The work of the Surface Design Association (SDA) is on display in a show called Materialize at Fibreworks Gallery near Madeira Park.
Surface Design is a rather dry name for an exciting group of artists who creatively explore fibre and fabric. An enthusiastic contingent of the international SDA is from the Sunshine Coast, and 15 of them are featured in the current show.
Gail Hunt has produced the most painterly work in fabric from among her Canadian Series VII, a finely crafted scene of an Aboriginal mortuary pole in its woodland setting. It’s so detailed it defies the eye to view it as composed from fabric and stitching. Another work by Hunt, Robert Service’s Cabin, is also intricate — it’s surrounded by a pattern of bear paw prints and excerpts of verse from the Canadian poet.
Connie Chapman’s Winter’s Palette uses a technique of removing colour from her work. She’s added a touch of colour back to the piece with the use of red Tyvek building material as an accent. Sharon Roye has also worked with removing colour in a process known as encaustic. The result is striking. Trisha Joel takes the centre display area in the round gallery to show her cotton wall hanging. She has carefully removed colour from black fabric to reveal a mottled surface similar to the bark of a paper birch tree.
Pat Crucil is an internationally renowned fibre artist and an award-winning quilter who has several pieces in the show. Her newer work consists of wood-mounted fabric that is then dyed, collaged and screen printed. A wax resist elicits layers of dots to create abstracts of great originality.
Dorothy Cross shows a subtle piece: moss growing over old stones in her stitched work, Orkney Stones, evoking the fading away of something ancient.
By contrast, Jill Sullivan’s colourful print reminds the viewer of fresh and new brushstrokes on a cedar fence. Sullivan is all about colour. Her House on the Hill is hand dyed and machine stitched cotton.
The imaginative work of Penelope Cornell sits on a mirror for added effect. The two pieces are hand-made busts, forms moulded on a woman’s body, and each reveals a whimsical interior with a message. Woman One is comprised of wishbones, postage stamps and sunglasses surrounded by fabric embellished with peacock feathers. The other, Child, has an exterior of rice paper embellished with lace and the interior shows colourful broken glass picked up after a traffic accident. It’s not gruesome; —in fact; it’s quite delightful, proving once again that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Materialize is on show until May 25. Gallery hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays or by appointment. The gallery and workshop venues are located in the yurts, 12887 Highway 101.
A new show opens on June 1 titled Thr3fold Unfinished Business, with Catherine Nicholls and Laura and Linda Kemshall. Nicholls offers a workshop in printing to create form, function and beauty June 13 to 15. See www.fibreworksgallery.com for more, or call 604-883-2380 to register.
