Articulation Textile Group currently have an exhibition at the Portals Gallery in Duncan. The exhibition is based on a study retreat the group organized in Tofino a couple of years ago. Tofino happens to be my favourite place in Canada, if not on earth! I love the wildness of it and even on a summer's day when there are lots of people around, Long Beach is so vast, people disappear into little dots in no time.
Jellyfish.
This piece is based on a quote I saw in the Maritime museum in Sidney, where they talked about the devastating effect that plastic shopping bags are having on sea creatures. The floating plastic bags resemble jellyfish and are ingested by unsuspecting birds and mammals alike. My piece, "Jellyfish" is made with armatures from plastic straws and the rest of the jellyfish are made from single use grocery bags. The whole thing twists in the breeze and is quite ethereal.
Waves Upon the Shore
I love to walk along Long Beach and watch the waves crashing and gently rolling in upon the sandy shore. There is something very peaceful about watching waves, even when the weather is bad. Something primeval I think. Then there are the various sea birds running along the shore line. This piece is made in felt, attaching layers of felt and wet felting them in. I added some knitted linen while felting the individual waves and then added some beads and french knots to give a bit of depth and sparkle.
Gifts from the Wrack Line
The other fun thing to do on the beach of course is to walk along the wrack line, the line where the high tide has left a line of gifts of shells and seaweed and other bric a brac to find. I chose to represent the gifts, although I was tempted to include the awful amount of trash that can be found these days, old shoes, the ubiquitous plastic bottles etc. Instead, I had a great time interpreting the gifts that can be found, using felt as a medium. They ended up being like little sculptures.
I will be heading out to Duncan to attend the Artists Reception on April 13th. The invitation is below. All are welcome!
