Flow Artwork – World of Threads Festival

Flow

2018 Exhibition: Artworks

Our main 2018 festival exhibition Flow was inspired by the natural processes and rhythms of the world around us. Some works drape and hang from the ceiling, others use found and repurposed materials. These elemental works bring to mind swirling rivers, cascading waterfalls and gradual erosion. Some works evoke a universal scale with floating gas and star dust. Others are more grounded and feel like mud slides, bubbling lava, dripping sap, decaying plants and churning debris. This show was filled with the energy of one form changing into another over long periods of time.

Photography by Gareth Bate

Gallery

Artworks

Backstage

Opening

Tina Struthers

Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada

Tina Struthers: Untamed, 2017, 203 H x 309 W x 4 D cm, Cotton, reclaimed denim, velvet, embroidery thread. Technique: Textural layers machine and hand stitched, onto denim backing, Mounted with gallery hooks.

Tina Struthers: Untamed, detail.

Curators

Canada: Ontario: Toronto: Gareth Bate
Canada: Ontario: Oakville: Dawne Rudman

Artists

Canada: British Columbia: Vancouver: Anna Heywood-Jones. Northwest Territories: Yellowknife: Hermina Joldersma. Nova Scotia: Bedford: Pat Loucks. Ontario: Aurora: Lori Birkbeck, Fort Frances: Carolyn Mount, Oakville: Ixchel Suarez, Sault Ste. Marie: Barbara Ramsay, Toronto: Mary-Anne Wensley. Quebec: Beaconsfield: Helena Scheffer, Vaudreuil-Dorian: Tina Struthers.
Denmark: Copenhagen: Charlotte Ostergaard.
Northern Ireland: Belfast: Hazel Bruce.
Norway: Oslo: Ragnhild Monsen.
USA: California: Malibu: Elise Vazelakis, New Jersey: West Orange: Szilvia Revesz.

Anna Heywood-Jones

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Anna Heywood-Jones: Trace, 2017. 245 H x 70 W x 600 D. Materials: warp (wool, rayon and linen), weft (silk), indigo dye and wood. Technique: handwoven plainweave, incrementally hand-dyed with indigo.

Anna Heywood-Jones: Trace, detail.

Gallery

The Gallery at Queen Elizabeth Park Community and Cultural Centre.

City

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Dates

Oct 13 - Nov 25, 2018

Mary-Anne Wensley

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Mary-Anne Wensley: Nets, 2009, dimensions variable, pig gut, linen thread.

Mary-Anne Wensley: Nets, detail.

Helena Scheffer

Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada

Helena Scheffer: Black Crow Blues, 2016, (55” x 75”), commercial and artist-dyed cotton, silk, synthetic fabric, cotton, silk, polyester threads, cotton batting. Technique: collage, machine quilting.

Helena Scheffer: Black Crow Blues, detail.

Synchronistic Curating

Something that's different about World of Threads Festival is that we let the art guide us. Festival curators Gareth Bate and Dawne Rudman don't have predetermined curatorial ideas or impose our concepts on the artists. Each new festival is a blank slate. Shows develop entirely out of the submissions we receive.

To find our main exhibitions we look for connections and common themes between thousands of artworks. These works were made by hundreds of artists from around the world. Often artists seem to be on the same wavelength during a particular period. Over time, through many hours of sorting through artworks, the exhibition themes just emerge and become clear to us. This method has been very successful and resulted in compelling and unique exhibitions.

Ragnhild Monsen

Oslo, Norway

Ragnhild Monsen: Defragmentation 1 & 2, 2018, 235 x 235 x 2 cms (each) handwoven tapestry, jute warp, wool, nylon high warp.

Ragnhild Monsen: Defragmentation, White, detail.

Ragnhild Monsen: Defragmentation, Black, detail.

Hazel Bruce

Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Hazel Bruce: Space Pattern Place 2, 2018 (120W x 40H cm x 0.2) Industrial machine embroidery, hand stitch, collage, applique. Linen and silk.

Hazel Bruce: Space Pattern Place 2, detail.

Elise Vazelakis

Malibu, California, USA

Elise Vazelakis: Repetitive Stillness, 2017 304H x 228W x 5D cm, Loom Woven Fiber, Steel and Copper Wire.

Elise Vazelakis: Repetitive Stillness II, 2017 228H x 215W x 5D cm, Loom Woven Copper, Steel and Fiber.

Elise Vazelakis: Repetitive Stillness, detail.

Elise Vazelakis: Repetitive Stillness II, detail.

Elise Vazelakis: The Silent Divine I, 2017, 154H x 203W x 5D cm, Loom Woven Steel Wire, Hemp, and Acrylic Paint.

Elise Vazelakis: Enlightenment, 2016, 279H x 254W x 5D cm, Loom Woven Steel & Fiber.

Hermina Joldersma

Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada

Hermina Joldersma: Perspective, 2018, 109 H x 132 W x 2 D cm, cotton, silk, polyester; metallic, cotton and polyester thread; glass beads. Technique: chalk wash, embroidery, beading, machine quilting. Quilt.

Hermina Joldersma: Perspective, detail.

Barbara Ramsay

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada

Barbara Ramsay: Terra, 2018, 145H x 330W x 20D cm, silk fabric. Technique: Ecodyed. Hung from ceiling.

Barbara Ramsay: Terra, detail.

Carolyn Mount

Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada

Carolyn Mount: Work as Prayer, Prayer as Work #10, 2017, Towel, thread, 73cm x 40cm.

Carolyn Mount: Work as Prayer - Prayer as Work, detail.

Charlotte Ostergaard

Copenhagen, Denmark

Charlotte Ostergaard: WaWe 9 and 11, 2018, 120H ☓ 90W ☓ 40D, organza. Techniques: pleating, bafixan print.

Charlotte Ostergaard: WaWe 9, detail.

Suzy Martins

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Suzy Martins: Waking Dream Tea Bag Dress, 2018, 74H x 30W x 15D, tea bag papers, hydrangea petals, tulle, lace, thread. Technique: hand stitching and machine sewing.

Suzy Martins: Waking Dream, Tea Bag Dress, detail.

Ixchel Suarez

Oakville, Ontario, Canada

Ixchel Suarez: Erosion, detail.

Ixchel Suarez: Erosion, 2016, Dimensions: 70 cm H X 1.30 M, Medium; linen, silk, wool, cotton, chenille, metallic thread, beads.

Lori Birkbeck

Aurora, Ontario, Canada

Lori Birkbeck: Water and Sky, 2017, 215H x 76W x 6D cm, chiffon. Technique: photographs printed on sheer fabric.

Pat Loucks

Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada

Pat Loucks: Unearthed #10, 2017, 120H x 80W x 5D cm (each piece), organza silk fabrics, stained and dyed with fresh plant leaves, dried tea leaves and rusted metal, torn, stitched.

Pat Loucks: Unearthed 10, detail.

Szilvia Revesz

West Orange, New Jersey, USA

Szilvia Revesz: Qi, 2017, Medium: sumi ink and fabric dye on paper, with urauchi yoshi (kozo fiber) backing, polyester thread, silk thread. Technique: Suimonga monotype printed on paper, machine stitched connecting web created on water-soluble material Dimensions: (39.5”27.5”x 0.5”), Mounted.

Szilvia Revesz: Philosopher’s Stone, 2017. Medium: sumi ink and fabric dye on paper, Evolon (split microfiber) paper backing, polyester thread, silk thread. Technique: Suimonga monotype printed on paper, machine stitched connecting web created on water-soluble material Dimensions: (49”x27.5”x0.5”) Mounted.