The Making of Surging Tides of Consequences

Clare Attwell lives in Victoria British Columbia and shares with us the process behind her piece Surging Tides of Consequences that is on display in the Shifting Tides Regional Exhibit. Shifting Tides is showing at the Pratt Museum in Kachemak Bay Alaska from October 9 to November 28, 2020.

To view the Shifting Tides catalogue online click here.

Here is Clare's artist statement:

Milton Freidman famously used the manufacture of a classic yellow pencil as an illustration for free market economics. Yet Friedman's pencil metaphor  meant many important but difficult to measure variables were not considered. The social and environmental consequences of this approach are now everywhere, from climate chaos to mass human migration and species extinctions. As though we are facing The Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Hokusai's iconic wood cut print, there is a growing sense that life on earth is on an ominous precipice, driven by a system incapable of valuing what really matters.

The result of playing with a wheat paste texturing process – initially I was just interested in creating texture, water – and then added some salmon drawing studies.

Creating & assembling the parts.

-    I got a box of yellow pencils, broke them into pieces and then photographed them, before printing those photos onto cloth.  I then overpainted those photo images.

 

A design mock-up with several overlays stuck onto transparency sheets

Designing my over-quilting pattern: the inspiration came from The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai (1829-33).

Loaded onto my longarm for the over-stitching (quilting).

Surging Tides of Consequences Detail - Clare Attwell 

The Making of Help Me

Today's feature artist is Diana Bartelings from Rock Creek, BC.

To view more of her work visit:

https://bartelings.wixsite.com/dianabartelings

Diana writes:

The Pacific Ocean is a part of my heritage, having grown up in Vancouver, BC. To know that we are destroying this part of our world strongly affects me. I chose to focus on the wildlife that is caught up in pollution that freely roams the ocean with the tides.

I began with some of my ice dyed fabric that represented the beauty of the ocean itself. I soak my fabric in soda ash, place some in the bottom of a smaller container, cover in ice and sprinkle the Procion MX dye powders on then continue to layer more fabric, ice and dyes until my container is fairly full. I put a lid on it and then let it sit for 24 hours. After that I wash it out using sythropol.

I used commercial fabrics to make the turtle and, in an effort to recycle, an avocado bag for the netting. The diver was appliqued on with recycled cotton as well. We are so careless in the way we discard our garbage that I chose to add a piece of plastic that holds pop, juice or beer cans together. These are often found on sea creatures.  

"Help Me" Diana Bartelings

The Making of Plastic Chowder

A Guest Post by Western Canada member Janet Scruggs

To learn more about Janet visit her website

                                                                                  

When I first heard about the Shifting Tides exhibit being comprised of artists from the western areas of the US and Canada, it piqued my interest. We share a lot of the same concerns on the western coast of North America. So this exhibit was an opportunity to speak about issues that might not enter the thoughts of those in other parts of the country.

Translating a concern or an issue into cloth can be challenging. How could I represent the tiny microplastics that have increased so much they are encircling everything and becoming food to organisms?

Plastic Chowder - Janet Scruggs

I decided a collage would be my best method of doing this. I was able to obtain permission to use text from a couple of news articles. These, and the photos were printed directly onto various fabrics. One of my favourites is the result of printing on a thrift store find - a cotton fabric that is like a corduroy but not fuzzy.  I really felt that a raw edge look to the collage would be representative of the look of the ocean and would reflect my current approach to art quilts. Next I created the thread lace to represent the encircling plastic that is spreading. I stitched this initially with two colours of thread and when completed, I found that it did not have enough depth, so I attacked it with markers randomly. My final endeavour was to add several clear beads in strings to represent the tiny micro-plastic bits which are broken down from the plastic.

Plastic Chowder detail - Janet Scruggs 

Shifting Tides in the Press

Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth was viewed by Oregon journalist David Bates before 

Newberg's Chehalem Cultural Center closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He wrote a wonderful article including a thoughtful interpretation of Western Canada member Clare Attwell's piece Surging Tides of Consequence.

Article link

All three Western Canada members with work in Shifting Tides have agreed to share some behind the scenes details of their pieces here on the blog. Watch for future posts regarding the status of Shifting Tides in our region. At this time we are not sure if the exhibit will in fact be shown at CityScape Community Art Space from May 15 to June 13. We will do our best to inform you all at this time of uncertainty. 

Regardless of the arrival of the physical exhibit in our region we will share as much with you virtually as we can.

Installation of the Shifting Tides in San Jose, California April 2019.

Is It Spring Yet?

There's lots going on with our members this month and next -- so let's leap into Spring (even if there's still several feet of snow on the ground and you've just come out the other side of an Extreme Cold Warning!) with these wonderful shows:

Shifting Tides: Convergence in Cloth -- the multi-Regional SAQA exhibit -- opens in San Jose, CA at the "Works" on April 19, and a tour thereof will be part of the itinerary at the SAQA Conference this year.  This piece was one of 3 accepted from SAQA WC members...Congratulations to Janet Scruggs!  

Plastic Chowder - Janet Scruggs, B.C.

Also opening in April is this exhibit from the Vancouver Island branch of the Surface Design Association (SDA):

Several SAQA WC members are participating in this exhibit, including Judi MacLeod, Lesley Turner, Lesley Comassar, Donna-Fay Digance, Karen Selk and Barbara McCaffrey.

And then there's this ON NOW!

Pieces by SAQA WC member from B.C.,
Karlie Norrish McChesney

If you're anywhere near any of these exhibits, DO be sure to take the time to enjoy the work.  Congratulations to all of our members participating!

P.S. Remember about a month ago I mentioned the deadline for the Spotlight Auction this year?  And asked if anyone else had made a contribution?

Well...she didn't tell me directly, but I follow her blog, so...I was able to see the delightful piece submitted by B.C. member Terry Aske:

Black Lines + Bright Colors (sic)
(c) Terry Aske, 2019

Inspired by the artist Mondrian, I'm thinkin' it's sure to bring a pretty penny at the auction, and to make one particular collector very happy every time s/he sees it!

Another opportunity to have your art seen -- without the jury process or a fee to enter! -- is SAQA's Annual Benefit Auction.  The Early Bird deadline has now passed (March 1) but never fear -- you have till June 1 to have your contribution received by the Auction curator.

For us Canucks, that means -- get it in the mail by May 8 (or so) to avoid delays at the border! That's just over two (2!) months away...so...get on it!  😉

Please accept my apologies if you've got a piece in one of these shows and I've missed your name and/or photo of your piece.  I am not on ALL social media -- just Facebook and my e-mail.  If you think I'm going to see something on Instagram or Twitter...sorry.  Please get in touch to share with your colleagues across Western Canada, TROC (The Rest Of Canada) and the world.  Yes, we have readers from the other SAQA Regions.  So please let me know...and thank you for your support!