PUBLIC ART
Install In Place embroidery thread, 2020, site specific installation, Alliston ON, 2020
Due to COVID-19, art exhibits that I was a part of were postponed and art supplies could be challenging to get a hold of. I, like many artists, questioned how art could be helpful during this global event. I began to consider the reasons why I exhibit my work – which is often installation based- and the benefits to creative projects during a time of crisis. Through this inquiry, I kept coming back to the relationship between art and one’s community and the unique act of communicating with others through creative acts. With art galleries and museums closed and much art being only available mediated by a screen, I began transforming my porch and front lawn with a fibre art sculpture to connect with my neighbours and community.
Using embroidery thread from my own art supply reserve, I began creating a home-based installation working in the historical context of other installations artists who have used a home as the install site (re: Merzbau by Kurt Schwitters or Womanhouse by Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro). Over the course of four weeks in May/June, the laborious and repetitive process of working with fibre arts in this way allowed me to chat with people walking by, engage in conversations about art and life with the neighbour’s children, and watch my own kids playing in the driveway. The response has been awesome! Unexpected and nostalgic, the installation grows from the ground near the sidewalk reaching out to my porch like lines of energy mapping the space between each other; between ground and sky. Moving gently with the wind, the fibre vertically extends up to the ceiling of the porch as flexible bars both protecting my home space and drawing attention to the architecture.
The installation is not permanent – it will face the entropy of nature. Yet, it offers a moment to consider something different than heartache and restriction, and hopefully inspires others to keep making art and connecting with their community.
In Your Place 2024 nylon thread, metal part of the Seeds to Sow Temporary Public Art Exhibition, Barrie ON
Situated on the rooftop of the Downtown Branch of Barrie’s Public Library, In Your Place evokes the form of a tent and its many functions and associations. Constructed of a black steel frame, each of the three planes woven with nylon boating rope, the orientation of which drawing the eye to the layers of horizontal lines that map the surrounding area. It is a sculpture which brings our attention to our surroundings, and to bring awareness to our bodies with a playful invitation to move under the fibre tent planes.
In addition to the tent’s role in joyful play and imagination, it is at its core a symbol of shelter. It is a temporary structure also critically used in historic wars and the legacy of colonial settlement lingers in the peaked roofs of settler architecture. The current crisis of the unsheltered in Barrie and beyond is also acknowledged, with the hope of generating conversation and action with regards to the uncertainties many face in securing housing, the artwork itself a transient presence.
North Winds nylon twine, cast iron 2022 Public Installation at The North Restaurant, Barrie ON
As part of the Brightening Barriers Public Art Initiative , North Winds is a kinetic fibre sculpture that changes with the shifting nature of harbour weather. Using boating rope to articulate abstract sail-like shapes, the evolving nature of this piece will mimic the action of boats responding to the directional winds on the water.
Line Up nylon twine, maple wood 2021 Public Installation at The North Restaurant, Barrie ON
As part of the Brightening Barriers Public Art Initiative, Inspired by the heritage architecture of The North Restaurant and Barrie’s harbour, this fibre sculpture uses bright nylon boating/fishing twine and sailing knots to draw attention to the peaks of the roofline though geometric forms.
