HOME/WORK: Creating Connections

Retirement, pandemic and moving house have unsettled me. Creating and carving blocks and the soothing repetition of pressing designs onto cloth are calming and help me in my search for my place.

Retirement, pandemic and moving house have unsettled me. Creating and carving blocks and the soothing repetition of pressing designs onto cloth are calming and help me in my search for my place.

This is a study for a larger piece being completed for a show in the fall. I am making drawings stippling ink through stencils and using blocks to create patterns that seem like they repeat but are actually random. The blocks are half round shapes that meet the lines, spaced out kind of like a maze but without a defined path through. Unfulfilled thoughts and actions during this time of uncertainty...

When the pandemic sets in, life changes. This piece reflects the pattern making that humans default to in order to make sense of a changing world. Circles of emotion, connections, and events and orderly squares of comforting routines are overlaid with lines representing timelines and planning for a ‘new normal’ as we adapt.

When the pandemic sets in, life changes. Familiar patterns are overlaid by a dark blotch that contains new patterns; some are shadows of their previous form, some are blacked out, and some are new beginnings. From the safety of home, new possibilities take shape.

This summer has been more isolating than any I've ever experienced. I found joy and connection by listening to old mixtapes. I used those same tapes to create this triptych. It's a representation of the long term connections that have helped me feel less alone.

I have created mixed-media works combining silk and natural dye processes with encaustic wax. I find inspiration in combining materials and processes that reflect my love of traditional shibori mark-making on cloth, natural dyes, and rusting, into newly discovered encaustic mixed media methods.

I have created mixed-media works combining silk and natural dye processes with encaustic wax. I find inspiration in combining materials and processes that reflect my love of traditional Shibori mark-making on cloth, natural dyes, and rusting, into newly discovered encaustic mixed media methods.

This spoon footed bird represents the careful and safe way of getting out to connect with people. Staying safe in our isolated box yet keeping a cheery outlook on life wearing a splash of pink. The square black frame also represents the computer, connecting us with new options of connecting virtually.

This spoon footed bird represents the careful and safe way of getting out to connect with people. Staying safe in our isolated box yet keeping a cheery outlook on life wearing a splash of pink. The square black frame also represents the computer, connecting us with new options of connecting virtually.

I made a 3D Contextural logo and brought the threads from it to intersect and link with each of the sample pieces donated by members of ‘Contextural’ used to embellish the box lid. In the process of creating this piece I enjoyed connecting with 5 other members of Contextural and learned a little more of them and their art practice.

June 2020, month 4 of the covid pandemic, month 4 of the lockdown, we haven't had a day of summer and the rain won't stop. Work became tied to home, getting away from either was impossible. So the rain turned to hail, and I began to view it as a malign force -- the elements conspiring against us. Nails became a stand in for the violence of the rain, against a grey background of unrelenting cloud. Carpet tacks echo this harshness, tying it to the unfinished, unwanted wooden board.

On one side of the square is our new lexicon such as "social distancing", "masks", and "wash your hands" which makes me anxious. On the other side are the marks made by the flowers, trees and shrubs from my garden where I find peace and solace.

Smaller Spaces depict my somewhat isolated and repetitive but still vibrant and enjoyable life during the summer months of 2020.

Smaller Spaces depict my somewhat isolated and repetitive but still vibrant and enjoyable life during the summer months of 2020.

Smaller Spaces depict my somewhat isolated and repetitive but still vibrant and enjoyable life during the summer months of 2020.

Smaller Spaces depict my somewhat isolated and repetitive but still vibrant and enjoyable life during the summer months of 2020.

Every day at home is like the one before. Stitching takes the edge off.

Quarantine provided time for more frequent walks throughout the neighbourhood during this spring and summer. I became more aware of some of the smaller details within my own community and delighted with the amazing variety of wildlife living in the middle of our city.

Quarantine provided time for more frequent walks throughout the neighbourhood during this spring and summer. I became more aware of some of the smaller details within my own community and delighted with the amazing variety of wildlife living in the middle of our city.

We create connection and stay connected by holding onto one another and holding each other up.

As our lockdown world began to ease, we were allowed to form our own bubbles with small numbers of people. Gradually those bubbles increased in size as the number of members in the inner circle increased.

There are numerous connections with in our bubbles with the people we are close to. Now we are seeing more connections emerge between bubbles and into the wider community.

These times have raised some voices, lowered others, but all will be heard if we listen, open and quiet. Naturally dyed threads and fabrics, hand embroidery

Sotto voce Detail

Covid19 has given me time for contemplating nature and the devastation caused by a tiny virus. At the same time I have been creating and staying safe working with things found at home.