Transitions :: Contemporary Canadian Felt Exhibition

transitions C o n te mp o rary Canadian F e l t E xh i b i ti o n

felt ::feutre canada

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felt :: feutre canada most sincerely thanks our sponsors.

In every way, you are helping Canadians make beautiful felt!

exhibition sponsors 1

transitions exhibition

transitions Transition zones suppor t the greatest activity and diversity – biologically, geographically, socially and politically. Regional boundaries separate nations, forming social distinctions and dividing political areas. In the edges where two ecosystems overlap, such as land/water, or forest/grassland, we find the greatest biodiversity. Urban neighbourhoods in transition are often most vibrant in that time between being discovered and becoming gentrified. In gender transitioning, life stages and in music, we find transitions, and they are vital and powerful and often challenging.

This exhibition explores the theme of Transitions from the perspective of seventeen felt-feutre canada members. Each feltwork includes two unique areas, with a connecting transition zone. felt :: feutre canada strives to create engaging exhibition oppor tunities for it’s members, and through these exhibitions, to provide a public platform to showcase the work of Canadian feltmakers and ar tists working in felt as their medium

Layout: Fiona Duthie/Rachel Bevington Copyright Š 2017 felt :: feutre canada All rights reserved. No part may be republished without the explicit permission of the artists.

exhibition overview felt ::feutre canada

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What a satisfying and stimulating journey it has been to work on this exhibition with Fiona and Sandra. All of our interactions were through email and collaborations on Google Docs. We live ver y far apar t, and yet we heard each other’s voices and listened and responded and collaborated. And now, again electronically, we see and hear the work and voices of the ar tists who responded to the Transitions theme. The narratives are touching and thoughtful and the interpretations are as wide-ranging as we had hoped. I feel privileged to be par t of this Canadian felting community and look forward to more oppor tunities that bring us together.

Sheila Thompson This is my first time on an exhibition committee and it has been a fascinating learning experience. From deciding the theme and scope, to manipulating photos, I’ve been impressed with the knowledge, skill and vision of both Fiona and Sheila and would like to thank them for their dedication to this project. The imaginative entries and quality of felt is only surpassed by the completed ar tist statements. My first impression when reading about each transition was the powerful influence that external forces have on our personal work. We now have a unique oppor tunity to respectfully comment and ask the creators questions about their submissions.

Hopefully we can all gain a deeper understanding and insight from this experience.

Sandra Barrett All committee members contributed valuable ideas, time and effor t to bring this exhibition to realization. Thank you, Sandra and Sheila, for sharing your considered thoughts and individual skills. The work represents each ar tist’s voice and aesthetic, but this becomes an enriched stor y when their works all come together, online and in this catalogue. Each ar tist’s approach to the theme is as diverse as their own characters and regions of Canada, The work and statements are engaging and expressive. Thank you all for contributing to this year’s exhibition and our exploration of Transitions.

Fiona Duthie

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Sponsors Exhibition Overview Notes from the Exhibition Committee Table of Contents Marjolaine Arsenault Sandra Barrett Chantal Cardinal Carmen Ditzler Deborah Dumka Annina Frick Diane Goossens Barbara Guillen Trish Hirschkorn Fay Hodson June J. Jacobs Carmen Laferrière Pat Moore Rosemarie PÊloquin Melanie Siegel Sheila Thompson Jennifer Tsuchida

table of contents felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Dance of Transition Dimensions: 18” x 38” 2017 Marjolaine Arsenault Québec/ living in New York State marjolainestouch.com

Throughout my life I have been called to make many changes. Some more difficult than others. It can be challenging to move through these transitions. Dancing offers me an expression to unwind the mind and body. I created a dancing dress to remind me to keep dancing through these challenging times. The seamless dress is composed of two distinct areas. They are unified by the usage of a single color.

Marjolaine Arsenault received a B.A. in Fine Arts, from Concordia University, Montreal, Canada in 1984. Her background as a graphic designer and later on as a garden designer is reflected in all her pieces.

