Laurie Swim Gallery

 

I am delighted to be showing my work at the Laurie swim Gallery in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for the month of October.

Looking forward to seeing all who might come to the opening on October 1st.

These pieces hold a very special place in my heart and I do love sharing them with folk.

More Little Vignettes from In the Middle of the World in Annapolis Royal

 

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I think this was the only photo taken of the three of us

We were all so focused on the work

But it was grand being together for a few days

Miranda Bouchard, Judy Martin and me

Reaching for the light

Thank you to so many who managed to come out on such a rainy day

We were kept busy at the opening

I never even had time for a glass of wine!

Handy Hubby great photo of Judy’s 

Prayer to the Sky

Eternity

Future

I can see every French knot

Every stitch

Made me wonder how many stitches are in this gallery!

November Song

Dancing in the Wind

Winter’s Edge

Follow the Moon

One of my favourite photos

Just a casual little corner

Taken by Handy Hubby.

Have a great day

In the Middle of the World at ArtsPlace Ready for Visitors

I want to talk about line of sight.

All three gallery locations where In the Middle of the World was hung

created interesting lines of sight showing layers of work

And interesting half hidden teasers of what might be coming into sight around the corner.

 Miranda Bouchard, Judith Martin me and our helping husbands

created this intimate and enticing layout!

And as Judy said…just like a walk in the woods.

Love it!

Eternity by Judy Martin

Beaver Moon Dreaming by Penny Berens

Medicine Earth by Judy

 luckily we could hang Judy’s pieces away from the wall 

Allowing viewers to peak behind it. For as you must know Judy’s work is always two-sided.

Then we have another of my pieces…November Song

Prayer to the Sky by Judy Martin

 Chasing the Moon by Penny Berens

Thoughts and Memories and Dreams by Judy

Eternity Judy’s

Stoney Island Memories mine

Whispering Cairn mine

Prayer to the Sky Judy’s

Textiles add warmth and intimacy to every space.

Some thought it was like entering a cathedral

When I looked down that long wall I thought of old English manors

Where tapestries were hung on the walls for warmth.

The folk at ArtsPlace noticed it had reduced the echoes in the gallery.

The wonders of textile arts!

I became fascinated by the shadows forming under my wall hangings.

Love that!

….and the shadows behind and beneath Judy’s work too.

So many thanks to Sophie and Geoff at ArtsPlace

Thank you for reading my meanderings!

Have a wonderful day!

Installing ‘In the Middle of the World’ at ArtsPlace in Annapolis Royal

 Before we even began this beautiful vase of flowers arrived from Margi and Kathryn

Our fabulous friends

Thank you both so very much

A lovely beginning for two days of installing.

Boy that task is exhausting!

To get started we wanted to get an easy wall done

We chose

Underfoot the Earth Divine and Resting at Low Tide

Perfect pairing n’est ce pas!

Off to a great start!

Then our precious work lounged about on the floor as we considered what next.

Judy began preparing Eternity for hanging from the ceiling.

And, Handy Hubby, Richard fiddled with straightening.

Judy’s Ned and I discussing something or other

Boy there were a lot of decisions to make!

Miranda Bouchard our brilliant curator and companion from the start of our In the Middle of the World project was in charge of installation of course.

She and Handy Hubby must have been fixing something.

I forget!

She was up and down those ladders like a mountain goat.

Nearly ready to hang Eternity.

Then it was up

And Handy Hubby could get to work on placing my works 

According to Miranda’s plan.

We were ready for coffee and a snack!

Miranda and Ned 

Where to hang Judy’s bundles.

Surely we are done!

Sorry to bore you

But had to have a record for myself

And thank these wonderful people for such a long two days

With a magnificent end result…..

Next time I will show you the show!

An Invitation to the Opening of In the Middle of the World at ARCAC in Annapolis Royal

 I am very happy to announce that In the Middle of the World is coming to my local art centre in Annapolis Royal. We will have an opening reception at ARTSPLACE on September 7th 12-2pm. The reception will be followed with a talk between Judy Martin, Miranda Bouchard and myself.

I am excited to see this wonderful tactile show again. And it will be extra special to have a few days to spend with Judy and Miranda again. They will both be flying in from Northern Ontario and I will be driving down the road!

It is hard to believe our show was first hung so beautifully at The Mississippi Textile Museum in Almonte, Ontario back in 2021 during Covid when I was not able to attend…..so disappointed was I.

Since then it has travelled to The Muse, in Kenora, Ontario where all three of us could attend and meet so many wonderful people who came from all over.

And now I am thrilled it is coming to my little town and our wonderfully active and supportive ARTSPLACE.

Artist Way Show in Belliveau Cove

 

The artist Way Collective would love you to join us for the opening of our Summer Reverie show.

 It is on July 5th at 6pm at Art’s Haven gallery in Belliveau Cove. 

Walk Through of In the Middle of the World

 Judy Martin and I did a walk through and talked about our pieces 

hanging at The Muse Gallery in Kenora, Ontario.

Thank you Miranda Bouchard for recording the event with your Photographs.

'My Awakened Heart', 'Her Arms Wrapped Round' and 'My Heart'

Judy's three pieces in the foreground.

'Resting Between Night and Day', 'The Edge of the Woods', 'A Stream Runs Through it' and 'Woodpeckers Live Here'

My pieces on the wall.

As you walk into the gallery this is the beginning of what I think is an emotional experience.

Not to be sentimental but being surrounded by large stitchings have that effect on me!

 They create a welcoming and comforting environment.

