Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!: Art Canada Institute

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Art with Fabric Preview

The Art with Fabric blog hop is almost upon us....and I actually finished my piece on time! We need to send an image of our work one week before our post date to Alida of Tweety Loves Quilting blog so that she can get the blog hop ready. The picture I sent her didn't include any embellishments, but it's still very recognizable.

Our theme this time is Women. I had been planning this project since the fall blog hop - but the theme changed all of my plans. I could have ignored the theme, and I probably would have, if it hadn't been Women. The feminist in me just couldn't do that (and my mother would have disapproved even if she's been gone for 12 years!!!)

Joyce Wieland in New York in 1964,
photographed by John Reeves

The artist I chose is Joyce Wieland (1930 - 1998), a Canadian artist who broke many boundaries in her time. Not only was she a painter, film maker, feminist and political activist, but she also designed the first art quilts to be shown in the National Gallery of Canada's first solo exhibition by a living woman artist. The exhibit, entitled True Patriot Love, opened on Canada Day 1971 (formerly known as Dominion Day - before the repatriation of our constitution).

At this time, Joyce lived with her husband in New York. She was very interested in the political and nationalistic changes that were occurring in Canada, including what was known as Trudeaumania - the rise in popularity of Pierre Elliot Trudeau, our Prime Minister (and the father of our present Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau). I mention Trudeaumania because it relates directly to the piece that I've chosen to interpret - but more about this on Monday :-)

Here is the piece that I have interpreted. It's called "Reason over Passion" and is based on Pierre Elliot Trudeau's motto. The quilt was created in 1968 in both French and English. It was part of Joyce Wieland's solo exhibit the True Patriot Love of 1971. The art quilt was huge - roughly 8 1/2' x 10' (or 256.5 x 302.3 cm).

Reason Over Passion by Joyce Wieland, 1968

Here are a few clues to my interpretation of Reason Over Passion. You'll have to come back on Monday to see the finished product!

The first clue: wholecloth
The second clue: free motion quilting in a rainbow of Kimono silk thread.
The third clue - symbolism!
Visual clues:

Geometric and Rational

Natural and Organic

Passionate and symbolic

What I learned

It's amazing how much you get to know an art piece when you look at, think about and study it for a few months.
I have come to appreciate Joyce Wieland's sense of humour and irony.
I'll share my quilting learning in Monday's post.

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