The Queen and The Crown @ the Brooklyn Museum

Those who have enjoyed the Netflix series of The Crown, Season 4, and The Queen's Gambit, may wish to know more about the costumes. Currently, the Brooklyn Museum is staging a virtual show that allows visitors to see many of the costumes made for these productions, to view them in detail, and to access more information from the costume designers themselves.

To learn more, go to the exhibition website, which offers a link to a virtual exploration of the show. The link includes film clips featuring the various costumes, and a panel discussion with the designers.

I learned about this exhibition by reading Leanne Delap's article in a recent issue of The Kit, available here.

Hidden Pond Yarns

Many of us are especially focused on family at this time of year.  So please indulge me when I explain how very proud I am of my daughter, Katya. The busy mom of two little ones, Katya has long had an interest in knitting and a great eye for colour. When the pandemic began, she took the opportunity to open a home-based business, offering hand-dyed yarn. Hidden Pond Yarns is getting 5-star reviews!

Katya's gorgeous yarns are available through her Etsy site. Their rich colours have even re-kindled my own long-dormant interest in knitting.

Another project for Christmas giving

without hat

I discovered this charming doll pattern on line, and just had to knit it up for my granddaughter. A steep learning curve for me, but I persisted. I love her unruly hair. My daughter chose the colour palette and supplied me with her own hand-dyed yarn.

with hat

The pattern is available on-line from Mary Jane's Tearoom, along with knitting patterns for delightful teddies, elephants, rabbits and mice. The patterns are also carried by Ravelry and Etsy (just do a search for "Mary Jane's Tearoom".)

Quilt as Political Statement

AIDS Memorial Quilt panel, NAMES Project

This recent article in The Observer, by Karen Chernick, traces the history of quilts as political statement.

In Quilting as a Radical Act: An Exhibition Examines the Art Form's Revolutionary Impact, Chernick reviews a new exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art, titled Radical Tradition: American Quilts and Social Change. 

While the common public perception of quilts and quilters is one of cozy domesticity, the reality is often different. This show gathers together over 30 quilts from the mid-19th century onward, revealing a long history of quilts made for social causes.

Quilts that comment on our current pandemic, and that pay tribute to its victims, are no doubt already in the making. 

"Creative Threads" @ BIG Arts, Sanibel Island

Thank you, Lynda, for sharing news of this 3-artist exhibition of art quilts, currently staged at BIG Arts Gallery, Sanibel Island, Florida. Featured is the fibre-based art of Sally Dutko, Bonnie Langenfeld, and Angela Scozzari.

While we can't teleport to Florida, we can enjoy the virtual version of this show.

Sally Dutko, Dots Without the Polka,
hand-dyed cottons, silk

I particularly enjoyed the larger pieces in the exhibition, one of which is shown above. The physical space of the gallery seems to favour the bigger, bolder works. No doubt the charms of the smaller pieces are appreciated by those seeing the show in person.

All in good fun

For me, one of the joys of being a grandmother is making things for the grandchildren.

Here is a recent project I've completed for my little grandson, whose nursery has been given a "hunting lodge" theme. 

I made the "stag head" from a pattern by Amie Scott, a Toronto-based pattern designer, who also offers clothing patterns. On her website are similar patterns for unicorns, bunnies and rhinos. Amusing, yes?

Artists Reinvent the Mask

 From The Guardian: 45 artists were asked to reinvent the mask. Here's the link.

Porcupine Fish, Liz Sexton

Beak, Elizabeth Morisette

Breathing Apparatus, Adrienne DeLoe

Vogue Magazine celebrates patchwork

Recently published by Vogue, an amazing photo essay about patchwork on the runway. Catch it here.

Dolce & Gabbana,
spring 2020 ready-to-wear

Riopelle at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: virtual show

Point de rencontre – Quintette, 1963,
the largest painting Jean-Paul Riopelle ever made,
displayed prominently at the entrance to the exhibition.
Commissioned for Toronto's Pearson airport, 
it was later gifted to France to mark the bicentennial 
of the French Revolution.

