The Fibreworks Studio and Gallery held its season opening reception on March 30 with a new show of Sunshine Coast artist Jennifer Love's textile paintings titled Cuttings. A crowd of Pender Harbour fans turned up at the opening to enjoy the Easter sunshine and hear more about the vibrant orange and yellow works of the fabric arts professional.
"The colours are inspired by tulips," the artist said. "I love them and they grow in my garden."
Love's medium is fabric which is dyed in rich colours and printed, often cut, layered, stitched, cut away and stitched again. As well as the tulips, many of her designs have been taken from slate, stone and other botanical specimens or have been arranged in geometric or random patterns from found objects.
The titles of the many pieces come afterwards. She points to "Reared in the Lap of Summer," for instance, and says that it is taken from verses by Kahlil Gibran. Other works have evoked titles from poets e.e. cummings or T.S. Eliot.
Love volunteers as the B.C. representative of the Surface Design Association that promotes the fibre arts through creative exploration of fibre and fabric. In her artist's statement, Love describes this interest in design: "I am particularly interested in intersections, disruptions and reversals where positive and negative space, natural and man-made patterns, order and randomness have an opportunity to coexist and interact."
Fabric arts have finally earned respect. "I can certainly say that art that is textile-based is moving more into the mainstream of the art world," she notes, adding that it's slowly becoming accepted as art as opposed to craft.
Love studied textile arts at Capilano College and has taught the subject in Australia. Prior to moving to the Coast, she had done curatorial work mostly at the Foxglove Fibre Arts Co-operative on Bowen Island where the members held exhibitions of work by local and international artists. She taught there, occasionally exhibited and sold work in the co-op's shop. Her current studio is called Foxglove Studio Two because she wanted to carry on with some of the goals and inspiration that she found at the co-op on Bowen Island.
Her studio is open by chance or appointment at the Fisherman's Resort and Marina in Garden Bay which she owns and operates with her partner.
The show runs until April 28 at the gallery in the Fibreworks yurts at 12887 Sunshine Coast Highway near Madeira Park. Phone 604-883-2380 or see www.fibreworksgallery.com for more.