Marjolaine is a fiber artist creating garments and accessories in a felt making process fusing hand-dyed silk and wool fiber to make seamless garments. Com-position, color harmony and texture are integral to every one-of-a-kind creation. Marjolaine seeks to drape the body with style and beauty in contemporary pieces of wearable art. She travels the country to sell at various juried fine craft shows and to teach workshops. She was awarded the Collector’s Award at the Palm Beach Fine Craft Show in 2013 and the Outstanding Achievement Award at the Chicago Botanical Garden Craft Show in 2014. Her work was on exhibit at the Kent State University Mu-seum in an exhibit entitled Entangled: Fiber to Felt to Fashion. Her collec-tion was presented in the Electric City Fashion Shows in 2016 and 2017. Her garments were published in Worldwide Colors of Felt and in various magazines. She is a member of the Northeast Feltmakers Guild. Her studio is located in North Creek, NY.

marjolaine arsenault felt ::feutre canada

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The instant between life and death is depicted in felt. Mysterious light glimmers at the end of a continuously bleeping, flattened out electrocardiograph line. Hints of grid lines against the black background suggest a hospital monitor. The ragged underside peels away to reveal the inner core of a heart beat defining the exact moment of passing - the transition from one state of existence to another. Made from Merino, BFL, Alpaca, Tussah silk, beads and dichroic glass to become a meditation on mortality.

Sandra Barrett’s feltwork has been exhibited in Canada and Britain, published in “Felt Matters”, “Felt”, “Worldwide colours of felt” and online. Sandra’s solo exhibition “Winter Light” was mounted in her studio and gallery “Eye of the Needle” in Fernie BC earlier this year - thanks to a grant awarded by the Columbia Basin Trust. San-dra is an active member of Fernie Spinners and Weavers Guild, membership co-ordinator of felt :: feutre Canada and representative for the Americas of the International Feltmakers Association.

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Title: Meditation on mortality Dimensions: 13.5” x 5” x 1” 2017 Sandra Barrett British Columbia fernieforge.ca

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Title: Oil Spill Dimensions: 20” x 48”x 1/2” 2017 Chantal Cardinal FELT à la main with LOVE British Columbia facebook.com/FELTalamainwithLove

Another witness piece to the potential devastation of an oil spill in English Bay (just west of Vancouver) where dozens of tankers await every day. A leak of a brand new tanker a couple summers ago was a warning that we are not prepared to handle any spill. All it takes is one small leak to go from clear to dark, from blue to black. We are slowly transitioning from a natural environment to a sick environment. My question is can we stop it?

Can we stop ourselves? 100% local Romney wool in natural White, Grey, Brown and Black for the base with hand-dyed bright colours pre-felted and cut into waves and rocks. With Mohair yarn accent and raised circle (of life) then partial circles as you sink into the darkness.

Chantal Cardinal behind FELT à la main with LOVE. I realized early on that my way of discovering the world is with my hands, by touching and making. I have spent a lifetime expressing myself by making everything I can starting by sewing clothes (at the age of 8), painting canvases, shaping ceramic,...building things, but my favorite, is to repurpose and transform things. Hence the ‘ahha’ moment with felting. I found a medium that will keep me busy for the rest of my life. Furthermore, connecting with local farmers to source my medium from ethically minded folks. After 3 decades in the Fashion and Film Industry, it is nice to slow down and make a unique, 100% natural piece, one at a time.

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Title: Trestle Bridge Dimensions: 120 cm x 120 cm 2017 Carmen Ditzler British Columbia carmenditzler.com

I was inspired by a train trestle bridge that crosses the south end of Kootenay Lake through the wetlands. It was buzzing with swallows building mud nests, catching insects, laying eggs, feeding baby birds. It was challeng-ing to try to create the textures and colours of metal rusting, bubbling paint, lichen growing, big bolt heads, contrasting with the mud nests and the swooping “fighter plane” swallows. Transitions from: one side to the other; steel to rust; mud to nest; egg to bird, building and decomposing.

