"Out of The Studio" Exhibition by Articulation Textile Group and Lesley's Garden Tour, June 2022.

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             The Articulation Textile Group is reconnecting, reflecting, and getting together to celebrate textiles.

Detail "Summer Under the Maple" by Lesley Turner 2022

Articulation’s "Out of the Studio" exhibition is an opportunity to reunite our group after a pandemic absence. Our once annual gatherings at locations across Canada ceased in 2020, the year of our intended exhibition in celebration of 20 years of working independently, yet together, under the Articulation banner. Our plans to exhibit were shuttered necessarily but as the world reconvenes in new ways so too have our plans.


The exhibition is open to VISDA conference attendees and invited guests only. Sign up to come and join us for this inaugural event. "Gathering the Threads" conference Register here.

The “ Out of The Studio” exhibition and Garden Tour have evolved in conjunction with this year's  Vancouver Island Surface Design Association conference just as six years ago Lesley's first garden tour followed the VISDA "Gathering at the Edge" conference. 

Recent years have taught us to be versatile, to pivot and to find new ways to do things. We have asserted our independence, carried on, and become more adaptable. Articulation has taken the initiative to create its own space by mounting a reflective exhibition in the home, studio and grounds of Vancouver Island’s own, Lesley Turner.


Lesley’s horticultural vision has inspired an oasis of thoughtful and imaginative landscape design that beautifully compliments the topography of the Saanich Peninsula. Mini ecosystems flourish within eco systems and the landscape is an organic haven for flora and fauna alike. Slugs are welcomed but not as enthusiastically as other garden inhabitants.




 Within this expansive garden design stands a sculptural pergola that will be called into action to honour Lesley’s intention for it to become an outdoor gallery.

 This inaugural Donnington display will be open to VISDA conference attendees upon registration and by invitation only. If you are on the fence about committing to this year’s VISDA conference perhaps the invitation to tour Lesley's garden and experience Articulation’s "Out of the Studio" exhibition in this unique setting will be all the encouragement you will need to finalize your plans. We would love to see you there. Register for "Gathering the Threads" here.


"Current Threads 2022" is an annual exhibition put on by the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association. It will be showing in the Cowichan Valley Art Council galleries, Duncan, concurrent with the VISDA conference. Included in that exhibition will be new pieces by Articulation members Ingrid Lincoln and Lesley Turner. Go to the CVAC website here for more information.



Each Articulation member will hang work in a pergola space

The pergola outside Lesley's Green Shed studio will feature textile works by Articulation members. 
Our first outdoor exhibition is not to be missed. 



Four Articulation members will be attending the conference for a few days before heading to Donnington. The other Articulation members will arrive on the island in time to install their artworks in the "Out of the Studio" exhibition. Works will be hung in Lesley's house, out in the garden, and in her studio.


If you are interested in a sneak peek at some of the works in progress that will be on display at Donnington, along with examples of several other bodies of work by Articulation members, then please read on.

  



For Articulation's "Out of the Studio" exhibition, Lesley is working on a series about responding to being a part of the cycle of life. She is making 4 whole cloth works, one for each season as seen from lying under a Big Leaf Maple. "Summer Under the Maple" is still in progress but with time left before the exhibition is hung, Lesley will be at work on her process until the exhibition mounts. This piece will be hung in the pergola. 



"Summer Under The Maple" in progress by Lesley Turner

Wendy Klotz has continued to work on her Sea series and will have some pieces ready for the exhibition. 


Wendy writes: "I am trying very hard to simplify and work at being more abstract and calm for some pieces while in other pieces attempting to convey the power and energy of stormy seas. I have restricted my colours to different values of blue with white for contrast. I am really enjoying experimenting and playing at the moment and seeing where it leads me."




Wendy Klotz's colour samples in progress


Ingrid Lincoln is also at work preparing a new project to introduce to the public at the "Out of the Studio" exhibition.

 This piece is a detail of a larger piece that is still in progress and as yet unnamed. There is nothing like a deadline to inspire creative bursts of energy. When an opportunity arises Articulation members take full advantage of it. I am looking forward to catching up but also to seeing in real-time what creative exploration and discovery have inspired in the group. 


During the shutdowns, we became accustomed to online studies and zoom connections. Textiles certainly benefit from up close and personal inspection, so it will be an added bonus to see the work in real-time.


Mixed media on sheer silk is a work in progress by Ingrid Lincoln


I too have been exploring new work that is suitable to show in an outdoor setting. "Composure" is stage 2 of a body of work called “Composition” that I exhibited in 2021 at La Maison des Artistes in St Boniface, Manitoba.