The MMFA offers us a virtual tour of its most recent exhibition, "Riopelle: The Call of Northern Landscapes and Indigenous Cultures", available at no cost until January 11. During this period, while the galleries are closed, other shows can be viewed at the same link:

• Paris in the Days of Post-Impressionism: Signac and the Indépendents,
• Yehouda Chaki: Mi Makir – A Search for the Missing, and
• Manuel Mathieu: Survivance (coming soon)

Riopelle is one of my favourite Canadian painters, and I only wish he were better known, especially outside Canada.

Later in his career, Riopelle drew inspiration from Canada's aboriginal cultures, and the show fully addresses the issue of cultural appropriation.

Quilts = Art = Quilts @ the Schweinfurth Art Center

With so many of our museums and galleries closed, are you hungry to see some great art quilts?

The annual exhibition at the Schweinfurth in upstate New York is always exciting, and this year (the 40th anniversary year) they have made the show available to on-line visitors, giving them access to a virtual tour through the gallery. Seventy-one quilts, 58 national and international artists.

Well worth a look!

Susan Lapham, Playground #1, a prizewinner

Christmas cards 2020

Christmas card 2020

Every year I like to make a couple dozen Christmas postcards. I use materials I have on hand and sometimes try out a new technique, like hot-glue-fixed crystals, stencilling with metallic paint, or printing images on transparent organza.

This year I was inspired by a 12 x 12 piece I made some years ago, for a group challenge on the theme of "Jubilation".

Jubilation, 12" x 12"

I used printed and hand-dyed cottons, backed with a fusible web and cut into irregular, rectangular shapes. These were fused onto white cotton in a mosaic-like arrangement. One of the shapes was transformed into a candle with the addition of a small, green flame.

The message I've added to each card is "Find the Light. Be the Light." I hope these words will be uplifting, as all of us are dealing with what can seem like very dark days.

Scroll down to see some Christmas postcards from past years:

Christmas card 2018
metallic paint, stencilled
onto hand-dyed cotton

Christmas card 2017
fused cotton shapes, stitched with
heavy black thread

Christmas card 2016
hand-stamped letters,
image printed onto sheer organza
and stitched into place,
hand-dyed background

I send these postcards through the mail with nothing more than a stamp, and I like to think that they bring a smile to those whose paths they cross.

To learn more about editions from previous years, and their production, just enter Christmas in the search box, to the right.

Art Rental Collection 2021

Sadly, the Stewart Hall Gallery in Pointe-Claire is closed to visitors until further notice. But a great show has been hung in the beautiful space, and it can be enjoyed virtually here.

The site allows you to scroll through all the chosen works, arranged alphabetically by artist. Try to choose a favourite! More than 100 works are hung, showing a wide variety of medium, subject and style. All the works are available for rent or sale, with more than 70 artists represented.

Scroll a little further down the page to "Photo Gallery" and you can access photos of the actual show, as it is hung.  As always, the curators have done a superb job of grouping the pieces to best advantage.

The two pieces I have in the show are hung together.

This is the first year that all submissions were done online, so the selection was made on the basis of the photos submitted.

Stewart Hall annual show

So pleased to have two pieces accepted to the annual Rental Collection exhibition at Stewart Hall. Both of these works are made from hand-dyed linen, stitched, and mounted on painted canvas, 24" x 24". They were made as part of a series of twelve or so, all exploring the relationships between shapes.

I have tried in my way to be free

The Sum of Its Parts

Because of the pandemic, the gallery at Stewart Hall is closed. Meanwhile, the show is available for viewing at:

https://www.pointe-claire.ca/en/art-rental/

Stewart Hall is a beautiful facility and gallery, operated by the City of Pointe Claire. 

