Tag Archives: theory + criticism

We are here (and there) | Anthea Black at SAIC

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Anthea Black PLEASURE CRAFT, 2001, HD Video, installation

This Monday November 14, Anthea Black will be giving a talk: We are here (and there): collaborative queer craft and utopic gestures at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago at 12 noon in room 903.

Anthea Black is a Canadian artist, art writer and cultural worker. Her work in printmaking, textiles, performance and video is preoccupied with setting a stage for queer collaborative practice and inserting intimate gestures into public spaces. She has written about contemporary craft, performance, film and video and her current research situates queer contemporary art in relation to navigating and mapping of urban and rural spaces, utopias and political borders, and as a “turn towards” an imagined future. Her talk will include a screening and discussion of two new works, PLEASURE CRAFT and Queer Survival Campout Snowcave in relation to utopic gestures.

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Anthea Black’s Queer Survival Campout Snowcave

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Queer Survival Campout Snowcave is a performance video that takes place in a quinzee, which is a DIY structure made from a big pile of snow that is hollowed out to make a cave and sometimes used for winter survival and shelter. Snow occupies an important place in the Prairie, Northern and Canadian imaginations; it can be a benevolent, insulating and feminizing part of the landscape, or it can be a hysterical, cruel and blinding force of nature. Here, snow, and all of its associations set the scene for a video where local queer artists were invited into the cave to campout, celebrate, eat, drink and performatively take shelter from the hostile forces of nature and culture that surround.

Inside the cave, a set of custom “liberation suits” that are constructed from recycled wool sweaters are worn to reclaim the feminist history of the one-piece long underwear synonymous with winter outdoorsmen. Textile objects by Canadian women artists, many of whom are from the prairies including Mireille Perron, Mary Anne McTrowe, Cindy Baker and Wednesday Lupypciw, were solicited and collected for use as insulation in the cave. These objects and artworks act as totemic reminders of the live presence of their makers, members of a queer/feminist art community that could never be unified in one geographic location.

When these textiles form the insulating layer between our bodies and the cave, they form other bodies: a body of work that represents the labour and the production of other artists, the bodies of others who used these sweaters and blankets for warmth and shelter previously, and the body of land that both unites and separates us. When covering us, they unite our own bodies in a much broader collaborative fabric.

With participation by Cait Harben, Jamie Q and Kelly O’Dette.

ARTIST STATEMENT  My practice is informed by my participation in Albertan/Canadian artist-run culture and focuses on themes of love, friendship, mentorship and community exchange as queer sites for creative production and inspiration in gettin’ through the tough times together. Lately, I’ve used the metaphors of “the scraps” (of textiles, of food, of culture, of identity) and of “the self-sustaining universe” as organizing principles for the aesthetic and conceptual direction of my video work: the leftovers from one universe are scavenged, appropriated and used to fashion a new one. The creation process for these works interrogates my collaborative relationships with other artists, dependence on community and notions of home, gathers resources for what can be described as creative or cultural “survival”, and then attempts to site queerness in relation to a geographical location, however fantastical. Objects and artworks by other artists are solicited, collected and appropriated for use as totemic reminders of the live presence of their makers, members of a queer/feminist art community that could never be unified in one place. The artist-run ethics of Do-It-Yourself (DIY), collaboration and collectivity are, in part, my answers to questions about how to sustain an art practice in relative isolation from one’s peers, and have thus become strategies of making and being that overlap with both a prairie aesthetic and a queer survival instinct.

Anthea Black is currently pursuing graduate study at the University of Western Ontario. She will be giving a talk about her work November 14th at the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Cut on the Bias | Research Workshop

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This weekend I will be attending Cut on the Bias, a research workshop initiated by Dr Kirsty Roberson, University of Western Ontario in collaboration with Kelly Thompson and Lisa Vinebaum, Concordia University, Montreal.

Cut on the bias, a term from tailoring and the fashion industry, refers to fabric that is cut on a diagonal at a 45 degree angle to the warp and weft of the fabric. The term literally refers to cutting against the grain, and metaphorically to stretching familiar patterns, and to finding room for maneuver in an otherwise familiar material.

An important goal of Cut on the Bias is to develop networks laterally and internationally. Participants have been drawn from variety of backgrounds and circumstances – some work in dedicated textile programs, while others create and study textiles alongside other careers.

As time permits I will post more about what promises to be a fascinating weekend of discussion.

(image of Madeline Vionnet via Worn Through: Apparel from an Academic Perspective)

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Fibre art, relational/radicant aesthetics + globalization

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Carissa Carman, A.T.T. Taxi (2008) A.T.T. Taxi (Alternative Transportation Trade Taxi) is a waste vegetable oil taxi service offered for trade only.

