Showing posts with label Art with Fabric. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art with Fabric. Show all posts

Friday, May 09, 2025

Joyce Wieland, Artist and Activist

Hi and welcome 😎 I'm enjoying the Spring weather and learning to rest the hard way - not listening to your body will do that! I did manage to rest enough to take the two hour train for a day trip with my girlfriend to Montreal. It was the last day of the retrospective, "Heart On", of the art work by Joyce Wieland at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. It was absolutely amazing - what an artist!

Joyce Wieland, Artist and Activist


The introduction to the exhibition states: "Celebrating the radical art-making of Joyce Wieland (1930-1998), this large-scale exhibition offers an in-depth look at one of the most influential Canadian artists of her time." A lot of her art was done in the 1960s and 70s, so you might imagine what "radical" at that time meant.😉 She lived in Toronto and for a short while in New York. 

Here are some textile art pieces/quilts that she designed/made. The first one below, "Defend the Earth / Défendez la Terre" is Wieland's largest wall mural at 16' long.

Defend the Earth / Défendez la Terre (1972)

Along with feminism and nationalism, Joyce Wieland was very concerned with environmentalism, particularly the Canadian North. At the time of the Cold War, there was a fear that the US would encroach on Canada's North for its resources and its proximity to the USSR.

Another of her larger quilts, Barren Ground Caribou, was unveiled on the Spadina subway station in Toronto in 1978.

Barren Ground Caribou by Joyce Wieland

One of my favourites is the Water Quilt, stitched in 1970-71. This huge quilt depicts botanically correct embroideries of Arctic flowers on off-white fabric. Underneath each flower is a stitched excerpt of a page from the late Canadian economist James Laxer's book, The Energy Poker Game (1970). In his book, Laxer outlines plans by an American corporation to seize control of Canada's northern waterways.

The Water Quilt by Joyce Wieland

Details of The Water Quilt by Joyce Wieland  

There were so many art pieces, but one of my favourites is still Reason Over Passion. If this piece looks vaguely familiar, it may be because you saw it on this blog in 2017 as part of the Art With Fabric Blog Hop. At the time, I had photos and a postcard of the piece but this weekend, I finally saw it in all of its glory at the exhibition. It did not disappoint! 😁

Reason Over Passion by Joyce Wieland

This is my much smaller version of the quilt, which is called Reason & Passion. If you want to read more about this quilt, go to the last two bullets in "Related links" below.

Reason & Passion by Andrée G. Faubert

What I learned
  • It's a little scary to see how Joyce Wieland's art is still so relevant today. One of the curator's wrote that it's rather sad because Joyce hoped for a better world.
  • I've only talked about Joyce Wieland's textile art, but she loved working with many forms and techniques: film, paint, collage (before it was a thing!), making art with plastics and found objects.
  • There was so much art to see. Most were very colourful while others softer and subtle.
  • In writing this post, I found some really great articles about the artist and the exhibition. If you're at all interested, you may want to go down that worthwhile rabbit hole.
  • I have to admit that I don't always get Joyce Wieland's art, especially her non-textile pieces. The articles and discussion with my girlfriend helped me understand it better.
  • If you've noticed that this post is late, it's because I've since been spending some quality time at our local hospital. It turns out that I now have a rather serious eye infection. I now have meds and drops but I'll be going back for more tests and consultations. I am SO GRATEFUL to my daughter and girlfriend for making me go to the emergency. I am also amazed by the team of doctors who have taken an interest in my case... they love to see new things and puzzle out what's what! I'm glad that I could oblige but I hope that this will be resolve soon 😁
  • UPDATE: it looks like my issue is a side effect of the radiation from a year and a half ago...and NOT serious. Phew!
  • I'm sorry that I don't have the time to feature some great quilt from last week but this is about as much as I can manage. I'm so happy that I started this post before going to the hospital!
  • UPDATE: If you're in the Toronto area, you will be able to see Joyce Wieland - Heart On show at the Art Gallery of Ontario starting June 18, 2025. 
Related links
Linking parties
I'll be linking to many fun linking parties. You might want to check some out. Remember to link up below! Put your foot down, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off The Wall Friday, Finished (Or Not) Friday, Monday Musing,  

