OFF THE GRID
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 4th from 6pm - 8pm
Circle Craft presents an exciting exhibit, Off the Grid, highlighting Surface Design (textile arts) by BC Surface Design artists to run concurrently with the International Surface Design Association conference in Kansas City, MO that is held in June 2009. Off the Grid will run at Circle Craft Gallery June 5 – 30, 2009.
The show’s curator—Vancouver-based clothing and textile artist/designer—Katherine Soucie, says “Patterns in our life and in an artist’s work often develop and repeat in a regular manner, and then something unexpected happens. Something shifts slightly and the pattern and rhythm become radically new. It is in those moments of unexpected change that great possibility exists. We shift. We transform. We go off the grid aesthetically, conceptually, or environmentally. In this exhibition, we will feature new works from artists who have chosen to investigate a relationship between these points of departure in relation to their current contemporary artistic practice.
The artists included in Off the Grid who have been selected to exhibit at the Circle Craft Gallery, demonstrate a kind of respect for the past while offering a unique and progressive vision for the future. Ulrieke Benner, Jessica De Haas, Leslie Richmond, Katherine Soucie, Yvonne Wakabayashi, and Angelika Werth will demonstrate how traditional practices like printing, stitching, dyeing, in combination with other surface manipulation techniques, can be re-envisioned to reflect the ideas and values of a new generation of visual artists.”
Ulrieke Benner is a textile artist and designer who works with wool and silk to produce vibrantly coloured one-of-a-kind clothing and art. In her “art to wear” she uses fine merino wool for hats and purses. For the scarves and clothing, she felts the wool into silk in a wet-rolling technique. Her wall art and décor pieces are designed for homes and public buildings. She combines painting, collage, stitching, and appliqué on silk and felt. Ulrieke studied textile design in Germany and in Massachusetts. She has exhibited in the Philadelphia Museum of Art Show, in Canada, in a variety of shows in Europe and recently, in December 2005, in Tokyo, Japan. Find more info about Ulrieke and her Salt Spring studio at: www.ulriekebenner.com
Jessica de Haas, a BC-born fibre artist, specializes in felted garments and wearable art. Inspired by the metamorphosis of ordinary materials into the extraordinary, Jessica’s work has focused on the creation of hand-made fabrics, which are then sculpted into wearable art pieces. “I usually begin by hand-dyeing wool, which I then felt onto silk. A variety of surface design techniques may be used to create a pattern on the felt, such as fabric inlay, appliqué, free motion embroidery, hand stitching, or beading,” she says. Jessica studied fibre art at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, BC, and now lives in Vancouver. Find more info about Jessica at: www.propagatelove.com
Lesley Richmond’s past and current artistic practices combine textile processes, which incorporate imagery that tends to simulate the organic surfaces of objects found in the natural environment. Her rather unusual combination of processes and materials resembles that of organic decay, bringing forth a notion of beauty in pattern that is often viewed as grotesque or unpleasant. Her approach to pattern formations is very much like the natural decaying process, slow yet unpredictable. Lesley studied art and textiles in London, England and in the US. Leslie’s work is in collections throughout USA, Japan, Poland, and Canada. Find more info about Lesley at: www.lesleyrichmond.com
Katherine Soucie works towards developing new ways to modernize traditional textile techniques. Her experimentation over the last few years with non-traditional materials and eco-friendly textile processes has resulted in an extensive body of work for which she has received a number of design awards. Katherine is the recipient of the BC Creative Achievement Award, 2006 and was short-listed for the Niche Award 2007. She most recently received the International Design Green Award for 2008. Katherine has designed for film, television, dance, and theatre, and has her own clothing line, Sans Soucie, which is exhibited and sold through fine boutiques and galleries throughout Canada, US, and Japan. Find more info about Katherine at: www.sanssoucie.ca
Yvonne Wakabayashi works with textiles using the traditional arashi shibori technique, a Japanese fabric manipulation technique. Her creations are approached in a sculptural way, moulding and shaping fabrics, especially silk and hemp, which respond well to form. “Inspiration is derived from the living sea and takes form as sea anemones from our west coast waters,” she says. Yvonne credits Hiroyuki Shindo and Yoshiko Wada for inspiring a connection to her Japanese heritage in her work. Her work has been exhibited at several shows in the US, Canada, and in Japan. She has also been honoured with many prizes for her work.
Angelika Werth started her practice with a three-year dress-making apprenticeship. She worked for Yves Saint Laurent in Paris and received a degree as Master dressmaker- designer. Most of her current work is hand-felted and constructed. Angelika has had multiple solo exhibitions including her Waistcoat / Wastecoats exhibition at the Alberta Craft Council in Edmonton in 2006, and the Brassiere Series at the Canadian Craft Museum in Vancouver in 1997. She is a recipient of the 2008 B.C. Creative Achievement Award. Angelika is an instructor in the fibre department at the Kootenay School of the Arts in Nelson, BC. Find more info about Angelika at: www.angelikawerth.ca
Click here to read Thelma's gallery review with this month's guest writer Mary Lou Trinkwon
