Reaching out for strength within

As an artist, you have to be proactive about getting your work out there in the world. Since I belong to a quilt guild, I can count on being able to enter my work in the triennial show we put on. And as a member of a group of fibre artists in my community, I find it’s a struggle to find a suitable venue for our annual group show. But in June, I learned about an unusual call for proposals for art to be hung at a new health and community services centre being planned for the neighbourhood.

When it opens in 2019, the Oakwood-Vaughan Health Clinic will offer “a range of services with a focus on community members who face barriers to health care such as people living in poverty, isolated seniors, non-insured, people with complex mental health issues, those requiring interpretation and living with unstable employment.”

Artists in the surrounding community were encouraged to submit proposals for artwork that will be displayed in the programming space, clinic offices and foyer of the new centre. Themes could focus on community, health and youth, as well as the cultural history of the area. “We hope to promote the creativity that allows all to express and trust themselves. We want artists to show a spirit of inquiry and exploration through their art pieces.”

Of course I was thrilled when my proposal was one of the 25 accepted. They called us all together for a “meet and greet” session on July 31. The organizers explained timelines and next steps and also issued $150 honorariums to each of the selected artists.

I had done a great deal of pondering and planning up to this point, but now that I had the green light, it was time to move on to the construction phase!

Trying out the fabric oak leaves

My concept for this piece is to evoke the new health centre’s intent to reach out to the community.

Here’s my artist statement:

“The arm is not one colour. It is not white, black, beige or brown, but in keeping with the multi-cultural diversity of the Oakwood Vaughan community, and indeed Toronto as a whole, it represents all skin colours. Our skin colour is immaterial. We are all part of this community … we help each other.

From my own collection of pressed leaves, I selected five different species of oak leaves and used their shapes to create fabric ones that “sprout” out of each finger and thumb. This represents healthy growth and renewal, while also supporting the importance of diversity.

Reaching out for strength within. 33″ w x 20″ h

The tree trunk, from which the arm is protruding, portrays the strength, not only of the mighty oak tree, but of our community, when we work in unison.”

Delivering the artwork

I delivered my completed piece in October, and on November 15, a “sneak peek” event was held to view all the submissions. What an impressive range of artwork has been gathered from community artists!

On October 22, a jury will announce their decision on the top three artworks that will receive significant cash prizes. But I feel that it is rewarding enough to be able to create what I hope is an uplifting piece of art that will be discovered by both staff and visitors at this valuable new centre.

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Falling in love with Fabric

I was drawn to this fabric design – Fox Nap, from the Chipper line designed by Tula Pink for Free Spirit – despite the fact that the colour scheme contained not even a hint of purple! The serene mood captured by the designer focuses on a calm, relaxed (and let’s face it, very cute) single fox curled up amongst flowers, having a snooze. I bought a fat quarter (18” x 22”).

As often happens, I added it to my “recent acquisitions” stash when I got home and forgot about it for a while, occasionally pulling it out and fondling it with a wide grin on my face. Isn’t it just enough to have it, let alone use it?

A few months later, the day came when I was ready to start a new project. Yes, it was time to root through my vast collection and extract some fabrics to not only accompany the foxes but to showcase them.

I still couldn’t bring myself to actually cut into the fabric.

Since I knew I wouldn’t be able to cut through the foxes, I cruised the Internet for inspiration to utilize “focus fabrics”. I didn’t find an actual pattern, but since I determined that each fox could be easily fit into a 4.5“ x 6” rectangle, I got the idea to add interest by placing the blocks on a slight angle.

I was aiming for a contemporary look, so to help achieve that objective, the background was going to be grey/white.

It was satisfying to discover fabrics in my decades-spanning stash that complemented such a fresh new (2016) fabric.

I’m happy with the result (it measures 29.5” h x 34” w), and no foxes were slashed during the process – heck, they didn’t even rouse from their naps!

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Why the Piping Plover is the ultimate emblem for World Shorebirds Day

Unless you are a self-avowed curmudgen, you can’t help but admire these birds, and because I happen to have a free pass to one of their breeding grounds (Sauble Beach on Lake Huron), it was love at first sight for me.

Source: Why the Piping Plover is the ultimate emblem for World Shorebirds Day

Loving something, and then adapting it into a piece of textile art is another thing! But it’s a challenge that I welcome.