Free Motion Mavericks


Welcome to week 530 of Free Motion Mavericks! Last week was a very productive week! Thanks for linking up. I'm afraid that I'm back in the hospital system getting tested for my eye. I didn't have a chance to prepare the featured posts, or visit some of them. I will be visiting soon and I hope that you'll be linking up below. I'm confident that things will get back to normal again soon.😊

It's now your turn to link up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
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Sunday, April 18, 2021

Week 3 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

It's getting harder to keep up but I sort of did. I managed to forget to post on Friday (although I was sure that I had but didn't check...) Oh well, it's not really going to make any difference in anyone's life so I guess it's fine.😊 For those of you who haven't been following along, the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art) is hosted by Frédérique as part of the larger #AtoZchallenge2021. For 26 days in April, with Sunday's off, we post about our subject - mine is art quilts. So every day I post the letter of the day on Instagram and them link up to Frédérique's linking party. So, here are my posts of the week, from J to O.

J is for Journal

I posted my big Stitcher's Journal that I had created from old embroidery pieces that I had done when I took up embroidery after at least 20 years off! 



These are samplers made from the book, Beginner's Guide to Freestyle Embroidery by Christina Marsh. If you are beginning to embroider and like simple books with lots of projects, I highly recommend this one!

Nature Lover's Journal
I've also made many, many more journals since taking the workshop with Ali Ferguson through the Stitch Club at TextileArtist.org.  These are so easy to make and can hold all kinds of fun things, from stitchy treasures to your thoughts of gratitude.


Gratitude Journal








K is for Knots, French

You may remember this piece from last summer when I made "Ça va bien aller" for my daughter. It’s based on a workshop with Haf Weighton through TextileArtist.org.  If  you look at the center of the daisies, they are full of French Knots. You can read the story behind it in the original post whose link is in Related links below.

 "Ça va bien aller" 

L is for Leaves 

The piece is called Swirling Leaves and was made for the Hello Fall Blog Hop hosted by Carla of Creatin' in the sticks. The leaves are all hand-dyed fabrics and I had a great time FMQ it. 

Swirling Leaves

Using variegated threads for the leaves 

Photo shoot in the garden









M is for Mark Making

Marks and Stitches was made following Gregory Todd Wilkins' workshop with TextileArtist.org. We started by painting panels with various colours, stencils etc. From there, I chose one panel to embroider and bead.  It was a wonderfully portable project that I took while we did a mini trip last summer.

Marks and Stitches


Eight painted panels
A great way to play with different embroidery stitches



N is for Nature

Clover at Dusk was created without a workshop or challenge. It was pure inspiration. As I was walking at dusk with Chevy, we went by a sea of clover in the grass. Behind it were wonderful changing leaves cascading from the fence and a few blinking fireflies to add to the scene. When I got home, I sketched it from memory and went back the next day to see it in daylight. It's a good thing that I went the next day because by that evening, the owner had mowed the law and all of the clover flowers were gone!

Clover at Dusk art quilt


O is for Old (reuse and recycle)

This is a Flower sampler embroidered with plastic strips from plastic grocery bags. It was made following a workshop with Susie Vickery through TextileArtist.org.  The background is an old chenille throw that has had many different uses, including the most comfortable pillows on the couch. The chenille was perfect to stitch through.  

Flower sampler embroidered with plastic strips

Embroidering on chenille with plastic
required a hoop






















What I learned

  • As I've been going through my posts, I've seen a few interesting patterns.
    • I use the word "more" too often in post titles.
    • I often forget to take pictures while I'm making projects. 
    • At the beginning, a large number of my art quilts were created in blog hops and challenges.
    • Once I started taking workshops through TextileArtist.org, most of the art quilts originated from there.
  • I am very glad that last weekend I got ahead of planning my posts. It was too lovely not to work in the garden this weekend and I am exhausted!

Related links

Linking parties
I'll be linking up to many fun linking parties. Let's see what's going on out there! The first party is at Frédérique's Patchwork and Quilts. If you have time, check out the other participants of the  #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt. There are some very cool posts to see. Put Your Foot Down, Off the Wall Friday, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Midweek Makers, 

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Sunday, April 11, 2021

Week 2 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

I've managed to stay organised and on time for week 2 of the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art). My next challenge is to do the same for week 3 😊 I want to say thank you to Frédérique for hosting this wonderful challenge.💝 If you didn't catch my posts on Instagram or through Frédérique's daily linking parties, here is the recap with bonus material.