176 Bord-du-Lac – Lakeshore Road

Pointe-Claire Quebec

514-630-1254

"Close Reading", a mini-lesson in art history

The New York Times presents a compelling look at this self-portrait by Albrecht Dürer, and explains the significance of self-portraiture, as it emerged in the early Renaissance. Find it here.

Storm King sculpture park

In the August 31, 2020 issue of the New Yorker, Peter Schjeldahl, the magazine's art critic, writes about the Storm King sculpture park, located just north of New York City. 

About a year ago, I was lucky enough to visit the park myself, and blogged about the visit here.

Because of social distancing, the park is admitting only 300 visitors each day, using a timed ticket system. The venue will be open until December of this year.

While it is always inspiring to view art in a natural setting, Schjeldahl observes that these days, with our opportunities to look at art so limited, Storm King offers something very special indeed.

Artist Creates Realistic Food With Embroidery

Sadly, I was unable to find the name of the artist responsible for these intriguing, yummy examples of needlework.

Betty Goodwin estate auction at Heffel

 

Two vests, etching on paper, 1972

Next month, the Canadian gallery Heffel will host an on-line auction of the work of Montreal artist Betty Goodwin. Goodwin (1923-2008) is best known for her etchings of garments that create an effect of transparency, suggestive of the fragility of life, and appreciated especially by textile artists.

Sophie Taeuber-Arp

Quadrangular Spot Composition, gouache on paper, 1920

Here's an item lifted directly from The New Yorker, August 3 & 10 edition:

Sophie Taeuber-Arp 

Recent reconfigurations of modern art history are finally bringing the essential contributions of women artists into the light. Although certain figures – such as the Swedish painter Hilma af Klint – did work outside of established avant-garde circles, other pathbreakers, such as Taeuber-Arp, have been hidden in plain sight. The Swiss polymath's marriage to her fellow Dadaist Hans Arp may have secured her initial entry to that fervid scene, but her collaborative spirit – she worked with Arp, among other male artists – likely denied her top billing until now. An online viewing room, on Hauser & Wirth's Web site, celebrates the gallery's representation of Taeuber-Arp's estate with images of her dynamic Constructivist tapestries and paintings, geometric costumes and marionettes designed for performances at Zurich's legendary Cabaret Voltaire night club, sinuous carved sculptures, and more. A brief documentary overview of her career offers memorable glimpses of the artist's interior-design work, including the painted walls of Strasbourg's Café de l'Aubette and a Bauhaus-inspired studio-residence outside Paris, where she gathered with friends (Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Joan Miró, and Marcel Duchamp among them). Next year's Taeuber-Arp retrospective, co-organized by MOMA, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Tate Modern, can't arrive soon enough.

Go to https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/27538-sophie-taeuber-arp to learn more.

Rag doll project

Here's a link to a free pattern for a rag doll. It's a fun way to use up scraps of cloth and yarn, and a lot of the stitching and stuffing can be done while watching TV. 

The finished doll measures 15" tall and took me about 4 hours to make. The faces were painted on with fabric markers, though embroidery is another option.

The doll pattern comes from Toronto designer Amie Scott. Amie sells retro-style cotton dresses and sewing patterns on her Etsy site.

A historically-based remote learning experience for artists

Sketch of honeysuckle tree branch, 1901, Rachael Robinson Elmer

A free distance drawing course is being offered by the Rokeby Museum of Vermont. It has been created by Montreal-based artist Courtney Clinton, and is inspired by the experience of a young Vermont girl, Rachael Robinson Elmer (1878-1919).

Lessons will be shared every two weeks, and participants are invited to post their efforts to the course website. The course is historically-based, and encourages participants to explore the natural world around them through a sketchbook practice.

I learned about this opportunity from a James Gurney blog post.

Sketchbook Explorations, Part 7

I have found this downloaded package of instruction from Jane Davies to be helpful in getting me back into the studio. The point is to muck about in a guided and thoughtful way, to ask "what do I see? and "what if?" My hope is that these explorations will act as a springboard for further development.