I used my own photographs of the plovers at the beach for guidance, and found fabrics that would convey the elements of the plovers’ habitat (lake, shoreline, beach grasses). The background is pieced, and the bird is machine appliqéd on top. You can see that I used a piece of driftwood as the hanging device.

I donated this piece to the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory‘s silent auction fundraiser that year (2007).

If you’d like more information about the Piping Plovers at Sauble Beach, visit this website: http://ploverlovers.com/.

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Earth Day, Earth Month, Earth Year

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth, and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility.

~ Rachel Carson

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Distractions – fun or frustration?

Do you find it difficult to settle down to just one project? Even when I have launched myself into a project, I sometimes find it hard to make decisions. If you’ve ever delved into the world of half-square triangles, you might have an inkling of what I mean.

There are countless ways of arranging them! Check out this flickr group .

I rarely buy charm packs, but fell in love with the Simple Marks line by Malka Dubrowsky (for Moda) when I discovered it. Half-square triangles seemed to be the perfect way to use the 42 five-inch squares in the pack. In my stash, I found that I had a sizable piece of a neutral fabric (Countertop Texture –  Michael Miller Fabrics) that coordinated perfectly as the light half of the triangles.

Making the HSTs was easy, and playing with the infinite possibilities of the arrangements on my design wall was so much fun!

Instead of trying to decide which pattern was “the best” I finally ended up, after a few weeks of play, just deciding which appealed to my sense of having a little extra “oomph”. Then I settled down to sewing them together.

Here’s the WIP (work in progress). I am still contemplating whether to add a border (comments welcome!)

Over the same few months, I have also been distracted by this year’s guild challenge “Making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear”. The entries aren’t due until May, but I would rather avoid entering “panic mode” so I spent some time figuring out a way of using all six of the required ugly fabrics in an original design, and it’s partially done.

Next I was lead astray by a casual conversation with a bunch of quilting friends, reminiscing about corking when we were kids. Corking, you say? It’s also known as spool knitting or French knitting. I had purchased a wooden corking “device” a while back at a craft fair, so I hauled it out and, after a brief consultation on the Internet on how to get started, I was off and running! It’s quite addictive.

Other distractions have included jaunts in local ravines and fields hunting for snowy owls (they’ve been sighted quite often this winter), a lengthy search for a new yoga studio (which was finally successful) and the black hole that is Pinterest. It sucks you in and the next thing you know, several hours have passed!

My conclusion is: distractions can be fun AND frustrating. They’re part of being human.

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Christmas Eve

As Toronto bravely makes its way through a terrible ice storm, and I prepare to step gingerly across the icy sidewalks to get to the subway to get to work for the last time this year, I am thinking about the frailty of life. All the connections in this great big city – seen and unseen – some working and some faltering – affected by a confluence of weather conditions that we can’t control.

Peace to all on this Christmas Eve.

 

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Getting back into it

It’s been awhile since I last posted. Life’s been extra busy, it seems. I’ve been working away at the wall hanging that I created at Dwayne Wanner’s 3-part workshop, and I don’t want to blog about it until I get a good photo of the finished product! It’s quite a departure from my “usual” style (if there is such a thing) but you’ll have to be patient.

Hiking near Skinners Bluff on the Bruce Trail on the long weekend in May.

I have been enjoying the change of seasons, to some extent. I did some camping with my sons, hiking with my sister, joined some nature walks with the Toronto Field Naturalists and have been up to the family cottage a couple of times this spring.

Right now it is beastly hot and humid.

I’ve  recently added this blog to Bloglovin, so feel free to add me to your favourites there!

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Colours and themes

I just finished two small quilts that were distracting me from some more extensive projects that I have on the go. Pleasant distractions, I must say!

In Transit II
32″ x 14″

The first is a commission that resulted from my donation to the United Way fundraiser (silent auction) at my workplace last December. My colleague Jennifer told me that she missed out at the last minute when someone else out-bid her for my “In Transit” quilt.

She asked whether I would make one for her. I hesitated a bit, because this was during the lead-up to Christmas, and I wasn’t ready to take on anything with a deadline attached to it. But she said I could have all the time I wanted, so I agreed. I zeroed in on the theme for “In Transit”, city transportation, because I work for Metrolinx, the regional transportation agency for Ontario.

