Dark blue clouds heavy with the possibility of rain. White birds gleam as they cross shafts of light. iridescent green water churns below.
The cloud images have been printed on metal, the water has been woven in heavy fabric and above these two surfaces there is a transparent layer carrying an abstracted water pattern. As in the natural landscape, the eye cannot rest; the mind cannot fix the ever-shifting scene into a single image.
A white bird glides
Over reflected clouds
Suspended
Thear are a pair of Jacquard tapestries commissioned for EVOLV rentals, a Daniels development.
The two artworks are woven tapestries based on landscape imagery. The weaving process is complex; produced on a special computer-controlled loom. You might not at first see the ‘Clouds’ and ‘Waves’ that the titles tell you are represented here. Up close, you see the weave of the many coloured threads and the patterns in the material. As you step further away, the images of clouds and waves become apparent. Only at a distance do you see through the material to the illusion of the image. In nature, clouds and waves don’t allow you to see them all at once. As you try to capture one detail in your mind, everything else has shifted away. These tapestries make you aware of how images are constructed in your mind, of how you create your own illusions.
ky and water merge in silver haze.
The sound of paddles working in unison.
The water moves backwards. The sky floats free.
This small vessel is the fixed, stationary centre of the universe
The ship out there is drifting.
The sails are down; its not going anywhere in particular.
Clouds slowly churn above and small waves gently glimmer.
Everything is moving. The compass needle wavers.
Always similar. Never the same.
Everything’s in motion - constantly changing. Follow one wave, follow one cloud. Look again and you’ve lost your visual grip. No point in trying to hang on – go with the flow!
Intricate diagrams; colour coded graphs.
Vast data collected and presented.
But I can’t find my place on this map.
The compass has no needle.
Two of my pieces are in a group show at Gallery 1313 – just in time for the next shut-down here in Ontario.
They’ll be sitting there in the dark in the good company of a really good show…
We’ll stick with Instagram for a little while longer: a small sacrifice if we can reduce suffering and save lives!
Many lived here before us and more will come after.
Were the streets different then? How will the buildings change?
If time was wide instead of long,
And if you stood very still,
You might hear more than you can see.
I’ve come to realize that I can never see things as they ‘really are’. There’s always some reference, preconception; some structure that frames what I perceive. Maybe, if I look through many different frames, I could reduce this self-imposed haze.
Occasionally, I have ocular migraines. They appear as visual disturbances: shimmering crystalline zig-zag shards of light slowly cross my field of vision. Through this glitch, I catch a glimpse of my brain working to assemble an image of my surroundings. I perceive the construction of the illusion of seeing.
When you glance at the sky, the clouds appear still. Look again and they’ve changed. The same is true of the city. Brick, concrete, steel and stone: they all look permanent, solid and reliable. But give it some time. Everything will change.
I like the ambiguity in these pictures. You can’t see the whole thing at once. All the little pieces keep pulling your attention in different directions. Try to pin it down, but it wriggles away!
NOAA provides weather charts for the Atlantic. Every day there’s a new composition, a new layout of the sky. Parts of the map never change: the grid and outlines of land. But what if it were the other way around? Clouds did not move, but the earth did. Every morning, your house, your work, your school, would be in slightly different places. You would consult the daily cloud chart to find your way; navigating by the sky.
I am very happy and grateful to have two of my works included in the ‘TD Thor Wealth Management Juried Exhibition: Quest for the Environment’ . Due to covid, this is an ‘online only’ exhibit. To see the work, you navigate through a virtual space, as in a video game. Take a look. I’ve put the link in my profile. It’s a very interesting show!
Tapestries 48” x 48”. These images of water are rendered as a woven tapestries by a computer controlled Jacquard loom. Can you really ‘see’ waves on water? Their constant motion means you can’t take it all in.
A still image is a paradoxical illusion, you can see both more AND less than in the live experience.
"Geographies," said the geographer, "are the books which, of all books, are most concerned with matters of consequence. They never become old-fashioned. It is very rarely that a mountain changes its position. It is very rarely that an ocean empties itself of its waters. We write of eternal things." - from ‘Le Petit Prince’ by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
12w
This wall was built to keep people in. A window opening has been bricked up to prevent escape. Today only fragments of the barrier remain; you can walk around the ends.
It’s the wall that surrounds CAMH here in Toronto. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is the current name for what once was the Toronto Lunatic Asylum. The wall once completely surrounded the property, but now only a few fragmentary sections remain.
‘Bricks in the Wall’ digital composite
Remember ‘Snakes and Ladders’? A board game where a snake tail could undo much of your progress and a ladder might give you a big boost? You never know what will happen until you roll the dice. I think we’re in this game now! The second wave is upon us, when we thought we had done so well.
‘Snakes and Ladders’ - digital composite
‘Up and Over’ This place is full of ghosts. The patients (inmates?) were forced to build the walls that would enclose them. Brick by brick, they stood on ladders working to block out the sky.
‘Up and Over’ - digital composite
