Colour with a "U" at St FX University Art Gallery, October 9-February 27, 2021

Colour with a "U" is a juried exhibition of 33 art quilts on the theme of diversity and inclusion, made by SAQA members from across Canada. Five artists from Atlantic Canada are included in the show: Helene Blanchet, Kristi Farrier, Linda Finley, Regina Marzlin and Andrea Tsang Jackson.

Jurors: Faith Hieblinger, Homer Watson House & Gallery; Alan Syliboy, Mi’kmaq Artist; Jayne Willoughby, Textile Artist.

This premiere exhibition of Canadian textile art is currently on display at the St FX Art Gallery, in Antigonish NS. 

Bloomfield Centre Building, Rm 103 (ground floor)

5555 Union Place, Antigonish

Oct. 9 - Feb. 27, 2021 (gallery closed Dec 12-mid January)

Gallery hours:

    Wed. 1 - 6 pm

    Thurs. 1 - 6 pm

    Fri. 1 - 5 pm

    Sat. 12 - 4 pm

A maximum of 4 visitors is permitted in each 30-minute time slot. Book your 30-minute visit time slot on the Gallery's site here.

You can watch a virtual tour of the exhibition below. But there's nothing like experiencing this fabulous collection of textures, colours, shapes, and messages in person! 

Laurie Swim, finalist for Lieutenant Governor of NS Masterworks Arts Award

Congratulations to artist Laurie Swim, whose monumental work, Hope and Survival: The Halifax Explosion Memorial Quilt, is one of three finalists for this year's Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award. 

Being selected as a finalist for this prestigious award is a tremendous honour. The Award is given every year to a work of art that exemplifies mastery across four distinct criteria – originality, artistic maturity, impact, and contribution to Nova Scotia. It is the largest cultural award based in Nova Scotia with a prize of $25,000 going to the winner and $3000 to the other finalists.

Laurie's project, Hope and Survival, is a memorial to the nearly 2000 people killed and many more injured in the 1917 Halifax Explosion. As a community art project created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the tragedy, Hope and Survival involved over 150 volunteers, some of whom were descendants of the victims of the explosion. 

“Hope and Survival is poignant in that it is almost like wrapping a blanket around the event as an act of healing – exactly what a memorial should be.” (2020 Masterworks jury comment).

The winner of the award will be announced later this fall.

Read more about Hope and Survival and the other finalists in the 2020 Masterworks announcement.

Fibre Fall Exhibition featuring Susan Lilley

The Chester Art Centre's Fall Exhibition will feature four local artists working in four different fibre art forms.  Our member, Susan Lilley, will be showing her quilted and hand-dyed work.  

The socially-distanced opening reception is October 15 and the show runs from October 16 to 28.  Please see exact dates and hours on the poster above.  

The Forest Bath is one of the works on display.

The Forest Bath
by Susan Lilley 2019
36"x36"

See a Show: Lunenburg Art Gallery

 

SAQA Atlantic's Cathy Drummond and Susan Lilley are currently exhibiting work in The Lunenburg Art Gallery's Fall Showcase. This exhibition will be running until October 24 and is open Thursdays to Mondays from 12pm to 5pm.  

The Lunenburg Art Gallery is run as a non-profit by the Lunenburg Art Society.  The Society's members include both amateur and professional artists, working in many media.  Fall Showcase features over 140 pieces of artwork by society members in every style and price range.  It is the Gallery's last official show of 2020.

Where Land Meets Sea
Cathy Drummond 2018
18"x 24"

Bound and Unbound 
Susan Lilley 2019
36"x 38" 

If you are unable to make it to the gallery,  there are 2-3 pieces being added to instagram daily.

See an Exhibition: Kathy Tidswell

Kathy Tidswell's submission "New Brunswick through the Seasons in Paint, Fabric and Thread" has been accepted into the Craft Year 2020 exhibition and sale at Sunbury Shores Arts and Nature Centre, St. Andrews, New Brunswick.  

