Congratulations to Emerging Artist Andrea Tsang Jackson

The Here & Elsewhere Bee* by Andrea Tsang Jackson 

* Andrea Tsang Jackson's award winning quilt, the Here & Elsewhere Bee, is currently on display until February 27, 2021 at the StFX Art Gallery, in Antigonish, as part of SAQA's Colour with a "U" exhibition.

SAQA Atlantic member Andrea Tsang Jackson was recently recognized at the Creative Nova Scotia Awards Gala as one of two Nova Scotia Emerging Artists for 2020.

Andrea is a textile artist, quilt designer, author and educator based in Halifax, NS. After working in various design fields and settings ranging from architecture to museums, quilting called to her as a way to explore place, belonging, and agency.

According to textile artist Marilyn Smulders' nomination statement: 

"(Andrea) is an innovator: incorporating animation in one project, music in another. But in other ways, she remains true to the quilt’s traditional functions of providing comfort and warmth. Following the terrible days of April 18 and 19, Andrea helped organize a quilt drive for traumatized families. An artist of exceptional heart, it is exciting to think she is only getting started."

Nova Scotia's Emerging Artist Recognition Award recognizes artists of any age who are in the early stages of their professional career, have completed specialized training, and have presented their work publicly. 

Follow Andrea Tsang Jackson on the following platforms:

3rd Story Workshop
Instagram: @3rdstoryworkshop

Facebook: @3rdstoryworkshop

Twitter: @3rdstory_

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.

The 2017 Grand National Exhibition features three SAQA Atlantic Canada pieces

Congratulations go out to Deb Plestid (Tatamagouche NS), Kate Madeloso (Wolfville NS) and Kathy Tidswell (Burtts Corner NB) each of whom has a quilt in The Grand National. 

This year, the Committee of The Grand National challenged quilters: to create a work of quilt art that captures the essence of their part of Canada – its history, its geography, its cultural diversity, its traditions... reasons for celebrating 150 years of our glorious nation.

This prestigious juried quilt show will be on display until September at the historic Joseph Schneider Haus in Kitchener-Waterloo. 

Deb Plestid's Winter at Balmoral Mills takes Curator's Choice Award

Winter at Balmoral Mills by Deb Plestid, 58" x 37"

DP: Crisp, clear, cold, woefully underrated wonderful white winter. ‘Mon pays ce n'est pas un pays, c’est l’hiver.’ (My country is not a country, it is winter.), Gilles Vigneault.


Curator Susan Burke wrote:

For me, Winter at Balmoral Mills perfectly captures the spirit of the theme Oh! Canada… much as the singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault has done in his unofficial Quebec anthem, Mon Pays.

Yes, many people world-wide, when they think of Canada, they conjure up the image of a cold, clean, white, winter snowscape, much as quilter artist Deb Plestid has created here.  As the Inuit have many words in their language for snow, so too has Plestid called upon a full vocabulary of quilted shapes to render a pristine drift of snow otherwise unmarred but for the long shadows of a pair of impatient snow shoes.  The viewer is quickly transported into the scene and the imagination races in anticipation of the wintery adventures that lie ahead…Oh! Canada.

Kate Madeloso - Home is on the Sea Ice

Home is on the Sea Ice by Kate Madeloso, 24" x 21"

KM: To the indigenous people of Canada, the polar bear is known as Nanuk - wise, powerful and almost human. This iconic sea animal is a source for stories, art and identity, as well as food and clothing for northern communities.

Ringed and bearded seals are the polar bear's main diet. Bears can detect seals' breathing holes up to a kilometer away.

This 'rider of icebergs' depends on habitat quality for survival. The loss of sea ice is a red flag to the current climate trend on our planet.

See more of Kate Madeloso's work on her blog.

Kathy Tidswell - My Peaceful Oasis

My Peaceful Oasis by Kathy Tidswell, 27" x 21"

KT: Early each morning I walk on the Trans Canada trail, steps away from my home in rural New Brunswick. Breathing the fresh air, I see wildflowers, majestic pines and an unpolluted river, and may catch a glimpse of fox, deer, an eagle and perhaps a person or two.

While travelling last spring in London and Bruges, I felt overwhelmed by the crowds. Relieved to return to my peaceful oasis, thankfulness for my special part of Canada inspired this work featuring 5 hand painted and thread painted ovals depicting sites from my walk.

See more of Kathy Tidswell's work on her website.