Falling into the world of felt began eight years ago and I now have a studio in a little crooked shed with a woodstove, up the hill from my home in the Kootenays of British Columbia. I find felt continuously fascinating and infinite in possibilities- being most inspired by the textures and colours in nature. I have just begun to enter exhibitions one of which was “Migra-tion” hosted by felt-feutre in 2016. My work seems to have a reoccurring theme exploring the tension between life and death, as I continue to learn, experiment and work toward finding my own felting voice.

carmen ditzler felt ::feutre canada

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Fade to White is a work from a developing series, Resistor, a body of work that explores experiences during the period I studied and worked in electrical engineering that contributed to my decision to leave that field of work.

Fade to White is the colour chronology of my hair, from birth to present day, with the resistor colour code inserted for the years of education and work related to my engineering career. I chose the subject of my hair as a symbol of expectations and social conditioning around femininity. The title, Fade to White, aside from describing the trajectory of my hair colour, is a play on the phrase fade to black, meaning an ending. As I fade to white, I find myself at a beginning, a point where I am willing to examine the issues that make a career in engineering an unappealing choice for most women.

Deb Dumka lives and works on the edge of an island in the Salish Sea. The inspirational vista of sky, mountains, sea, shore and forest guides the creation of her landscape based carpets. Drawing on a past life in engineering, Deb sound animates some of her work through soft circuit technology using soundscapes collected in her environs. Her work has been included in group and solo exhibitions across Canada and in Korea.

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Title: Fade to White Dimensions: 14� x 63�

2017 Deborah Dumka British Columbia citizensofcraft.ca/profile/deborahdumka

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Title: Ancient Wisdom Dimensions: 36�-39�, 18� across chest (measured flat) 2017 Annina Frick British Columbia wanderlust-faeriedust.com

This statement piece was created with the image of a woman in mind that has an acute sense of style, yet has not lost the knowledge of her ancestors, enabling her to seamlessly transition between a world that asks us to evolve yet needs us to retain our traditional skills to survive.

Ancient Wisdom was wet felted in one 3-dimensional piece showing the stark contrast between black and white, representing the conflict of self in our own minds. The transition zone between the two opposites was purposely made with raw locks to mimic the appearance of fur, representing the traditional wisdom that might be the key to surviving those very situations.

Annina Frick is a Swiss born Fibre Artist living in BC Canada. She began felting whilst living on the remote islands of Haida Gwaii in 2014 and takes her greatest influences out of nature, storybooks, fables of castles and dragons and the ancient wisdom of the Norse people. Her work uses mostly undyed wool in its purest form, combining traditional clothes making with todays sense of style. The result is a playful fusion of old and new, ageless and without boundaries. Her signature style is recognized as raw yet elegant wearable art, wet felted in one single piece.

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Title: NYC Transit System Dimensions: 66cm x 44cm 2017 Diane Goossens British Columbia ArtFeltCollaborative.com

This vest’s design captures the small and large NYC transit system with its black, blue, yellow and white lines. It transitions between small scale in the original fabric to large scale in the strips added around it. I wanted to capture small neighbourhoods transitioning to boroughs to the entire city as the entity – a system people use to transition to the various facets of their lives.

Diane is fibre artist living in West Kelowna. After years working with other fibre media, she discovered the versatility and organic nature of felt.

She draws her inspiration from systems and structures she sees in the physical, political, social and behavioural world. Her work is highly conceptual as she explores ideas and metaphors through felt. She has studied with national and international artists and continues to blend new techniques with an old median into provocative conceptual pieces.

diane goossens felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Emergence Dimensions: 21”x24” 2017 Barbara Guillen British Columbia

I was inspired to make this piece through nuno-felting very, very light scarves that made me think of the delicate things in nature like butterfly wings. Butterfly wings have such amazing coIour and design features that are inspiring to felt and I was also curious to see if I could construct an ultra-light chrysalis. This project became a symbol for my emergence as a felt artist after many years of teaching math and science – my retirement has not been an easy transition. As I envisioned this project and began the felting process, I could imagine the incredible changes that occur within the chrysalis as the caterpillar transitions into a butterfly– somewhat painful and certainly full of surprises!

