September 2024
Studio views and many links to share...
In this newsletter you’ll find:
Studio views
Homegrown materials
Things to read etc.
Studio Views
It’s September and the light is beautiful in the studio, and I have so many projects on the go.
A new bench basket I pretty much stole from my friend Green Edna Basketry, and a new piece being finished on the drafting table. Deborah is having an exhibition of her basketry in October in London, ON, details TBA.
Work for my next upcoming two person exhibition at Icha with Secret Tea Time. In the spring Helen and I held the first iteration of this exhibition (which you can read about here), and with the seasons changing, it’s time for part two, Autumn Abundance, Winter Rest.
This exhibition will run from October 5 - November 5, 2024. On Saturday October 6 Helen and I are having a small opening reception with tea from 7-9pm at Icha Tea, 235 Spadina Av, Toronto. More on this project next month!
There are still spaces left in Stripe Lab, my creative workshop happening at the Art Gallery of Burlington in October. More information here and sign-up here. I would love to have you join us!
Homegrown Materials
The most recent issues of the Guild of Canadian Weavers Bulletin arrived a few weeks ago just as the algorithm saw fit to throw several videos about linen, nettle, and homegrown textiles my way. The recent issue of the GCW Bulletin is the first time they’ve done a focal issue on a single topic, which is the revival of interest in linen and homegrown textile production. Many wonderful artists are thinking through and working on this; I find it fascinating, and while I’m not ready to do more than twine things and daydream, in case you’re curious too, here’s a collection of some of the things I’ve seen recently:
Facts about Flax, BBC Archive. (YouTube)
From 1951, this short clip shows what flax harvesting was like in the post-war period — the huge wagons full of flax were astounding.Wild Fibres, Clothing from Undomesticated Plants in the City, EartHands Gleaners Society. (YouTube)
Watch Sharon Kallis as she slowly creates a vest and jacket from stinging nettles harvested from Vancouver parks.Homegrown/Homespun
I think I shared this project from Justine Aldersey and collaborators before; in the summer of 2021 they turned unused land in Blackburn, England, into a flax field. They grew flax and woad, eventually weaving and dyeing their own pair of homegrown jeans. The Northwest England Fibreshed has a blog with plenty of information here, as well as the British Textile Biennial link I shared above.Prehistoric Nettle Textiles, scraping and splicing, Sally Pointer. (YouTube)
What I like about this video is that Sally digs deep into preparing and hand splicing nettle (no spinning equipment needed!). She has lots of great videos about weaving and other prehistoric textile practices.Kerstin Neumüller’s nettle experiments on IG here.
Anita Cazzola’s incredible home-grown hand woven linen fabric here!!!
Things to Read Etc.
I love the images from this exhibition by Meta Struyken, which closed on August 31st in Amsterdam at Eenwerk. Tiny stitched coats explore handwork, repair, and fast fashion. There’s a small English language piece here, and Meta’s Instagram is here.
Opening next week in Edmonton, Alberta, is Mackenzie Kelly-Frere’s exhibition Drawn, at the Alberta Craft Discovery Gallery. “The exhibition examines cloth as a contextual object, enmeshing ways of thinking and being in the natural world. Kelly-Frère draws on his lived experience of both the Canadian Prairie and a recent artist residency in Blondüós, Iceland to create cloth that reflects situated materialities and our connections to place.” Mackenzie was one of the first contemporary weavers I learned about when I started making and I have always deeply admired his work. If you’re in or travelling to Edmonton from September 21-November 2, 2024, this exhibition is not to be missed!
A screenshot from Mackenzie’s IG of the installation! Click to visit his account. Anatomy of a White Dwarf: On Life, Home, and Weaving.
An interview with the artists María Eugenia Dávila and Eduardo Portillo about their work and piece titled White Dwarf, which was included in the exhibition Threaded Visions; Contemporary Weavings from the Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago. Another exhibition I dearly wish I could have gone to see! Not only is this textile incredible, but the process and materials they learned about and used to make it takes you around the globe.Also highly recommended to watch: this profile of artist Christine Novotny. This time there are still a few weeks left to go see her exhibition at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, alongside an exhibition of the work of Karin Larsson, Let the Hand be Seen. You can see some of Christine’s beautiful pieces on her IG here.
The next World Hope Forum is called ANTI_FASHION. This free webinar is hosted in collaboration with New York Textile Month and is held on Zoom as part of their Talking Textiles programme on Saturday, September, 28. It’s always a really interesting presentation, introducing me to many artists I’ve not encountered before, so I highly recommend it. Sign up for free here.
“Since its creation in 2014, Li Edelkoort's much-talked about ANTI_FASHION Manifesto was the first to raise awareness about the shifts and upheavals experienced in the global garment system. Ten years on, the world has changed as much as the fashion industry itself; often welcoming a more restrained approach that combats fast consumption, spurring a powerful movement towards sustainability, creativity, diversity and uniqueness.
To celebrate the tenth anniversary of ANTI_FASHION, World Hope Forum is pleased to present a special webinar, sharing stories of people that lead by example — a slow fashion revolution that includes independent brands, folk favourites, outsider artists, artisan makers, textile farmers and style philosophers.”
Wishing you a wonderful start to autumn!
Amanda