D is for Dyeing fabric and thread

The first image is of all the perle cotton (#8 and #12) that I dyed in the last year. The very bright pink (there are technically 2 different shades but I can't really tell them apart), was dyed last July. You can access the posts in Related links below.  

The gray was done a month later while the other colours were dyed in two different batches in February of this year, but I haven't posted about those yet.

Perle Cotton dyed in the last year

The purple cotton was also dyed in February. There was no fancy tying, just rolling it up and tying where I could with hair ties. I just love the effect. Of course I have to idea what I'll be doing with it, but I'm sure that it will be perfect for a project one day!

Lovely purple dyed fabric

In the second batch of dying that I did in February, I dyed a white bamboo fitted sheet for my daughter. If this doesn't make for happy dreams, I don't know what will!

Bamboo fitted sheet for great dreams

E is for Embroidery Stitches

These are my three favourite meditation blocks on the Traveller’s Blanket (so far). There is a house, seascape, a rose block and lots of different embroidery stitches. The embroidery included blanket stitch, cording, cross stitch, French knots, back stitch, chain stitch, stem stitch, satin stitch and fly stitch. 

For the house block, I appliquéd the house onto some hand-dyed fabric. I had a lot of fun embroidering the block itself and then around it on the blanket. I forgot to add the Palestrina stitch on my list of stitches. It's the outside border stitch that looks like lace. It's time consuming but super easy to do. 

The house block - love the Palestrina stitch

This one is called the Shining rose block. Once upon a time I had stitched a rose on a napkin, but obviously never got around to making the whole set. At some point, I dyed the napkin and then cut it up to make this meditation block. I added shiny ribbon that I save up when I buy things and used metallic floss.

The Shining Rose block surrounded by chain stitch

I made this block after making the seashell container (see G for Grommet below). I used dyed cheese cloth over a piece of dyed cloth. I added the seashells and lots of stitching. The seashells come from a necklace that I purchased on a trip. That's how I get a lot of my lovely beads, stones and shells!

The seascape block with variations of the fly stitch

F is for Free Motion Quilting (FMQ)

The piece is Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever?  It was part of the Colour Unboxed Exhibition with the Out Of The Box fibre artists group (OOTB). I learned a lot when making this piece, especially about the importance of value in design.

Lone Tree 2: Tired or Overachiever?
It features tons of free motion quilting

G is for Grommet

The piece is a Seashell Container made during a workshop with Debbie Lyddon through the TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club. It was the first time that I hand-stitched a grommet. 

Seashell Container with hand-stitched grommets

Inside the Seashell Container
Front of Seashell Container

H is for Hexies

This piece is Sweet Memories: Northern Lights It was the first time that I did English Paper Piecing (EPP) and it was love at first try! It's also about the night that I was speaking on the phone to my mother, who was about 600 km (350 miles) away. I was looking out the north facing window and saw the Northern Lights. I told my mother this and she went to her office window and we watched them together. It was indeed a sweet memory. 

Sweet Memories: Northern Lights
featuring English Paper Pieced hexies

I is for Improv Piecing

The piece is Exit Strategy 1. It’s all about trying out new techniques on a foundation of improv pieced batik fabric.

Exit Strategy - made on an improv pieced background

I learned many techniques while making Exit Strategy and it took me over a year to finish. If you want to read about it, see the link to the Exit Strategy page in Related links.

What I learned

  • I have finally mastered the art of copying and pasting my information and adding one or two images in Instagram. You see, practice does help 😊 I've also gotten much better at linking my Instagram post to Frédérique's linking party. Yeah me!!!
  • I haven't mastered the art of getting up early to post though. Let's face it, it doesn't really matter what time I post as long as it's within the day. One night I couldn't sleep and it was posted at 4 am. Hopefully that won't happen again!
  • My secret to participating is being organised. It was easy to write the post for week 1 since it was only three days. This post took me much longer. However, since I included all of the blog posts in my working document, it did make it easier.
  • I'm now going to start getting ready for week 3. Although I have my words figured out, it will start getting more difficult to find examples of work that I haven't previously used.
Related links

Linking parties
I will be linking up to Frédérique's Patchwork & Quilts as well as Free Motion Mavericks with Muv (I'll be hosting on Thursday). Slow Sunday Stitching, Oh Scrap!, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Off The Wall Friday, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, 



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Saturday, April 03, 2021

Week 1 of #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt (Art)

The #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt started April 1 and I posted my first three letters on Instagram. If you didn't catch them, here is a recap.