I retired form teaching two years ago and discovered felting through a workshop by Becca Musso. I was hooked! I am fascinated with the diversity of felting and the many forms that it can take, but for me the ultimate is making the lightest felted fabric that still maintains strength.

I am en-thralled with felt that flows with movement. The feeling of the wool and silk, the softness, and the abrupt change as it fulls into a durable fabric all inspire me to create. It is this amazing transformation that has nothing to do with what I think but only what I feel that keeps me coming back for more. My work is displayed at the Cranbrook Art Gallery and I teach workshops through the gallery to others interested in exploring this me-dium, not as an expert but as someone who wants others to come and play.

barbara guillen felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Sesquicentennial Man and Woman Dimensions: 6x9x11” and 4x9x9” 2017 Trish Hirschkorn Trish Raine Hats New Brunswick trishraine.com

Canada is celebrating 150 years as a nation, and these hats take you back to that beginning while acknowledging the many peoples and nations that called this land home long before that. The transition of a newcomer to this wild and foreign land. The early days of our country saw many people mingling, forming alliances, fighting and celebrating together. This fedora and cocktail hat are a modern take on the hats that were worn by the early pioneers who cleverly made use of Canada’s natural resources to stay warm and fashionable. Imagine being an early settler, used to the pageantry and riches of Europe, creatively putting together hats like these with what you have on hand, to celebrate this new nation. The Sesquicentennial Man fedora combines the nuno technique with raw lock felting on the op-posite side of the hood. A wild and untamed crown contrasted with the structured and polished brim/lining. A mix of the old world and the new.

I am a felt maker living in Fredericton, New Brunswick, with a unique perspective of blending the line between felter and milliner. I specialize in nuno felt and pay homage to designs of the past while using modern techniques and up-cycled materials. My millinery education involves travel to Ireland, Toronto and Tennessee. Most recently in 2016 my hat won the Best Overall Hat at the Millinery Meet-up in Gatlinburg Tennessee. I am inspired by the 1920’s, but inspiration also comes from the up-cycled fabrics themselves, the details that are already in the silk garments or the feeling that the garment conveys.

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Title: Things are Never Just Black or White Dimensions: 17” X 18“ 2017 Fay Hodson Alberta fayhodson.com

We love to categorize things – it helps us to organize the world around us, communicate effectively, etc., etc., but it can also cause us to overlook the “in between.” In reality, things are rarely just black or white and our world is much richer as a result. This piece explores the hybridization of two art media: felt and acrylic paint. Working with these two very different media necessitates thinking outside the box (literally and figuratively). Their inherent organic versus plastic natures are challenging to work with but, when successfully integrated, they resonate by complementing and contrasting each other’s unique beauties. ‘Things are Never Just Black or White’ explores transitions in colour, texture, and dimensionality while blurring the traditional categories of craft and fine art.

Art has always been an essential part of my life. Painting and drawing predominated my earlier art practice until I discovered felt. In the past decade or more, felt-making has become a large part of my practice and I am now enrolled in 3 rd year of the Fibre BFA program at the Alberta College of Art and Design. More recently, I have been exploring how to combine wet and needle felting as well as incorporating acrylic paint and ink. I enjoy the challenges of combining different techniques and media and am motivated by the potential they offer. Mixed media gestalt: the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

fay hodson felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Lichens Dimensions: 100 x 50 x 3 cm 2016 June J. Jacobs Saskatchewan handwave.ca/artists/june-jacobs/

Nature’s wonders inspire me. Every landscape offers these wonders in abundance. It requires time and patience to recognise the transitions in flora that take years to mature. Lichens represent a snapshot of life and growth of a minute landscape undergoing a major transition.

I have been involved in the arts for over 35 years and an artist for 20 years working predominately with fibre based techniques to express nature’s wonders, with an underlying social subcontext and statement. I participate in exhibitions provincially, nationally and internationally. I teach, mentor and run The Hand Wave Gallery, in Meacham, Saskatchewan.

