistic and creative endeavours but its even more electifying when its shared with others. I am also in awe and admiration when I look at a group of people who have so much talent and skill and are so humble about it. The participants must be applauded! Thank you all for another great day!

WHOLENESS

It's been a very exciting year thus far, starting with having my tapestry "Joy" accepted into the American Tapestry Bienniale which took the tapestry to the American Textile Museum in Lowell Massachusetts and the Elder Gallery in Lincoln Nebraska. I taught a Creativity and Designing for Fabric weaving workshop to the Niagara Guild of Spinners and Weavers and had a wonderful time with them. I taught a weekend course on tapestry through the Ontario Handweavers and Spinners at Georgian College, and it was wonderful for me as a teacher to be able to focus only on teaching tapestry, when usually, I'm teaching a variety of weaving structures besides tapestry weaving. All this while I celebrate my 15th year teaching weaving, and 25th being an artist, fibre artist and weaver.

Presently I am working on preparing for a solo exhibition of my tapestries and fibre related work, entitled WHOLENESS and it will take place at the Gibson Centre for Community, Arts & Culture in Alliston http://www.gibsoncentre.com/ which will open September 1 and close September 26 2011. The opening reception will be Sunday September 11 between 2 -5 pm.

This exhibition will be in conjunction with the official commencement of an Artist in the Community Project for which I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council to collaborate with the Nottawasaga Handweavers and Spinners Guild in creating 12 community tapestries.

Why the title, WHOLENESS. Over a lifetime, many of us seek it and this journey makes for an interesting, more engaged life. We all come from many different backgrounds, each of us facing the challenges that our family of origins may have presented to us, and this foundation sets us on our path, and motivates our choices in life. Most of us, myself included, seek to be the most and best of who we are, and we can only be as good as the circumstances, opportunities and environment will permit. We all must contend with the limitations and constraints that life and others may place upon us, and somehow find a way to be whole and to be fulfilled. Through our passages, we feel a range of emotions and my tapestries and fibre work is mainly about giving visual imagery to these very same emotions. To find Wholeness, we need to be in touch with ourselves, with who we are, and certainly with others.