The final lesson in the package focuses on the grid format, which relies on the use of squares and rectangles placed on vertical and horizontal axes.  We reviewed the distinction between the closed grid and open grid. The closed grid might be something like a checkerboard, where all the shapes are "locked in". An open grid would have some of the shapes overlapping, or floating freely on a background.

For my first attempts, I used collaged shapes exclusively.

closed grid

open grid

Next, I turned to paint:

closed grid

open grid

As I worked, I tried to notice whether I was using a full range of size, of value (dark/light), and of colour, or a more limited range. What made the grid more interesting? Transparency? Pattern?

At one point, wanting to make the grid more ambiguous, I grabbed a small brayer, using horizontal and vertical swipes to distribute the wet paint. Then I took a comb to the piece, reinforcing the grid format.

more carnage ensued: hmmmm...

The next activity required me to make several "scribble paintings" on cheap paper, with no thought to composition but with a wide range of value, varied lines and varied patterns. The idea was that the scribble painting would then be cut up into squares of equal size (or rectangles of various sizes) and then rearranged into a closed or open grid.

I can see how this exercise requires an expanded "vocabulary", which is instructive. But I was not able to compose anything pleasing from the cut-out shapes. I suppose that not all approaches suit all students. Still, I'd like to think I learned something about the value of variety in composition.

Scribble painting #1

Scribble painting #1,
cut up and reassembled, but not glued

Scribble painting #2

Scribble painting #2,
cut up and reassembled, but not glued

Not thrilled with the results, but I thought some of the individual squares had some potential.  Pattern, texture and transparency helped make the squares interesting:

random square #1

random square #2

random square #3

random square #4

random square #5

Here's the third scribble painting, and how it was cut up and re-assembled:

Scribble painting #3

Scribble painting #3, cut up into squares and rectangles 
of various sizes and assembled into an open grid.
Perhaps I should have used fewer pieces, instead of
trying to fit them all on the page.

The final assignment in this final lesson is to use the grid format to make an actual composition, something that we find to be interesting and pleasing. Ambiguity and pattern are to be embraced. I look forward to taking on this final assignment, and will be sure to post here. Soon! Let's see if I can embrace the "sketchbook mentality" of experimentation to expand my visual vocabulary.

Sketchbook Explorations, Part 6

Continuing on with Week 5 of Jane Davies' packaged instruction, I pulled out the small gestural compositions that I made in the previous lesson, using black paint and black wash.

We were asked to add one piece of collage to each of these little studies, and then to add "something else", which could be a mark with a drawing tool, another piece of collage, some paint or some pattern. We were to note the relationship between the original marks and the collage piece, and then use the next addition to strengthen the relationship between them.

red, textured collage pieces added, then opaque black paint

deli paper scribble collage added, then quin gold wash and
white marker scribble.
I found the quin gold wash acted to unify the parts.

I found myself using positive/negative, black/white contrast for some of these.

The next exercise had us go back to the thumbnail compositions made in a previous lesson. We were to choose one design, and express its shapes using paint / collage / line in various media.

my initial design:
I like the small, somewhat rectangular shapes contrasted with
enormous rounded shapes, so big they exceed the margins of the frame.

paint and collage, with white marker defining the lines

paint and collage, using a narrow range of hue and value,
uniform black marker

contrast of highly textural areas with flat and patterned areas,
smudgy line

more variety in small shapes, less definition between large shapes,
brushy margins

variety in small shapes, some texture in large shapes,
hard edges define large shapes

lots of texture in background areas, red collage defines large shape

I may well go back to this exercise and choose another thumbnail design to work from.

Finally, the lesson ended with self-portraits, using blind contour. I allowed myself to look at the drawing when I needed to lift the pencil and reposition it. Otherwise, my eyes were on the mirror at all times.

without glasses

with glasses

I am struck by how the distortions evident in these blind contour drawings express the tenor of our times.