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Title: “Pas à Pas” Dimensions: 32” X 76” (82 x 190cm) 2017 Carmen Laferrière British Columbia carmenfelt.com

STEPS that people take in a lifetime was my inspiration for the theme of Transitions. “Pas à Pas” is how individual go from one life transition to another. Small steps, one step at a time, in many directions, coming and going. “Pas à Pas” begins in the womb with the kicking. “Pas à Pas” continues with the first steps on earth. “Pas à Pas” into childhood, adolescence, and adulthood and to the last step before death.The wide blue ark embellished with lace represents the many transitions that individual take in a lifetime. The intricate pattern of the lace illustrates the fragility of the connections between the transitions. The black bridge is the difficult transition to let go of the comfort of the womb to embark “Pas à Pas” in the transition to the physical world.

Carmen’s love for fibre originates from when she was a little girl living on a rural Québec farm. She recalls, “My mom’s cedar chest was always filled with textile remnants. My sisters and I loved to combine the patterns and textures when we designed our own clothes”. A few years ago, she discovered a real passion for felting. “Felting is very intuitive and sensory. It connects me with my inner world allowing me to explore places, memories and dreams”. Her inspiration comes from words, songs, patterns, shapes and colours which abound in our natural world.

Carmen creates unique hand-felted accessories as well as tapestries and 3-dimensional sculptural works. Her work is recognized for a strong artistic signature, unique de-signs, and a rich colour palette. Carmen enjoys sharing her love of felting with others. Her work is displayed at the Kelowna International Airport Kiosk and at the New Moon Gallery in West Kelowna. Carmen has her studio in Vernon, BC in the beautiful Okanagan valley.

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Title: Life’s Pathway Dimensions: 7” x 4 1/2” 2017 Pat Moore Northwest Territories

Life is full of ups and downs, hills and valleys, sometimes you feel like the hills you have to climb are too large and sometimes you feel you can run up them. There are curves in our road and at times we feel like we keep repeating our actions but we keep going down our life’s pathway.

Felting is my passion. I love the versatility of creating with wool; wool provides an opportunity to work in 2D, 3D, large or small. My imagination and experiences from previous pieces inspire my work. I work with different wool breeds appropriate to the project. I create samples before committing to making a larger piece to best understand the relationships and reactions between my selected materials to ensure I arrive at my desired outcome. Learning more about this medium is important to me and I feel very privileged to have taken classes, both in person and online with many wonderful teachers.

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Title: Grey Matter Dimensions: 18.5 x 28 x 10.75 cm 2017 Rosemarie PĂŠloquin Manitoba rosemariepeloquin.ca

It matters how we see. Lately I have been intrigued by the visual similarity and weighty contrast of rocks and wool. I have also been pondering our assumptions on their individual strength and resilience. In Grey Matter, I play on these similarities, contrasts and perceptions to question how we see ourselves in the world and how we make choices. Do we accept the version of what we have come to see or allow ourselves to question our assumptions and boldly consider new possibilities? Is there room for new connections? The negative space is there for the viewer to fill with their own heart and gut. Freedom presents us with recurring choices and the opportunity to bridge divides as we fill in the blanks.

I am constantly surprised by what comes from the collaboration of hand, barbed needle and fibre. There is a powerful connection that happens when I sink my fingers in the soft wool, when I hear the satisfying crunch as the needle rhythmically stabs and connects with the fibres, and when I see the personality emerging as I push and pull and tease the spirits within. In my work, I try to honour the traditions that came before me, the life that gave me this sensual material, and the learning that I have acquired, by presenting a new image of the fibre and giving it power that was not readily apparent. I am a visual artist living in Ste.Rose-du-lac Manitoba. A background in design, teaching, coaching, travel and family informs my work.

rosemarie pĂŠloquin felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Collections Dimensions: 6’ x 5’ (work in progress) 2017 Melanie Siegel Ontario m-siegel.com

The downsizing of my life collections, a wonderful, liberating yet somewhat traumatic event is realized upon the completion of this work.