Fibre art, relational / radicant aesthetics & globalization

Public presentation and discussion with artists: Carissa Carman, jenna dawn, Suzen Green, Javiera Ovalle Sazie

Moderated by Lisa Vinebaum

Saturday, April 16th, 5pm – 7pm, Concordia University, VA Building Room 433, 1395 René-Lévesque Blvd. West, Montréal, QC

Four artists working across fibres, collaboration, performance, installation, site-specific and public art explore intersections between current fibre art practice and social practice in the larger context of globalization. This presentation explores current models of artistic production, sustainability, and the creation of alternative exchange economies in contemporary fibre art practices, as an antidote to Bourriaud’s notion of the nomad as a model for contemporary artistic practice in the age of globalization. Whereas Bourriaud’s proposition depoliticizes the conditions of globalization that produce migrants – poverty, war, dispossession, economic deregulation — the participating artists use a range of playful, interventionist and social strategies to propose more egalitarian modes of production and consumption, and engaging with issues of  labor, mobility, collectivity, and sustainability in their work. As well, this presentation will explore the notion of fibres as “already relational” owing to their social and collective histories of making, and in contrast to Bourriaud’s theory of relational aesthetics which elides politicized, performance and fibre art practices in particular.

Presented as part of En avril – fibre textile art au Québec
In collaboration with galerie Diagonale and the MFA Studio Art program at Concordia University

Carissa Carman’s interdisciplinary artwork includes playful site specific interventions; pseudo–purposeful yet soulful and generous. Her performances, sculptures and printed materials reference already established systems, occupations, and skills while maintaining the aesthetic of the handmade. Her collaborative practice partners with artists and professionals to negotiate the exchange of trade skills as a pioneer of do-it-yourself interpretations. Carman is a Master of Fine Arts Candidate in Fibres at Concordia University, Montreal, QC and received her BA from California State University, Chico. She has exhibited extensively and internationally in Cuba, Italy, Montreal, Miami and NYC. www.carissacarman.com

jenna dawn has led a nomadic lifestyle that has directed her interdisciplinary practice to create a diverse sense of community. Her work has ranged from an individual art practice to collaborations with children, immigrant women, military personnel, seniors, artists, designers and writers. Jenna’s art had been shown in museums, galleries, and public spaces in North America, France and West Africa. www.woventhreads.org

Suzen Green is a Newfoundland-born visual artist and educator based in Montreal, Quebec. She received her BFA (Fibres) from Alberta College of Art + Design in 2007, and her MFA (Studio Art, Fibre) from Concordia University. Her studio work includes traditional textile construction, sculpture and performance. http://suzengreen.com and www.notalazysuzen.com/

Javiera Ovalle Sazie works with different approaches to the notion of displacement of writing, performing an active way of writing in the city. Her work involves installation, photography, video, fibres and recycling.  Traveling and wandering provide the surfaces on which her curiosity finds the essence of making. Ovalle completed an artist’s residency at the Darling Foundry that brought her to Montreal in 2006. She has since exhibited in the VI Biennial of the National Fine Arts Museum of Santiago, Chile, and presented her work in Boston, Barcelona, Berlin, New York, Paris, Valparaiso, Santiago de Chile, Montréal, Argentina, Brazil and Cuba. Born in Chile she completed an Associate of Arts degree in Universidad Católica de Valparaiso and then a BFA in Universidad de Playa Ancha. She lives and works in Montreal where she is completing a MFA program in Studio Arts at Concordia University. www.javieraovalle.net/

Dr. Lisa Vinebaum is an interdisciplinary artist, critical writer, curator and educator. Her art practice uses performance, video, photography, installation, and public interventions to explore identity and subjectivity — enacted in response to attempted acts of erasure — in the context of contemporary Jewish identity formations, Israeli state aggression toward Palestinians, and the war on terror. She holds a PhD in Art from Goldsmiths (University of London, UK); an MA in Textiles from Goldsmiths; and a BFA in Fibres from Concordia University in Montreal. Her creative and scholarly work have been exhibited, published and disseminated internationally across Europe, Asia and North America. She was Visiting Lecturer in Art at Goldsmiths from 2003‐2006, and is a part‐time Lecturer in the Faculty of Fine Art at Concordia University in Montreal.

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Zoie So | WOODigit

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WOODigit involves the control of over a hundred wooden units which, by moving to different heights, display numerals as in a programmed system. Instead of using microchips and electronic circuits to program, the mechanism had been woven as a big matrix with threads, and supported by a specially designed wooden structure and pulley system. The use of wood as a material and the loom-like structure of this piece refer to the renowned Jacquard Loom. The Jacquard loom with its punch-card system, used to store programs for complicated weaving patterns, inspired early computing machinery.

View more on artist Zoie So’s website

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Review – Andrea Vander Kooij at Diagonale

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I want to tell you everything Andrea Vander Kooij
Review by Diane Dechief
At an initial glance, Vander Kooij’s current exhibition, I want to tell you everything, seems confessional: an embroidered tell-all on a variety of household fabrics, including full-sized bed sheets. Serving as canvasses with a variety of opacity, these sheets range from plain white flannel to ones featuring toys from the ‘80s (think Smurfs, Star Wars and My Little Ponies). On these surfaces Vander Kooij tells us stories that are emotional, descriptive, and sometimes instructional, all in her unfailingly perfect, yet equally expressive, embroidery and appliqué techniques.