A is for Art appliqué 

The piece is A White History of Art and the image that I used to illustrate Art Appliqué is the close-up of the representation of The White Girl by Whistler.

It was created for Art with Fabric Blog Hop, Fall 2018. It is based on a BBC series called History of Art in Three Colours. This piece is an interpretation of the White episode and the picture below portrays  The White Girl by Whistler.

Representation of a Symphony in White, No. 1:
The White Girl by Whistler

Here is an image of the entire piece. If you're interested in reading more about it, see Related links below.

A White History of Art

B is for Batik

The piece is called Peek-a-boo Red. It's totally hand-stitched with embroidery and beading. Peeking out from behind the curtain, you can see the batik hexies.

It's one of four mini art quilts that I create for the Summer Fibrations Art Show by the Out of the Box (OOTB) Artists Group which was held at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte Ontario in June - July 2019.

Peek-a-boo Red with Batik Hexies peeking out from the curtain

C is for Couching and Cording

The piece is called BIG Mandala to Help Heal the World. It was created for the Project Quilting Quarantine 2020. I made my own cording and then couched it down between the different parts of the Mandala. 

Hand-made cording that is couched down

BIG Mandala to help heal the world - PQQ 2020


What I learned

  • I am very impressed that I was really organised and ready to post all of these without too much effort. 
  • I don't generally like to post on Instagram because I have to write all of the information, including # tags on my phone. It's a really pain. It's not perfected yet but I wrote all three posts in a Word document and copied the wording for all three in an email. I was then able to go back to the email, copy the text and post it in Instagram.
  • I'm actually getting better on my phone, switching from one window to the other....that always made me nervous but I'm better at it now.
  • Posting from Instagram to the #AtoZchallenge2021Quilt linking party with Frédérique at Quilting, Patchwork, Appliqué using my phone was more of a challenge. I don't think that the problem is with InLinkz (who were very helpful) but with Instagram. Even now I'm wouldn't know that it was linked if not for going on the computer to check. 
  • It's definitely a learning process and I expect to be an expert by the end of April 😊 
  • I'm really glad that it's a really long weekend so that I'll have time to prepare for next week, and maybe even more!

Related links

Linking parties
I will be linking up to lots of fun linking parties. Be sure to check them out if you get a chance! Patchwork & Quilts, Put Your Foot Down, Off the Wall Fridays, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Peacock Party, Oh Scrap!, Monday Making, Design Wall Monday, 




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Tuesday, November 06, 2018

A White History of Art - Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Welcome to the fall 2018 edition of the Art with Fabric blog hop. I'm thrilled to be participating again and would like to thank Alida for all of her hard work :-)

A White History of Art

A White History of Art
When Alida said that the theme would be colour, I'm not sure that I saw the "favourite" in front of it. For me colour is everything! I had a few ideas and when I mentioned them to my daughter, she suggested that I watch the BBC documentaries, History of Art in Three Colours. It was a great series that examined the role of gold, blue and white in art. I made notes on each documentary but the third one had me sketching - a very good sign!

I knew that I wanted images representing the shift in how we see art that was partially caused by the role of the colour white in art history.

The premise of the White documentary is that during the Renaissance, white art, particularly the sculptures of the Greek and Roman times, were seen as representing purity, simplicity, and elegance. White slowly evolved to represent the elite art of the establishment and eventually the superior white of conquerors.

The White of the Renaissance

The top corner images represent the Greek and Roman marble sculptures that were so admired from the Renaissance to the early 19th century.
Marble bust of a Goddess
In the top space are free motion quilted or embroidered words: purity, elegance, virtues, and simplicity. 
Marble torso of a man
In the top centre is a piece representing a white honey dish, made by the potter Josiah Wedgwood. Wedgwood experimented for years before coming up with the perfect white glaze for pottery.
White honey dish in a style made by Josiah Wedgwood.
White as elitist

The purity of white that was so revered from Renaissance, slowly changed from elegant and virtuous to represent an elitist, cold and sterile perfection in the modern era. As described in the documentary, one of the artists who started art's journey toward this exclusive and elitist path was James Abbott McNeill Whistler, an American who lived mostly in England. 
Representation of a Symphony in White, No. 1: The White Girl by Whistler
Through his paintings and the manner in which he displayed his art, Whistler represented a world where art was less approachable and more exclusive. He was one of the first artists to present his paintings on white walls with large spaces between each painting. Before this time, paintings were usually hung on walls with very little space between them, almost from floor to ceiling. 

