Articulation Textile Group

An exhibition we all enjoyed was 'All Beings Confluence,' an interactive community art project spearheaded by Saskatchewan artist Martha Cole. She runs workshops in different communities across North America giving guidance on how to make large, transparent panels. She then loans collections of panels, according to the number requested, to be hung in a wide variety of spaces in many different communities. Viewers walk between the panels to enjoy works up close and to see the layered effects as different panels work together, such as these hens scratching beneath the flowers behind. Each panel is about one living being. It was interesting to note how many weedy-type plants were chosen when so much of the landscape is covered in commercial crops. This female connection with 'weedy' plants is from the time when women gathered them to feed and care for their families. This ancient knowledge continues to surface in women's artwork today. It is typical o...

Of all the churches we visited this was my favourite. The ceilings are covered in mosaics with lots of shiny gold tiles. The floor mosaics are in cooler colours. A woman doing science experiments. There are lots of geometric mosaic patterns on the floors... ...and on the walls. All most inspiring. In one of the chapels there is a coarser mosaic on each roof arch. Not fine work but somehow very appealing by providing a human scale in this massive building.

It wasn't all study, sketch, photograph... we also made sure we were kept lubricated and rested. At this cute little English pub in the country, I found this plant the likes of which I have never seen before. This is no stunted Prairie growth! It is taller than the building beside it! this is me inside it, looking up the above ground root system what is this plant??!!?? And true to Vancouver Island's mild climate and rainy roots, flowers were still blooming profusely.

Today Articulation's Urban Textures body of work is being hung in the Mennonite Cultural Heritage Centre gallery, in Winnipeg. It will be the first time the whole body of work will be together. Articulation is a Canadian group of textile artists whose members live on 2 coasts and places in between. They produce their art in their own studios and it is only when there is a hanging that all of the work is sent to one place. It is always a thrill to see the work together, interacting with each other. Also, it is so interesting to see the different interpretations from the same inspiration that was gathered during our annual study week. The opening is on Friday September 18, 2009, where there will be members of Articulation is attendence. The exhibition is on until November 14, 2009.

All Articulation members have shut themselves in their studios and no one is hearing much from them these days as the date for their next exhibition gets closer. Using images from a week long study of the historical buildings of Winnipeg and after doing lots of research, they are each producing a series to be exhibited in the Mennonite Cultural Heritage Building Gallery, along with the work that has recently been hanging in the McMullen Gallery in Edmonton. The Mennonite Gallery is twice as big so they have all continued producing Winnipeg inspired works. And there was no shortage of inspiration in Winnipeg with its rich history and early wealth reflected in magnificent buildings. Each member is interpreting the 'Urban Textures' theme in their own way and using their own chosen stitch techniques. The architecture will be interpreted in a wide variety of textiles & fibres. The exhibition scope also includes the architecture of flowers as a response to floral displays they...