Articulation Textile Group Opens at Portals Gallery on March 26th, 2019.
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| The West Coast's timber cathedrals inspired us all. |
Work from across Western Canada arrived on the Island between winter travels and family weddings in all sorts of containers and bearing a diverse group of finished works from an equally diverse group of fibre artists. Lesley Turner graciously received these packages and waited eagerly to unveil the contents. Christmas for textile artists apparently arrives in a plain wrapped oversized box. Thank you, Lesley, for opening your home to us all yet again.
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| After all your hard work we hope you are snuggly gathered around your backyard fireplace toasting a weekend of successful installation while we review the weekend's events. |
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| All packed up in Saanich. The journey to the gallery began on the weekend with Lesley packing all of our boxed contributions in her car and heading to Duncan. Met by Curator, Morgan Saddington and a delightful hanging team that included: Bonnie Leighton, Leslie Bundon and Rory MacDonald work was soon underway and members not able to be there for this event are exceedingly grateful to all who donated time and energy toward meeting our goals. |
Once a plan, rigid or casual, is in place then the auditioning process can begin. Many questions are asked: At what height should these hang? Whose eye level is eye level? What hanging system is in place and did the participants read all the specifications? (No names mentioned here)
How does this piece relate to its adjacent neighbour? How can we create a visual journey for our visitors? What configuration shows the work to its best advantage? All these queries and more come into play as any group installs work in a space. Just as we create a composition that leads our viewers' eyes across a surface when we are creating an artwork so too do we consider composition within the physical space of the gallery.
Given that works were shipped without their makers it was important to include instructions. Instructions on preferred placement, relationship to other works if the work is part of a series and how to repack the piece at the conclusion of the show is helpful. Packing is an art form in itself and I will confess I have wasted days considering how to puzzle in the maximum number of pieces to the smallest possible available box. Packaging can be a perplexing proposition at both ends of the parcel.
Ladders come in handy and often require multiple points of view.
Many hands make light work and as we discovered hanging our War project in Sidney last fall, it often pays to have an engineer on call.
In the end, creativity always prevails, the work is hung and a relieved group of gallerists, curators, artists and makers, volunteers and sometimes a spouse or sister or two can go home happy knowing that their work problem solving and preparing a visual adventure for their community of supporters has been a success.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since we first gathered on the creative journey together that has culminated with this exhibition. The Salish Sea and environs captured our enthusiasm and we hope your enthusiasm will be captured by our creative explorations in fibre.
Our touring lunches are over for now, as are our hikes through wilderness and forests, past warnings for wildlife and rogue waves and the occasional (fresh) bear patty. Our leisurely inspirational strolls along beaches have also come full circle for this project and we can all take a step back and really contemplate where this journey has taken us.
Stay tuned for our next installment to learn a little more about the story behind our creations, what inspires us and how our creative explorations take hold. And, if you are in the neighbourhood step through that portal and into our creative world.
The exhibition opens on March 26th and continues through to April 18th, 2019.
Portals Gallery is open Mon-Fri 11-5, Sat noon-3
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