This change, which was eventually called the white cube, resulted in art galleries, and the art within, to be seen as special spaces that were less accessible to the general public. The image below is the White Cube.
White cube - a huge shift in how we view art
During the years that followed, many modern artists started rebelling from this view of art. One of these is my daughter's favourite artist, Marcel Duchamp. In 1917 he created Fountain. My image isn't that obvious but it's a very white porcelain urinal. This was part of Duchamp's use of "ready-mades", everyday objects seen as art.  
Fountain - questioning what we see as art
From Duchamp, the documentary takes a journey to the fascist environment in Europe around the Second World War. It would seem that Hitler, Franco and Mussolini were huge fans of the purity of white marble. They had buildings, sculptures and monuments built to represent the new era. At this time, white is seen as austere and superior - the blanc moral. It is the colour of conquerors. 
The fascist view of white art
The White documentary approached the history of art from a different point of view. I found it all very fascinating. My hope for the future is that art starts being more accessible as it is shared and seen across the world through the internet. I also believe that the definition of art is also changing as people who would never have considered themselves artists a couple of decades ago are now seeing themselves and are being accepted as such. I suspect that the white history of art is far from finished!

What I learned
  • The background is an improvisation of white and off-white batiks that I used to make the background diamonds of the Kingfisher Stitch-Along blocks. 
  • I used many techniques to create this piece. I started with the centre panel of the White Girl. I wanted to make her three dimensional since there is no reason for a dress to be flat! I even pleated the top of her dress. It took a lot of experimenting but eventually I managed to get it all together.
  • Next came the marble torso and bust. For the torso, I was able to use an image, freezer paper, a light box and free motion quilting (FMQ) to get a fair semblance of a ripped torso. I didn't have any luck with that technique for the bust of the Goddess. I ended up using some photo transfer medium to create it. Unfortunately it turned out more grey than white. I covered it in white gauze to get a paler colour.
  • The white honey pot was a lot of fun to make. I used a shimmering tulle for the background and then used some shiny sheer fabric for the pot. I even added some metallic thread through the bobbin in the FMQ. Finally I found some perfect lace to go around the tulle to give it the look of a table cloth.
  • The fountain was next. In hindsight, I wish that I had chosen an image that showed it from a different angle so that it looked more like a urinal. I used a rougher, looser woven fabric for the background, with the look of burlap - to contrast with the shininess of the satin of the Fountain.
  • The last two images were commissioned by Mussolini. There is the marble obelisk which has Mussolini's name engraved upon it and the marble statue of a boxer at the Stadio dei Marmi in Rome. 
  • I added words that were used in the different eras to talk about white. Some are embroidered while others are FMQ. The latter are much more legible but the embroidery adds texture.
Related links
Linking parties
I will be linking this post to many linky parties. Why not check out what everyone else is doing? Below you will find the links to the other participants in the blog hop. Check out the great art with fabric😊  Tuesday Colour Linky Party, Linky Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF, Can I Get A Whoop Whoop?, Friday Foto Finish, Finished or Not Friday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Finish It Up Friday, Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Design Wall Monday, Moving It Forward, What I Made Monday, Wondering Camera, 

Project details


A White History of Art, based on the History of Art in Three Colours, WHITE
17½" x 17¾"
Materials: batik, cotton, satin, tulle, gauze, lace, burlap-type fabric, stabilizer, embroidery floss, beads, felt, metallic thread, Kimono silk thread
Techniques: photo transfer medium, improv piecing, markers, beading, embroidery, appliqué, FMQ, thread colouring.

Art with Fabric Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, November 5, 2018 - Day 1
Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - Day 2
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 - Day 3
Thursday, November 8, 2018 - Day 4
Friday, November 9, 2018 - Day 5



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