To release the baggage, drowning in an an overwhelming abundance of a huge collection with all the pieces that have tethered me to keep, now great transformation is possible. Living in abundance of textile does bring joy, but collectively the work is stronger as a whole group than many selective pieces. The magical process of transformation from the recycled to create a new textile is the essence of my fascination with the medium of felt mak-ing and stitch. Employing the traditional and the innovative processes and methods of textile making, my current body of work includes the stitched threads, textile collage, handmade and needle felt, recycled and vintage textile, and embellishment. My artwork today, is the convergence of my experiences of collecting and reuse of textile. Described as abstract, the simplicity in the combinations of the threads and mixed media to create a new form is what is empowering.

Melanie Siegel is a textile artist, educator and exhibition coordinator. Her work in textile creation is innovative yet simplistic. Presently on several volunteer committees, Melanie is an invited volunteer member of the Mu-seum Committee at Baycrest, specializing in the installations. As an Art-ist in Residence, Ontario Arts Council education grant recipient for the York Region District School board, has taught more than 700 students in felting workshops, and created permanent legacy projects.

Melanie has taken the primary role, of creating a Canadian exhibition, Edge of the Forest(edgeoftheforest.ca) for the Surface Design Association. Most re-cently, Melanie has been awarded the first Artist in Residence for the Richmond Hill Public Library A graduate from the Ontario College of Art, Melanie has acquired many awards, published and exhibited her work in Canada, USA and abroad.

melanie siegel

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Title: Better Must Come Dimensions: 24”x 15” x 2” 2017 Sheila Thompson Ontario sheilathompson.ca

This work was created in response to the three devastating hurricanes that hit the Caribbean recently and directly affected our family. The piece depicts the transition from the dark ridges of the hurricanes’ force through the resulting jumble of water and plant debris to the knitted copper bridge and hopeful colours that signal better days. The bright silk in the craters and the silk rope running the length of the piece symbolize the persistence of the human spirit.

Over the past 5 years, my Toronto-based felting practice has been about telling stories.

I rely on several approaches: embedding organic materials between layers, creating knitted or braided additions, embedding provocative slides and transparencies in craters, and creating generations of relat-ed felts through embedded silken imagery. My work tends to be primarily 2d wall pieces- richly coloured, highly textured, impressionistic, geographic and optimistic. I also spin off my images into scarves and home decor items.

sheila thompson felt ::feutre canada

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Title: Fragmented Identities Dimensions: 69 x 46 x 2.5 cm 2015 Jennifer Tsuchida Ontario jennifertsuchida.weebly.com

Fragmented Identities, What Once Was #2, and Those Who Came Before are a tactile homage to those that shaped contemporary Canadian society into the cultural mosaic that it has become, through a migratory transition from their land of birth to their newly adopted home. Marrying both new and reclaimed materials, vestiges of personal histories are collaged and felted together, sculpting a new persona through wool and cloth. Through the fusion of local and imported wool along with fabrics from different corners of the world, the stage is set for the viewer to piece together stories of yesteryear and construct personal narratives of what it means to be Canadian.

Jennifer Tsuchida is a Toronto felt artist who is enchanted by the magic of turning wool fibre into a cohesive felted fabric. Employing both traditional and modern feltmaking techniques, Jennifer creates hand felted sculptural pieces of functional, decorative, and wearable art. She is at once inspired by the natural world and the underbelly of the darkest corners of her imagination.

Throughout the years, Jennifer’s work has been exhibited in galleries as well as non-traditional exhibition spaces both nationally and internationally. She also teaches feltmaking workshops nationally. Her art has been published in Studio Magazine: Craft and Design in Canada, Spring/Summer 2015 edition; Filzfun, Spring 2016 edition, a German magazine dedicated to the art of feltmaking; and in the book Worldwide Colours of Felt�, a Dutch publication from 2016.

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