New Beginnings in 2021
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As the new year begins and we can see 2020 now safely in our rear view mirror we can exhale a collective sigh of relief. The year we thought of as a year of revisioning and the offer of a new perspective, did exactly that. Just not in the ways we had originally imagined. 2020 brought us into our presence like no other year. It directed us to pivot our focus in ways we could never have anticipated a year ago. I don't think I know a single person who isn't somehow changed by the year that was.
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| Change is our only constant. Hoar frost on the shores of lake Winnipeg is a welcome change. |
I wanted to take a moment to express my gratitude for opportunities that arose along the way. Terms like shut down and isolation came into common use and with the implementation of those terms came permission to slow down. I don't think I am alone in my constant juggle of obligations and commitments in an effort to exercise my creative ambitions. Like creatives everywhere I am grateful to have had the luxury of time for the intimacy of hand work in sunny corners in my home. I am grateful for the ability to retreat into my imagination and creative process when my plans and routines were disrupted. I am grateful for my community and their support of local makers over the holidays when curbside pick up became our norm. I am grateful for our democratic leadership that seeks to keep Canadians safe, informed. and eventually vaccinated. I am grateful to all who are on the front lines taking care to see a nation well and recovered from a most unusual threat. Being shut down in isolation and quarantine felt confining but the shinyest silver lining of all came in the form of the time I got to spend with my immediate family and for that I am most grateful.
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| Hand work in a sunbeam, Amanda at work on the re-patterning / re-blooming series. |
Lesley Turner is familiar as I am with family split across continents. As New Zealand citizens Lesley and her hubby Ron were able to travel "Home Home" in early December to support the family of her soon to be newest grand baby. The new Covid-19 protocols required a 2 week stay in an isolation hotel and two negative test results before being able to travel within New Zealand. This time was planned for in their itinerary but not the arrival of her grandson 4 weeks ahead of schedule. Everyone is safe and well.
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| Checking into an isolation hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand. |
Lesley took charge of enforced isolation and a solid wifi connection during quarantine to address the business side of her art practice from a foreign hotel room. Isolation allowed her to rotate through five different projects including working online with Donna Clement to establish an organizational system to address Articulation's archive of images and documents relating to 26 bodies of work completed over the last 20 years. Thirteen days was not long enough to finish this ambitious project but she was satisfied to get a workable system in place.
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| Covid-19 protocols were followed to the letter . The changing of the towels... |
In 2020 the many challenges we collectively faced brought transformation, taught us patience, encouraged acceptance and adaptability. Articulation continues to be flexible in planning as rescheduled physical exhibits have been rescheduled once again. Our Regina Revisionist show featuring work from the last 20 years planned to show at the Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre in Regina in March has been moved to May of 2022. Work from Connected Heritage intended for the summer at The Sidney Museum on Vancouver Island will now go ahead in late September.
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| At last free Lesley got to visit Van Gogh Alive while in New Zealand. |
It seems Lesley's quarantine project of Refreshing Articulation's Blog format in anticipation of virtual exhibitions to be posted by individual members throughout 2021 is very well timed. We hope you will check in on a monthly basis to see what's new and on alternating months to see what body of work has inspired a sneak into the archive. Thankfully plans to install new work from our independent studio explorations is currently on track to go ahead as planned in September in Milford Saskatchewan. Thanks Lesley and Donna for your hard work and commitment to the technical aspects of Articulation Textile Group and for keeping us all on track.
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| Donna Clement's Nut Hatch |
Beyond the business of an art practice Donna Clement has been getting outdoors and teaching us all about birding in Alberta's bountiful parks.
Wendy Klotz of Calgary has completed her last online workshop and is looking forward to implementing new skills into a new body of work. This piece below is her final piece of homework from a class with Eva Camacho Sanchez making Joomchi then adding Marino wool to felt it.
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| Wendy's homework. |
Lean Clifford is focusing her creative skills on the work of renovating her new home while Ingrid Lincoln is continuing her studio rumble making new work and completing projects begun over the last year. Playing with machine stitching and collage are a current focus.
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| Ingrid Lincoln is industrious. She has just completed this new as yet unnamed large piece. |
My focus has been on the installation of a body of work I began in Calgary at Articulation's last physical AGM in 2019. The project tentatively called the re patterning and re blooming series concluded as "Composition" and was installed at la maison des Artistes in St Boniface in Winnipeg this week having been rescheduled from last November. I had the expert help of my daughter Emma to help with installation.
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| I had the best assistant helping to get my exhibit up off the ground. |
The exhibit includes two large art quilts and the 16 20" x 20" panels that represent the process of processing. "Composition" observes the personal within the context of the universal and navigates a journey through transformation, growth and acceptance. Painting, photography, dye sublimation, embroidery, machine stitching, batik, collage and quilt making are the tools that became the vocabulary of this project. Colour united with materials, symbols surfaced, patterns appeared and re bloomed and the legacy of trauma eased.
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| "Grace. Acceptance: Renewal" 20' x 20" by Amanda Onchulenko |
Stretching malleable textiles onto a support in the same way I would prepare a canvas for painting references the dual nature of my studio practice as Painter and Fibre Artist. It was inspiring, given current circumstances, to see a completed body of work mounted for public display. Once hung, however, I found the finish of the product did not reflect the hand of fabric or the messiness of process. Adding an installation of materials yesterday felt like the appropriate finale.
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| Installation requires careful measurement, helpful are ladders and tall children. |
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| Detail of process installation, La Maison des Artistes, St Boniface, Winnipeg. |
In Manitoba galleries remain closed due to Covid-19 protocols but there is hope in person attendance will be an option before the end of February when the show concludes. In the meantime keep an eye out for online access available hopefully in the coming weeks.
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| Wendy Klotz'z printing experiments continued outdoors. |
We hope you are able to access your inner child, to play creatively in your chosen medium. Possibly up to your ankles in fabric or up to your elbows in paint or dye, my preferred state, or outdoors embracing the winter landscape that transforms around us every single day.
Stay safe, be well and be kind.
Until next time,
Amanda Onchulenko on behalf of Articulation Textile Group.
Amanda's Website
Lesley's Website and Blog
Wendy's Blog
Ingrid's Website
Donna's Blog
Donna's Website
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