I thought I’d be writing a lot more about the process for making this collection of illustrations/fibre artworks. It’s not that I haven’t been documenting the progress. But for now, I’m pleased to have the work hanging all together, and I look forward very much to hearing feedback. The next few months will be a time of closure and reflection on a project that’s taken up a lot of space for the last 3 years.
Here’s the blurb about the exhibit. The best is last: the artwork is posted below the blurb.
Text to Textile is a exhibition of fibre art illustrations based on the novel, The Bones, by Laura Wythe.
Text to Textile runs from April 3rd to April 28th in the Sifton Room at the Masonville Branch Library, 30 North Centre Road, London ON, Canada.
The show opens on Saturday April 7th from 1-4 PM with readings from the novel by author and artist Laura Wythe.
Each image in Text to Textile is translated from the text onto silk, table linens or canvas, and carries an aspect of a character in the novel.
The artist infuses various embroidery traditions with a new point of view, highlighting the fragility of cloth and life, borrowing from news stories of local and global flooding to show the precarious hold we have on the land.
The illustrations are mounted as a conservationist might; fragments are carefully stitched onto linen stretched onto acid-free boards. Each illustration is accompanied by a text from the story. The process of creating the illustrations is also highlighted.
Laura is a teacher, artist, writer and long-time environmental activist. Three times her plays about community and the environment were chosen for the Grand Theatre’s Playwright’s Cabaret. She has studied Fashion Design at Ryerson and has a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Guelph. She is a member of the Canadian Embroiderers Guild, and lives and works in London Ontario.
laurawythe 