I Just Saw a Great Textile Art Exhibit in Toronto!
Textile art has long been dismissed as being less important, less sophisticated, just less “art” than other mediums, so I’m always thrilled to see a gallery host an exhibit highlighting this medium. This weekend I visited Gerrard Art Space in the East End to check out The Textile Show. I spoke with the woman there (I’m not sure if she was the curator or a member volunteer) and she said this is a show they put on annually, so I’ll seriously consider putting something together to participate next year.
The show included the work of 15 local artists. I loved seeing the variety of work being done in my medium by artists in my own city. Here are some of my favourites, but you should definitely go see the exhibit for yourself. The thing about textile art is that it is so textural that photographs don’t really do it justice and it’s best experienced in person.
Thread on canvas pieces by Caroline Reis
This collection by Carolina Reis is the first thing visitors see when they walk in the door. I love the blending of colours and the simple geometry combined with nature in the form of the bird silhouettes.
Needle felting by Jill Witherspoon
Needle felting is part of my art practice and I love to see what other artists do with it. This set is by Jill Witherspoon. According to the titles of these pieces, they depict scenes of Ontario nature in summer, at Algonquin and the Scarborough Bluffs in particular. The scenes are so lively and fun! Maybe I should do some pieces inspired by my family’s camping trips.
I love seeing textile artists combine paint and embroidery, it creates such a great variety of texture, and I spent a lot of time looking at these pieces by Lily Domingue. Her stitch work is loose and textured, giving it the feeling that it was done on site, like she sat down at the scene with paint and needle in hand. The raw edges of the fabric fraying lightly against the matting gives it a lot of character.
These little needle felted animal scenes in terrariums are so cute! What a great idea by Nancy Johnston! It was a little awkward to get photos because of the angle they were hung, so these photos don’t really do them justice. I think my favourite is the little foxes cuddled up together (middle picture).
This is only a small sampling of the pieces on display at Gerrard Art Space right now until March 8th. I hope you go see them and support some wonderful Toronto textile art.