World of Threads Festival
2012 Festival, Exhibition Menu
Visit the 2012 World of Threads Festival! For the first and last time we mounted exhibitions throughout Oakville and Toronto. This was by far our largest festival. Oakville exhibitions included our 3 main gallery shows Quiet Zone, Momento mori and De rerum natura (On The Nature of Things). Smaller shows included Myth Making, Variegated Threads and Installations. In Toronto we had exhibitions like THREADSpace: Threading the 3rd Dimension, Material Connections, Protrusion and Where Were You When Amy Winehouse Died? We also hosted several smaller shows which were independantly organized.
Quiet Zone
Quiet Zone was our first major exhibition in the new gallery which became home to the festival. Neutral colours are often used as a background or to give a highlight to something. However, they can also be elegant, alluring and strong, deserving prominent recognition in their own right. Ranging from the blacks with their shadowy hues, to the chalky whites, the work also explored the cafe au lait, sand and tan shades.
Memento Mori
The major Festival exhibition Memento mori dealt with themes of death, mortality and grief and the quest for immortality. A trend in contemporary art saw works using the techniques and aesthetic of fibre, but instead using non-fibre materials. Artists were replacing the fragility, impermanence and tactility of fibre materials with hard, 'permanent', and difficult to manipulate materials.
De rerum natura
(On The Nature of Things)
This major Festival exhibition was a highly eccentric show evoking the collection of a mad 18th century naturalist. All artworks dealt with themes of nature, plants and animals in a huge variety of media. The title of the show came from the ancient Roman poem by Lucretius who's rediscovery was a major inspiration for Renaissance artists.
THREADSpace: Threading the 3rd Dimension
The Sculptors Society of Canada curated an exhibition featuring members with artists who submitted to the Festival. All work had to be sculpture, had to be created by fibre/thread processing and/or materials, and had to be well designed, expertly executed, and spoke beyond its fabrication. As it happened, the exhibition was completely feminist.
Material Connections
Material Connections brought together three contemporary fibre artists whose varied use of materials and cultural backgrounds gave a sampling of the dynamic world of fibre arts.
Myth Making
Myth Making brought together three artists from Peru, Canada and the USA whose work was creating a new mythology.
Installations
Myth Making brought together three artists from Peru, Canada and the USA whose work was creating a new mythology.
Where Were You When Amy Winehouse Died?
This exhibition explored ideas of representation, embodiment, pop culture and shifting iconographies. The death of Amy Winehouse, English singer and songwriter, presented a tragedy that challenged the line between confidence and strength with another dimension of insecurity and vulnerability.
Protrusion
The four artists in this exhibition were unified by the idea of protrusion. Some pieces spiked out from the surface while others penetrated from one floor to the next. Featuring wall and installation work.
Variegated Threads
This exhibition was the precursor for what would become our solo shows in future years. It presented a large assortment of works by many artists that filled the halls.
Small Shows
In 2012 we included many small shows which were independently organized as part of the festival in Oakville and Toronto.