"Composition" is essentially a continuation of a project, long on the back burner that was facilitated by the pandemic. Shutdowns allowed me time to slow down and focus on work with textiles. Sunny corners of my home invited me to reflect and play and do some of my own personal work. This work was all about process. For me, the process of processing became a meditative balm achieved in stitch and colour.


The sixteen 20” x 20” squares of “Composition” began with dye sublimated images that then used the vocabulary of the seamstress to reinvent a personal narrative. The themes that developed were both literal and metaphorical and allowed me to process, mend, ease, reshape and reinterpret events, trauma, and conditioned response.


 Presentation for the exhibit involved mounting the textile panels onto wooden panels that required me to stretch the surfaces in the same manner that I would stretch a canvas for painting. This effect was modular, adaptable, and versatile and was also representative of my dual studio practice. In hindsight, this mode of presentation also continued my habit of fitting myself into compartmentalized paradigms. 


"Composition" at La Maison des Artistes, St Boniface, Manitoba, 2021 by Amanda Onchulenko


The show that was exhibited in January and February of 2021 was subject to various pandemic mandates including limited display times with and sometimes without physical visitors. The unprecedented format allowed me baby steps to show the heavy work of this process and to get comfortable with the public vulnerability this body of work created.


The studio gallery at la Maison des Artistes is a beautiful manageable space full of bright sunlight. It literally and metaphorically 'let the light in'. The sunlight was so bright I tempered the glare by repurposing my sheer studio curtains. These hung on three of four expansive tall windows, two of which were set above heat vents that billowed the sheer window coverings in what felt like a theatrical game of "Child’s Play" and was totally appropriate to my subject and focus on the inner child that was a major part of this project.


Detail "Child's Play: Rhyme/ Resonance" 2021 by Amanda Onchulenko



If ”Composition” was an iteration of what I am made of, "Composure" is a document of evolution. It was brave work conceptually eased through thoughtful contemplation on surfaces. Something returned to me in that space. The adventure of exhibiting was as much a part of the healing journey as creating, stitching, and composing had been. 

In "Showing my Work” I had the chance to be with the work in the diffuse winter sunlight that illuminated some of the work I was still yet to do. While the square format was manageable and ordered I felt in hindsight that the finished products lost some of the softness inherent to working with fabric. I came to the realization that there needed to be more 'give'.



 "Uniform Story II"  in progress by Amanda Onchulenko
                                


In “Composure” being exhibited at Donnington in June, the imagery is derived from samples of the body of work that is “Composition”. The selected image is paired to become a set of 4 banners that will hang on either side of the central image. All images are dye-sublimated onto flag fabric which offers 90% show on the reverse side. The fabric is light, transparent, portable and though still adaptable the visuals are free to respond to the actions of the elements. 

 The uniformity and rigidity of chapter one have gained composure with fluidity and freedom in chapter two. The central panel “Uniform Story II” is a combination of a section of the painting “Afternoon Showers” and the bodice of “ Uniform Story”. It may very well be the germinating thought for chapter three of this evolving body of work. 


Information on the 'Gathering the Threads' conference registration website. 




To give you a sense of the pergola's scale, each Articulation member has 86" x 96" of space 
 on which to hang artwork. The bench below can accommodate 3D items. It is 96" x 19" deep.

Other Articulation bodies of work included in the exhibition are "War: A Personal Response" and "Connected Heritage".  Articulation members are looking forward to bringing together for the first time a body of work that resulted from a study session in Quebec City. It will be exhibited in the Green Shed studio.  Personally, I am looking forward to getting together with the group and also seeing for the first time, the group's work from Quebec which predates my invitation to join the Articulation Textile Group.  If you are a registered attendee of the VISDA conference we will look forward to meeting you at Donnington for the "Out of the Studio" exhibition and garden tour.

Until then below please find the link to my little podcast "Wisdom at the Crossroads" where some of the backstories from my artistic practice are followed by a short mediation. Also please find links to the websites and blogs of our members. Thanks for reading. Be well, stay well.

 All best 

Amanda Onchulenko on behalf of the Articulation Textile Group


 Wendy's Blog 

 Ingrid's Website 

 Donna's Blog 

 Donna's Website

Comments

  1. QuiltgirlMay 23, 2022 at 9:08 PM

    I am very excited to have secured an invitation to this event and look forward to seeing the works displayed in Lesley's lovely garden...... It will be wonderful to see everything in-situ

    ReplyDelete

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