Last week for Articulation at Portals Gallery in Duncan, BC

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        LAST WEEK FOR ARTICULATION AT PORTALS GALLERY IN DUNCAN, BC.

Spring is here and our show "Forest and Sea and the Place Between" has been hanging in the Cowichan Valley's Portals Gallery for the past few weeks. The show has been very well attended and enthusiastically received. It will be closing at the end of this week on April 18th. Artists Wendy Klotz of Calgary, Ingrid Lincoln of Winnipeg and Lesley Turner of Vancouver Island were at the gallery on Sunday afternoon sharing their process with the more than 40 visitors in attendance. We hope if you did not get to talk to these artists on the weekend that you still have time this week to see the work in the show. 



Ingrid, Wendy, and Lesley, shown above with curator Morgan Saddington, represented our group during Sunday's Artist Reception and enjoyed discussing their creative processes with attending guests. Process is such a fascinating part of any art practice and is as individual as the artists themselves.


Island resident Lesley Turner, for example, created works for this show by literally getting down and dirty with the forest itself. Her work is always thoughtful and intellectually driven and never loses sight of the handmade intention, and the comforting textures of fabric and thread. 



Her process for this body of work involved a collaboration with the elements that saw her wrap bedsheets around tree trunks, bury cloth at the foot of collaborating trees and attach ink-laden brushes to tree branches on a windy day. All efforts to capture the unique signatures of forest species: Douglas-fir, Western Red Cedar, and Big Leaf Maple, which starred in her textile show. 



Through her explorations she was able to gather a unique perspective, collaboratively create expressive marks that Jackson Pollock would be proud of, and create unique pieces literally and metaphorically connected to the forest. In the image above she has even included items that become intrinsically invested in the process.  Lesley then stitched her own line drawings of leaf shapes and forms into the forest treated fabrics to create multi-layered, multidimensional panels starring her three tree subjects.  




The West Coast's forests, seas, and places between led us down many creative paths. We were inspired to stretch our imagination and interpret our individual perspectives in textiles using fabric and thread, paint, ink, and dye. We stitched things together using the machine and hand embroidery, we assembled our ideas and responses to images or ideas in our own independent ways that sometimes kept us up late or got us out of bed at night in search of a pencil and paper to jot just one more thing down..."before I forget".




I think I speak for our group when I say I don't know what it is like to not be thinking, wondering, inquiring, discovering or creating. Some days I would just like to do the groceries and not be distracted by the lovely arcing petals of that artichoke heart or the sheen and pattern on that fresh and soon to be devoured pink lady.


The projects we took on the road with us as we worked through our translation of inspiration will soon be packed up and returned to sender but you can be guaranteed that each of us has tucked into a corner in a bag or box, a few pieces of fabric or thread ready to be taken up in the pursuit of our next piece at a moments notice.


While we have been patiently waiting for the season to change and, for Manitobans like me, for the ice the melt off Lake Winnipeg, we have continued to work on pending projects. Articulation is in the midst of a very active year of exhibitions and the planning process for our next show is well underway. 

Articulation will be mounting a show called "CONNECTED HERITAGE" at the New Icelandic Heritage Museum in Gimli, Manitoba through the summer of 2019.  We hope if you are in the neighbourhood you might join us to see where our inspiration has taken us this time in fabric, thread, and textiles, but not necessarily in that order.


A blank Canvas or an unmarked piece of fabric, a blank gallery wall... they all have potential written all over them. We are all working and wondering where our creative tangents will lead us and hope collectively that you will stop by to check in on us here, in a week or two, to discover what progress we have made on our preparations for coming events. Until then enjoy the last week of "Forest and Sea and the Place Between" at Portals Gallery, Duncan BC.
See you soon, 
Amanda O




Amanda's Instagram 
Donna's Blog
Lesley's Blog
Lesley's Facebook
Wendy's Facebook
Donna's Facebook
Location: Canada

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