“Impermanence / Éphémère” is an outdoor fibre art exhibit that explores and experiments with weathering phases and the practice of mindfulness in the natural world that surrounds us. Our art form represents various methods of weaving, stitching, braiding, felting, dyeing, and beading, and often blends natural or synthetic materials with repurposed fabrics, and found, or contemporary objects.

A Series of Prayer Flags

Inspiration: Prayer flags for "Thanks" (gratitude), "Joie" (Joy), "Paix" (Peace) and "Health" (of body, soul and mind) were created based on Deb Cooper's workshop with TextileArtist.org Stitch Club (June 2024).

A Series of Prayer Flags at the Arbor Gallery

Each Prayer Flag is dyed in tea. "Thanks" was dyed overnight in a smokey black tea.

"Thanks" Prayer Flag

The "Joie" Prayer Flag was boiled for 15 minutes in orange-peach tea.

"Joie" (Joy) Prayer Flag

The "Paix" (Peace) Prayer Flag was bundled with an iron nail (found on the the Arbor Gallery property), rusty bits and smokey black tea. It was in partial sun for 2 days and then dried for a day before being unwrapped to dry completely.

"Paix" (Peace) Prayer Flag

The "Health" (of body, soul and mind) Prayer Flag was boiled for 15 minutes in hibiscus tea.

"Health" (of body, soul and mind) Prayer Flag

Materials: neutral fabric scraps as well as lace, ribbon, and wool roving, assorted perle cotton and thread, rusty bits.

Techniques: hand-stitching, embroidery, fabric dying in various teas.

In The Sky, an Outdoor Hanging Sculpture

Inspiration: After an episode of the Great Pottery Throw Down, where participants made beautiful, translucent, flowing bone china chandeliers, I created a Mindful Stitching Mini piece. In the Sky is the first part of this piece.

Inspiration for the Outdoor Hanging Sculpture

Here are a few details.

The three Suns hanging in my yard

Sunset - hanging in my yard

Noon Sun hanging from the window

Materials: Translucent fabric scraps (tulle, organza, etc.) as well as repurposed silk scarves, 6" embroidery hoops, 22 gauge wire, tree branches and fabric stiffener.

Techniques: free motion quilting, hand-stitching and wire manipulation.

Seasonal garden fence art pieces

I created three garden fence art pieces for this exhibition.

Seasonal garden fence art pieces

Raining Pink Petals

Inspiration: In the Spring, gorgeous pink blossoms fall, just like pink rain, from a tree down the street.

"Raining Pink Petals" garden fence art

This is the tree that inspired this piece.

Inspiration for "Raining Pink Petals"

Materials: Water-resistant background fabric, hand-dyed cotton, commercial cotton and upholstery scraps, tulle.

Techniques: free motion quilting, hand-stitching.

Squirrel!

"Squirrel" garden fence art

Inspiration: Summer in my backyard where squirrels forage. This piece is based on a hand-embroidered hoop made during a workshop with Bethany Duffy through TextileArtist.org Stitch Club (August 2022).

Squirrel! in a 6" hoop - inspiration

Materials: Water-resistant background fabric, commercial and hand-dyes cotton and upholstery scraps, half-shells of nuts.

Techniques: free motion quilting, hand-stitching and embroidery.

"Essence of Leaves"

"Essence of Leaves" garden fence art

Inspiration: I am a huge fan of Connie's surface designed fabric. It really evokes the beauty of the changing Fall leaves.

I asked Connie how she had created this piece. She replied "I think I sun printed the lighter coloured ones and then used textile paint to stamp/print the darker coloured ones. All done at the family cottage with leaves growing there. I also used coarse salt on it."

Materials: Water-resistant background fabric, hand-dyed and printed cotton by Connie ten Bruggenkate. Blog:

Techniques: free motion quilting.

Arbor Gallery poster for “Impermanence / Éphémère”

Artist Statement for “Impermanence /Éphémère" exhibition

Whether serious or playful, Andrée’s art explores life through play and colour. She is an avid learner who loves to shake things up by mixing different techniques. She endeavours to make happy, colourful art that reflects her values and role as an individual within our society. In recent years she has started creating art for her garden. She uses repurposed fabric to give them new life, but also to see the art pieces living and aging outdoors.

Bio Information

In her early teens, Andrée taught herself to embroider by reading a book. In her early 20s, she fell in love with weaving and learned to embrace colours. At 40, she jumped into quilting but her general disregard for instructions and accuracy led her to make fibre art! She has finally found her peeps in the Out of the Box (OOTB) fibre artist group and Fibre 15. Andrée loves to write almost as much as creating art. You can follow her journey at https://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com/

Visit the “Impermanence / Éphémère” Outdoor Exhibit and see an overview of the exhibit