Finding the Story between Patching and Dancing

Here it is the end of May and the sun has finally warmed the deck enough to sit outside and enjoy the yard! Frost has come most nights - so as yet the bedding plants still make their nightly trip to safety in the shed. Maybe by the weekend they will make it to the planters and begin their lives on my deck!

To celebrate International Museum Day in May, the Acadian Museum on the campus of the University of Moncton recently featured an interesting workshop for all fibre artists. Annette Léger White, who is a recognized textile conservator and restorer, included in her workshop "Every patch tells our story: darning, mending, patching and renewing techniques" all the different ways that you can creatively darn, patch or mend.

We were shown articles of clothing and other household items from the Acadian Museum's collection where creative and thrifty hands and minds had either extended the life of an early ladies cap with a little patch or reconstructed a christening dress from a mothers wedding dress.

The Little Red Patch

Annette Léger White at the Acadian Museum workshop

Also on display was a rug c.1905 that was still being used when it was recently donated to the museum. The green dyed mat is made from strips of frayed burlap that are sewn onto a burlap backing. The burlap came from old fertilizer sacks and all of the printing can still be seen on the backing. It's sewn to a piece of heavy clear plastic for display so that you can see both sides.

Front and back of Green Mat

Something else that the Acadian Museum recently acquired is a rug hooking/quilting frame (c. late 1930's )

that was made by Pierre à Fabien Léger, Breau Village, NB. Two sets of interchangeable side pieces make the frame adaptable for either a mat or a quilt.

So, how did I make the leap from patching to dancing? On May 28th I had the wonderful experience of watching the Atlantic Theatre Ballet perform their newest production "Piaf" at our restored historic Capitol Theater in Moncton, NB. It's all about creativity and taking a leap - for Edith Piaf to begin again after many set-backs, for the dancers to dance as a troupe and to literally catch each other while interpreting Piaf's story, to the pioneer women who used what they had to make the everyday beautiful.

On With the Show!!!!

Here's More Information About Our Upcoming Rug Show

This summer, between June 9 and September 13, 2014 everyone is invited to our hooked rug exhibition at the Lutz Mountain Heritage Museum which is located on the outskirts of Moncton, NB. Featured in the display are two large rugs hooked by Rachelle LeBlanc - one of Canada's best known fibre artists. Although she now lives in Alberta, Rachelle's roots are in Bouctouche, a small village a few miles north of Moncton. This summer in June she is returning to New Brunswick for two workshops - one at the Lutz Mountain Heritage Museum and another at a private studio in Bouctouche. Take a look at her web page to see the dates - one of the workshops is full but there are still a few spaces left in the other one!

Rachelle LeBlanc's Rugs for our Show

 An update on Della!

A second mat featuring my fiesty friend Della is in the works - this one may be submitted for a juried group show at the Swoon Gallery in Halifax later in July. Artists from all mediums are being challenged to submit a piece of art that "celebrates the sweet tooth" and to think "outside the cake box". The title for the show is "How Sweet It Is". Hmmm - wonder what Della can come up with!

This past spring artists were asked by Swoon to go to their website, view the displayed art and find inspiration to create a new piece for a group show. My choice was the abstract painting "Emerging" by Monika Wright. I was drawn to the colours that Monika uses in her beautiful work and the freedom of the shapes. Once finished, I chose to call my piece "Firestorm" - as it brought back memories of seeing on the news the red hot eruptions of lava from Mount St. Helens.

"Firestorm"  by P. Winans ©

Detail of edge of "Firestorm" by P.Winans ©

Both pieces displayed together at the Swoon Gallery Halifax

Introducing My New Friend Della

 

"Momma always said...Purple is the new black!"

Someone new has come to live at our house - let me introduce Della, a fiesty, opinionated lady of a certain age who loves to comment on whatever comes to mind and quotes her mother's wise sayings for all occasions. This is her first public appearance and hopefully she will stay with me awhile - I'm anxious to see what she will be up to!!!

It has been a busy time over the last few weeks getting organized for a rug show at the Lutz Mountain Heritage Museum. The LMHM is housed in a historic church building on the outskirts of Moncton, NB and each year they feature a special exhibit that runs for their full season from June to September. 

This year our rug show is featured and we have invited hookers from the three counties of Kent, Westmorland and Albert to participate. The theme of the exhibit is " Hooking Loops of Love for New Brunswick" and each mat will depict what the maker loves about New Brunswick. In addition, there will be a separate display of  mats using different interpretations of the pattern "Grandma's Mat'. The patron of LMHM  at one time worked in Labrador and Newfoundland and in the LMHM permanent collection on display is a variety of Grenfell mats and memorabilia.

My rendition of the 'Grandma's Mat' pattern  

More to come about the show!

The Ship is Launched!

"Forty Fathoms" - the ship is launched! (Patricia Winans in collaboration with Claude Roussel ©)

 

 

 

 

 

Happy to say that I am over half finished with "Forty Fathoms" for the opening of Les Hookeuses du Bor'de'lo et Roussel that is happening in August -  and all is going well. The deadline for the photo shoot is coming up and I am going to make it! I think that I will replace the white cord that I used for the boat with a softer cord as the linen backing is showing through a bit and also some of it isn't as white as I would like it to be. I wanted to used a cord of some type to give it a distinct nautical look.

Some detail of the design

I'm using a 60" Cheticamp frame to support the linen backing for the mat. I sewed the backing to the webbing on the frame at the top and bottom and then attached the linen on the sides by using extra long pipe cleaners (you can also twist two together to give extra length) secured to cup hooks on the end pieces of the frame. This idea came to me from my friend Lucy Richard (www.thewoolymasonjar.com) who is always coming up with lots of hints for rug hooking.