Like old English houses where walls were hung with tapestries 

both to impress but also to help warm the place.

Like my grandmother's home where huge, heavy velvet curtains separated the living room from the dining room to keep us warm with a coal (yikes) fire burning.

Love this photo

'Beaver Moon Dreaming' My piece on the wall.

'Eternity', 'Flowers Bloomed' and 'The Forever' Judy's three pieces.

'Resting at Low Tide' My piece on the wall.

'The Forever' Side B Judy's piece in the foreground.

We are so different yet so alike!

Miranda, me, Dagmar Plenk and Judy

We had a surprise visitor, Dagmar who came up from the States to see the show.

We had met online but it is so much better getting to know someone in the flesh.

We had a lovely visit didn't we, Dagmar!

We all loved listening to Judy explaining each piece.

'The Forever' and 'Time Future' Judy's pieces in the foreground.

'Summer's Dance' my piece on the wall.

'Time Past' Judy's piece in the foreground.

'Woodland Berries' My piece on the wall.

'Woodland Berries' is a piece not only about the wild berries the float 

like waves through the woods in Autumn

 but it's also about the woodpeckers that lie in these woods

and the stoney ground that huge trees somehow manage to find nutrients in.

'Dancing in the Wind' and 'Follow the Moon' My pieces on the wall.

'Medicine Earth' Side B Judy's piece beyond the door.

My experience of someone's work is always enriched with their artist talk.

So I am always happy to share my thoughts and process with others.

Even if my throat goes dry and scratchy sometimes!

Some of my works had to be given a wall of their own.

Just too many of them!

Thank you to The Muse for giving them space.

We are delighted that

'In the Middle of the World'

A show of Judith E. Martin and Penny Berens's work

Curated by Miranda Bouchard

has been extended to hang in The Muse gallery,

Kenora, Ontario

Until July 4th, 2023.

Have a great day

We are enjoying a few days of rain here in Nova Scotia

 Hope it is enough to dampen all the wild fires.

  

When Beavers Live Close By

 

It amuses me that the beaver sticks have gathered in their own little corner of the show.

"Chasing the Moon"

Memories of daily walks down to the marshlands

Watching as the landscape changed when beavers moved in.

When they moved in and built oh so many dams

what was a meandering stream became a lake

covering all the grass you see here.

They would greet me and the Rusty Pups

with noses just above water

and sharp black eyes watching....

....then with a noisy slap of the tail on the water's surface

they would casually get on with their business.

I imagined that slap to be a greeting 

but of course it must have been a claim to territory where we were not welcome

My work is a bringing together of snippets of memory

Trees stripped of bark and marked by strong beaver teeth

Cold dark waters of winter

Marshland grasses that flourished so well in that watery environment

But turned golden yellow in the long wintery months.

On winter mornings after a good snowfall

the beaver tracks were easy to find 

 revealing nighttime activity and favourite pathways

 leading from water's edge towards the woods and back again

The black velvet water so uninviting on a cold winter's day

yet a refuge, a place of safety where beavers can thrive.

And of course a moon on a windy, winter's night

whilst I am warm and safe in my bed

the beaver were busy as beavers tend to be

fixing leaky dams

and storing edible trees underwater.

Such fascinating creatures who can change a landscape with two strong front teeth!

 I hope you too find joy in observing nature at work.

So many thanks to Susan Purney Mark and Miranda Bouchard for their photos of the show.

When friends come together "In the Middle of the World"

 

Judy Martin's exciting larger than life pieces

Reflections on a lifetime living in beautiful rural Northern Ontario

My heavily stitched smaller pieces

Reflections on years of living close to nature in beautiful Nova Scotia

The walls of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum

An aged record of time past

In a way all three connected to the passage of time

Every year as the seasons move towards Winter

the undergrowth in our woods dies down to soft greys

All that remains are the deep ever greens and waves of red berries

Life giving berries for the creatures and birds of these parts.

Our winters are harsh here.

In the depth of winter swarms of robins with their white eye markings

descend on the wild holly bushes and eat to their hearts content.

The berries are all gone before winter's end.

 

The older trees whose bark is weaker and less resistant to insect invasions

soon become scarred by pecking woodpeckers searching for supper.

Did you know their tongues wrap around the back of their brains

protecting them from concussion as they hammer away at those holes?

This is the sort of information that comes out of my Handy Hubby.

The practical thinker in the family

Thank goodness one of us is!

I would wrap both arms around Judy's bundles and hold them close.

In the background is "Winter's Edge" my response to Autumn fading into winter.

The season when warm hugs are needed.

We both used warm autumnal colours

I can imagine Judy's repetitive motion while wrapping her wool strips around and around each bundle. 

I remember well my repetitive tearing of strips and couching them down over and over each other.

They are connected as we are in friendship.

My thoughts were to fade the colours into the sky

ending with a barely visible weakening sun

that is really only visible when you stand close to the actual piece.

Right from the days of childhood embroidery

Repetition and rhythm have been my favourite creative principle

Repetition of simple stitches

Rhythm in the physical movements that create the stitches

And I try to create flow and rhythm in my pieces.

Always exploring and still learning.

And this is the mess of all beginnings!

And finally one more friend who is such an important part of this project

A young curator who's dedication to this project is unbounded

A wise, thoughtful person working very hard in the background on our behalf.

Miranda Bouchard

I am full of gratitude for these two amazing women

We are sharing quite a journey.

And thank you to Judy who sent me her photos of the show for me to use since I could not travel.

More to come!