We are All Africans takes first place at MBQG

We are all Africans by Linda Mackie Finley,  w49" x h63"

Our congratulations go to SAQA Atlantic member Linda Mackie Finley.  Her art quilt, We are all Africans, placed first overall for the Viewer's Choice Award and the CQA Ribbon at the 2016 Mahone Bay Quilt Guild Show & Sale. Linda's quilt was machine and hand appliqued, machine pieced, embellished with both stitch and paint, and hand quilted.

We asked Linda to tell us about her award-winning quilt.

Linda, you've made several, magnificently detailed quilts on a variety of topics. Would you tell us about your inspiration for We are all Africans?

My "inspiration" was the crisis in Africa brought on by the AIDS epidemic, in which an entire generation of teachers, caregivers, artists, etc. was wiped out, leaving thousands of children bereft and without the basic requirements to build a future.

Because I have a love for African art, I was able to draw upon it for the figures in this quilt. The two child-laden women in the centre are based on ancestral Nigerian maternity figures that are called upon to preserve the health and welfare of the community. The grey 'monolithic' figures are also ancestral representations, probably funerary in nature, as are others in the piece. 

We are all Africans (detail) by Linda Mackie Finley 

The caryatid bearing the large bowl, in the centre of the quilt, draws on a tradition in Benin. Such carved figures were placed outside of villages to ward off evil. The bowl in my piece is thus filled with Aids viruses, disarmingly beautiful.

We are all Africans (detail) by Linda Mackie Finley 

The pairs of animals are representations of the Ark, as the San people in South Africa, systematically eliminated by European colonization, have recently been proven to be the forbearers of the entire human race. Thus the title of the piece.

And finally, the beadwork along the bottom is my effort to represent a Luba divination board, a highly sophisticated document from Zaire.









How did you turn your inspiration into this marvellous quilt?

The process for this work was a long one. It sat on my design wall, in various incarnations, for over a year. Just as I was about to abandon it, I saw Val Hearder’s collection, "African Threads", work by contemporary women artists from South Africa. It was heartbreakingly beautiful, and I loved the way they used their simple yet sophisticated embroideries to convey the story. They were totally my inspiration and gave me permission to abandon my conventional way of storytelling. I threw my heart into the work instead of my head. I think it worked.

See more of Linda Mackie Finley’s work on her website, Kite-Borne Threads.

Two captivating quilts by Deb Plestid

Two of Deb Plestid’s quilts, Endicott Johnson and Dragonfly, captured attention at the recent Sunrise Quilt Guild Show in Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia.

Endicott Johnson by Deb Plestid, Sunrise Quilt Guild 2015 CQA Viewers' Choice Award winner.

Endicott Johnson, which won the CQA Viewers' Choice Award, celebrates rootedness and longevity. The boots were made in the 1950s by the Endicott Johnson Company and were worn until the 1980s by a neighbouring farmer. This principled corporation not only made durable boots, they also treated their employees fairly, with health coverage, recreational facilities, a profit-sharing program and support for home financing. The CQA Award is the second for this piece, which received an Honourable Mention at the Grand National Quilt Show 2013 in Kitchener, Ontario.  

Dragonfly by Deb Plestid, runner-up for Members' Choice Award, Sunrise Quilt Guild 2015.

Another of Deb's entries, Dragonfly Pond, received a ribbon as runner-up for Members' Choice at the Sunrise show.

See Deb Plestid's website for more of her fine work.

Another Award-Winner!

Heather Loney's challenge piece, Sunset, was awarded First Prize by viewers of last week's annual IWK - Mayflower Quilt Guild Fair. The challenge was to create a quilted item of a set size, using four pre-selected pieces of fabric, with additional fabric permitted. The four pieces of fabric in the 'challenge kit' were: the blue in the water, the orange and purple in the sunset and the multi-print in the border. Well done Heather!

Read more on Heather Loney's own blog, Creative Crossroads.

Sunset by Heather Loney, 2015

Well done, Holly McLean

Spring Fling, Holly McLean, 2015

Holly, who lives in Bathurst, NB, won first prize in the non-traditional quilt category at this year's Kennebecasis Valley Quilt Show. She was also thrilled to learn that her winning quilt, Spring Fling, sold at the show. 

Holly made the piece to celebrate the end of the very long, snowy winter of 2015. It differs dramatically from the small, heavily threaded works for which Holly has become known. You can see more of Holly McLean's artwork and textile explorations on her own blog, Through My Window

Spring Fling (detail), Holly McLean, 2015

Spring Fling (detail), Holly McLean, 2015