Most of the fabrics depict the different transportation modes and city scenes. I let those fabrics dictate the colour choices, pulling complimentary colours from my stash.

Closeup of In Transit II

I went out looking specifically for one additional fabric, because Jennifer is an avid cyclist. I walked into one of my local quilt stores and found this fabric – Cruzin by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup for Henry Glass. It didn’t really matter that it was the ONLY bicycle-themed fabric they had, because the colours fit perfectly into my scheme!

My quilt label

Jennifer was thrilled with In Transit II, and she was even impressed with my choice of backing fabric, which we both think evokes a cityscape at night.

My second finish is a “cobblestones” quilt, which I attribute to my discovery of Wanda Hanson’s Exuberant Color website. It’s made entirely from batik scraps (except for the backing). There are even two fabrics that are clothing scraps (one from a pair of pants I shortened, and some leftovers from a blouse I made a about two decades ago). I have titled it “Undertones”.

Undertones
26.5″ x 21.5″

For this one, I was able to piece together scraps of batting too, further evidence that I am a frugal quilter.

I puzzled for a while over how I wanted to quilt it, and ended up tapping into my “organic process” – that is, just listening to my intuition and using circles and unwinding spirals to compliment the nature-themed batiks.

With these pieces finished and labeled, I have returned to my Amish Pinwheel summer coverlet project. I have six blocks done (it takes me about an hour for each one, including cutting the fabrics).

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Wordless Wednesday

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Rescue

Responding to a craving for some fall colours and fresh air, I decided to get away to the country for the weekend, up to my folks’ cottage. The sky was full of drama on the drive up – all sorts of cloud formations – and the leaves were exploding into their brilliant oranges, yellows and reds, especially through the Hockley Valley area.

While making sure to keep my eyes on the road, I am always on the lookout for birds. At one point, I pulled over to the shoulder and grabbed my binoculars and camera when I saw a gathering of large birds circling overhead. They turned out to be Turkey Vultures, likely on their fall migration towards Florida or Texas. 

Turkey Vultures circling overhead

And later that day, I saw another bunch of them roosting in a tree at Sauble Beach.

Turkey Vulture roosting in a tree at Sauble Beach

Anyhow, I did not rescue a vulture, but rather a water bird that was not designed to move about on land.

Here’s the story. It was a beautiful day for a walk along the shoreline of Lake Huron, even warm enough for shorts and bare feet! So I did just that, and came upon a bird that was sitting a short distance from the water’s edge – facing the water.

The bird was weak, and couldn’t get up.

My first instinct was to leave it alone, so I gave it a wide berth, snapped some photos, and continued on my walk. On my way back, of course it was still there, and seemed as though it was in distress, and couldn’t get up on its legs.

When I returned to the cottage, I got out my bird field guides and, reviewing the photos I had taken, easily identified it as a Red-necked Grebe. Then I proceeded to scour the phone book (Yellow Pages) hoping to find a wildlife rehabilitation centre. I tried the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, heck, even the OPP, and got nowhere. I was getting frustrated, and I wanted to accomplish something before the sun went down. I decided to start at the front of the Yellow Pages and go through page by page to see whether there was anything useful. And there, under the category of “Parks and Nature Trails” was a listing for the Bruce Peninsula Bird Observatory.

I have known about the BPBO for several years now, since my brother volunteered on their board, and I’ve supported the valuable work they do at the banding station in Cabot Head. So I called the number and from there was able to get in touch with the current administrator, Don Douma.

As soon as I described the situation to Don, he said “Well Grebes can’t walk on land, so I suggest you try to pick the bird up and place it in the water.” Wow, that sounded like a fairly simple solution! I got my work gloves out the car, and an old towel, and went back to the beach. I instinctively knew that, even though the bird seemed weak, he might try to jab at me with his substantial beak, so I distracted him with the towel (he went for it right away) and then put my hands firmly around his body and walked with him into the lake. I set him down gently in the water, and immediately he started paddling slowly off, away from shore. Whew!

Red-necked Grebe – a close-up

I have no idea how this bird ended up stranded on the shore, but it was a big relief to be able to return him to the water before nightfall. If you’re interested in learning more about Red-necked Grebes, there are some interesting facts here.

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