Great Blue Heron by K.Tidswell 2016
17" x 14.5"

The exhibition will run from October 2 to November 1. Her ten pieces will include both thread paintings and wall quilts. For the piece above, Kathy painted the background and then added the heron, created separately using free motion embroidery, to give a 3D affect.

Serenity by K. Tidswell 2010
17.5" x 20"

The thread painting, Serenity, was created for The Ontario Network of Needleworkers' exhibition Threadworks 2010: Trees.  It opened at Wellington County Museum and Archives and then toured in Ontario for 3 years.  

Thread painting was also used to create the expressive play of light and shade in Curry Mountain, below.
 

Curry Mountain by K. Tidswell 2019
17" x 15"

My Peaceful Oasis by K. Tidswell 2018
21" x 27.5"

Kathy says that My Peaceful Oasis depicts many of the things she sees daily when she walks on the Trans Canada Trail near her home. This work combines painting, thread painting and free motion embroidery.  

I hope many of you will get a chance to see these and her other works on display.  You can also see more of Kathy's work online here.

See an Exhibition: Regina Marzlin!

After long months of wondering if artists would ever get to show their work again, many galleries have re-opened in Atlantic Canada. Several of our members have their work on show this fall. First up is Regina Marzlin who is featured at the Red Sky Gallery in Antigonish until October 7. The show, A Sense of Place, has many prints that Regina created during a recent artist residency where she experimented with differernt methods of printing with local foliage and other found objects. The following are a few glimpses of her work on display, starting with a very happy Regina on opening night.

Do try to get there if you can and, for readers outside of the Atlantic Canada bubble who are interested in these works, contact the Gallery here or Regina here. Information on other shows will follow shortly. Stay tuned!

Pandemic-Inspired Artwork

The coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for people world wide, but for some artists, it has also been a source of inspiration. Three SAQA Atlantic members, Audrey Feltham, Susan Lilley and Anne Morrell Robinson, share their pandemic-inspired work below.

Audrey Feltham

Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador 

COVID-19 : Crossroads by Audrey Feltham, 2020. w 24" x h 24"
Hand printed on 100% organic cotton, hand quilted.

Hunkerdown by Audrey Feltham, 2020. w 32" x h 26"
Hand dyed silk, hand printed, hand quilted.

COVID-19 : The Inner Landscape #2 

by Audrey Feltham, 2020. w 11" x h 15"

Textile on paper, hand quilted.

Artist Statement: 

These three pieces are part of a body of work I started early in the COVID-19 lockdown, exploring the psychological results of isolation. Issues such as high anxiety, refusal to accept isolation, fear of the unknown, anger at issues of work safety, etc. are being explored in the smaller textile pieces that I am currently working on.

More of Audrey's work can be seen on her web site, Atelier West. 

Susan Lilley

Bridgewater, Nova Scotia

Closed, Cancelled, Postponed by Susan Lilley, 2020. w 13" x h 12"
Repurposed cotton, hand dyed and discharged, with hand stitched.

Artist Statement:

This piece was inspired by an early May drive along Nova Scotia's South Shore. After many weeks in lockdown, I had high hopes for this scenic drive. Instead, I was disheartened to see nothing along the road but one sign after another proclaiming the words closed, cancelled, postponed. Even our beloved beaches were off limits!

 Anne Morrell Robinson

Margaree Valley, Cape Breton Island, NS

Words of 2020 by Anne Morrell-Robinson, 2020. w54" x h46"

Artist Statement:

This piece began as a project to use up strips of fabric. As it took shape, I realized it was about our mutual experience of the Coronavirus and the Black Lives Matter protests. The quilting lines include the year, 2020, as well as the phrases: I can't breath, my bubble, physical distancing, PPEs, gaslighting, health versus politics, self isolate, and the new normal. I realize now what I wanted to say: Despite a very grey period in our history we all need splashes of colour. 

See more of Anne's work on her web site, Kingross Quilts and Fibre Arts.