When it comes time to move on to hook the next section, it is easy to remove the pipe cleaners, roll the mat and then re-secure the sides with the pipe cleaners. Also, if you want to unroll what you have done to take a look at something you have already hooked, it isn't a big task to loosen the pipe cleaners and then secure them again. I can manage the tension better too - versus having a continuously running cord to secure the entire side.

Sides of work secured with pipe cleaners

Hope to have this mat finished by the end of March - then it is on to my piece of the mural!

Les Hookeuses du Bor'de'lo - Our Latest Art Project

First loops of Forty Fathoms  
( Patricia Winans in collaboration with Claude Roussel ©)

Les Hookeuses du Bor'de'lo  (of which I am a proud member!)  are a group of twenty New Brunswick women  who share friendship and a passion for traditional rug hooking. We come from various backgrounds as artists, some are professionals and others have a long history of being accomplished artisans in a variety of mediums.

Our exhibitions always have a theme and as well as the individual works, we have begun to include a group piece as part of the shows. In February, 2013 we launched Les hookeuses  s'ecartent  in Gallery 12 at the Aberdeen Cultural Center in Moncton. Here, the center piece of the show was a mural made up of hooked individual pieces which were put together on the wall like a jigsaw puzzle. The original design for the mural was done as a group process with each person making a contribution to the final design.

La mosaïque/The Mosaic    Les Hookeuses du Bor'de'lo 2013 ©

Our newest art project, entitled Les Hookeuses du Bor'de'lo & Roussel, will be show cased at the Congrés mondial acadien 2014 (World Acadian Congress 2014) later this year in August at the Université de Moncton, Edmunston, NB Campus.

All of the pieces in this show are inspired by works done by Claude Roussel, an accomplished Acadian Canadian artist and sculptor who in 1963 taught the first academic courses in art at the Université de Moncton. This was the beginning of the founding of the Fine Arts Department in 1972 at the university.

With the gracious collaboration of Roussel, we each chose a piece of his original work to interpret as well as choosing a section of one of his paintings that we are again going to assemble as a mosaic.

The painting I chose to interpret is a Roussel seascape and I call it Forty Fathoms. Some of the gals are finished already - I have made a healthy start on it - wish me luck!

Hooking En Plein Air

 

William Mitton Covered Bridge, Albert County, NB

It's a new year and a time to start on a new learning curve. Late in 2013 Lori La Laberge (www.lorilabergedesigns.com/) invited other artists to join with her and become part of a group of 'plein air' rug hookers. Thanks to Lori we now have our own web site with photos of our completed pieces, our bios and the invitation for other rug hookers to join us. Take a look at  www.pleinairhooking.com/ to see what we have been up to.

Hooking 'en plein air' is a bit of a challenge, especially for me at this time of year. It is cold outside and we have piles and piles of snow that came very early in the season. For these conditions it's acceptable to sit inside and hook what you see out of the window. I also will go to a site, sit in the car, make a sketch with notations and then roughly colour the sketch in with watercolour or coloured pencils. I then transfer the sketch to the linen backing, revisit the site to check what I have chosen for colours and work on the piece in the studio.  Sometimes it takes more than one trip to the site to be sure the light or colours are right.

When the weather is nice, it's very relaxing to work outside. Equipped with a comfortable chair, I make the sketch, colour it in and make further colour notes. After putting the design on the linen and choosing what I think I will need for the wool or fibre, its outside again to begin hooking. 

If you work outside at different times of day, it's difficult to capture the light and colours as the shadows keep shifting. My way around this is to try and work for an hour or so at the same time each day. It may take a few days to complete the work, depending on the size of the piece. Another tip is to work small - the largest that I have done 'en plein air' to date is about 8 by 12 inches. Like many famous 'plein air' artists such as the Canadian Group of Seven, these smaller works can be used as studies for larger works that are later completed in the studio.

I have attempted to paint with watercolours 'en plein air' and became frustrated with the quick drying paint. On windy or warm sunny days it was impossible to control things - never mind that working with watercolour is a challenge unto itself! Hooking 'en plein air' is much, much better!

October

November on the Petitcodiac Marsh

  

Flying Solo at the Moncton Public Library Gallery

 

Invitation to the show at the Moncton Public Library Gallery

October flew by this fall as I finished up my pieces for my exhibition at the Moncton Public Library Gallery and squeezed in a trip to Alberta to visit my daughter and her family. Once the show was underway early in November, the days again evaporated due to the busy work of participating in various local Christmas shows and fairs. December is now upon us and Christmas is almost here - a season I love for many reasons. Best of all is the wonderful week between Christmas and New Years day that I take for myself to regroup, ignore the clock and work on my 'bucket list' for the new year. 

The show at the Moncton Public Library Gallery was entitled "Shared Solitude" and there I invited viewers to

     Come walk with me among the paths

       that make up the labyrinths of our lives - where

       Our stories blend and in the telling,

I hear your story in mine.

We all have 'Once upon a times' where we thought we were alone

Only to find out by watching, listening, waiting - that no matter

Where we are, our solitudes are shared.

Our stories spring from time spent along our solitary paths

- no matter where we are.

P.Winans, 2013

Here are a few photos of some of the pieces in the show. Some are all fibre, some are mixed media - where I incorporated pieces of found rusted metal, glass, shell or wire with the fibre.

 

Set up at Moncton Public Library Gallery

A Bird's Eye View

Waiting II (Grand Manan)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wandering III (Uluru)

Exploring I (Great Barrier Reef)

Women's Gatherings (Alice Springs)

Sharing (Christchurch)

Waiting I (Bouctouche Bay)

Awakening

Always remember that "You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have (Maya Angelou)".