After a few minutes at the show, the notion of confession is set aside as the subtleties of Vander Kooij’s work come through. This is not an uncomfortable experience where someone you barely know has revealed too much and all you have done is nod and smile. Instead, in Vander Kooij we find an engaging conversationalist with a flair for wit and play. The ways that she initiates this dialogue are for me the most intriguing element of the show.

Sac Noir Hand embroidery on cotton. 27” x 23”, 2008.
Note found on the street taped to a garbage can, enlarged and embroidered.

As one example, two of the show’s pieces (Telephoner and Sac Noir) are embroidered facsimiles of hastily scribbled notes found by the artist. Vander Kooij’s renditions capture the speed of the hands that wrote these notes in the original, mundane moments that they were created. That Vander Kooij’s has done so with the painstaking effort of a needle and thread in her own hand reifies the already unusual messages contained in the notes.

Rivalry, a colourful, quilted piece, serves up the same messages at two levels. I found myself intrigued by the details of the work and it wasn’t until I had moved along to the show’s final pieces that the macro level of Rivalry was obvious to me. It was then that I received Vander Kooij’s unexpected pun.

Misconception Embroidery and appliqué on vintage table cloth. 52.5” x 57.5”, 2008

One consideration of hanging large bed sheets in the middle of a gallery is that they have two sides, and Vander Kooij works this element to its full advantage. Part of the playfulness of the exhibition is finding yourself on one side of a sheet wondering how the other side looks. How visible are the stitches? Can you see any of the rough bits? Vander Kooij is a pro, so we only see what she wants us to. Misconception, the piece that had the greatest impact on me, is also the best example of this form of double-sided play. On one side we see an embroidered, expectant mother in a style from the 1960s. On the second side, we are privy to a view of the curious fetus growing inside the calm and seemingly oblivious woman on the other side.

Misconception (detail)

Because Vander Kooij’s playfulness tends to have us smirking or puzzling things out, it is possible to forget the fineness of the medium that she is working in. Bloom is a piece that showcases the beauty of Vander Kooij’s artistry. Although Bloom’s origins are notable, I find in this piece, one opportunity to pause and focus on Vander Kooij’s remarkable skills.

Leaving the show, I had the satisfying, full feeling of having shared a great conversation with a friend over a cup of coffee. Praise to Vander Kooij for initiating this unforgettable dialogue! I look forward to our next conversation.

submitted by Dianne Dechief

DIAGONALE
Centre des arts et des fibres du Québec
5455, avenue De Gaspé, espace 203,
Montréal, Québec H2T 3B3, Canada

Métro Laurier, sortie rue Laurier

Open Wednesday to Saturday, noon to 5:00 pm until November 29, 2008

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The Journal of Modern Craft

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Berg Publishers introduce The Journal of Modern Craft, “…the first peer-reviewed academic journal to provide an interdisciplinary and international forum in its subject area. It addresses all forms of making that self-consciously set themselves apart from mass production—whether in the making of designed objects, artworks, buildings, or other artefacts. The journal covers craft in all its historical and contemporary manifestations. It starts in the mid-nineteenth-century, when handwork was first consciously framed in opposition to industrialization, through to the present time, when ideas once confined to the ‘applied arts’ have come to seem vital across a huge range of cultural activities. Special emphasis is placed on studio practice, and on the transformations of indigenous forms of craft activity throughout the world. The journal also reviews and analyses the relevance of craft within new media, folk art, architecture, design, contemporary art, and other fields.”

The first issue is available online HERE

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Craft Articles, Essays and more

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Curb Works, Rory MacDonald (2003), curb patch, glazed earthenware

There are a number of essays by contemporary thinkers, writers and makers addressing a variety of aspects of craft on the Canadian Crafts Federation website. These articles were commissioned by the CCF as part of their Craft Year 2007 celebration, a project overseen by Maegen Black (many thanks!!!) As many of us know, work that is not written about is invisible, and the CCF is owed a big thank you for their efforts to support and further critical dialogue about craft. While a few of the articles are media-specific, most are not, which is why I am sending the link to so many of you-makers, writers, educators, in the hopes that they will be of interest to you in your work and practice.
I also would like to personally thank those makers who generously allowed me to write about their work. It was a privilege to speak with and write about these artists. Be sure to check Bettina Matzkuhn’s article in addition to my discussion of her work. And please share this link with students, friends or anyone interested in contemporary Canadian craft.

To access articles, go to: http://www.canadiancraftsfederation.ca/craft_year_2007/index.shtml
Click on “Online Library–Commissioned” to see the articles listed.

submitted by Amy Gogarty, read her essay “Utopic Impulses: The Place of Craft in Contemporary Life” HERE

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