NS Craft Year 2020 Exhibit - Helene Blanchet

 

My Hundertwasser Garden  
Helene Blanchet 2020
16" x 26"

As part of Craft Year 2020, initiated by the Canadian Craft Federation, the Mary E. Black Gallery in Halifax has mounted a special juried show.  The pieces on display are a representative survey of current works of 20 members of Craft NS.  One of those chosen is by SAQA Atlantic's Helene Blanchet.  

The show runs until November 7 and the Gallery is open from 11 to 4 pm, Wednesday to Saturday.  If you are unable to get to Halifax for the show, the work of these talented artists is available on line at NS Craft and Design on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays until November 7.

In addition, an excellent catalogue of the show can be downloaded here  .

 Helene describes My Hundertwasser Garden, as follows:  This  is a picture of my garden. It sits on a south-facing slope, bordered by the forest, a rushing stream, and fields of wild blueberries. It is inspired by Hundertwasser who believed that there there should be no "straight lines" in any design as  nature does not have straight lines.

Below is a detail of this intricate work.

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!