The Art Bank's Visual Echoes exhibition features On the Lake by Judy Martin

 

On the Lake by Judy Martin  (1989)   

photographs, thread, cotton, satin binding, 52 x 103 cm, 1989  Collection of the Canada Council Art Bank

Every year, students are invited to curate thematic displays for the Canada Council Art Bank.  This year's thematic display explores the world of visual patterns - from the mere repetition of motifs to the intricate manipulation and fragmentation of images, these works unveil hidden narratives and harmonies that shape our understanding of art and the world around us.  

Visual Echoes celebrates art's ability to transcend limitations, inviting viewers to contemplate the profound connections between repetition, perception and human experience.  Let's take a moment to look at some of the treasure troves of Visual Echoes that will transport you back to the pre-photoshop era of digital magic.  

Can you imagine stitching photographs together to form your ideal view of something?  Well, to visualize an open panorama of water and sky, Judy Martin patchworked a quilt of photographs and wove them together with threads of nostalgia.  

The above text is by Fara Abn, the graduate student from Carlton University who curated Visual Echoes.  It is written and also recorded and available on the online exhibition.  Martin's work was the first one of four highlighted pieces.    

The other three other featured pieces in the online version of Visual Echoes are:  Andrea Mortson's 365 small paintings of chandeliers 1998, John Massey's Black Eye (below) 1988-89 a collage of photographs, and Jane Kidd's vibrant tapestry, Falling Thoughts.  The exhibition includes several more rather prominent Canadian artists such as Michael Snow and Dyan Marie.  Please click on this link to experience the web - exhibition.  

  

The Canada Council Art Bank participated in Doors Open Ottawa with the Visual Echoes exhibition on June 1, 2024  from 10 am to 4 pm, at their 921 St Laurent Boulevard location in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.  Read about it at this link.

Under Drifting Stars tours with Quilt National to Minnesota this summer

 Quilt National 2023 is currently touring the USA.  The original exhibition has been divided into three parts, and Judy Martin's large lightweight cotton quilt is in Collection A.  

Under Drifting Stars   very lightweight cotton with a silk batt, embroidery floss, wool and silk thread, hand stitched and hand quilted,   86 x 91 inches, 2022

Collection A of Quilt National will be on view at the Historical Society of Clay County,  Moorhead, Minnesota from July 1 until September 30, 2024.

Each quilt that goes into a Quilt National exhibition must have the title and name of the artist sewn onto a label on the back of the quilt.  The images in this post show how the artist made an embroidered label and added extra embroidery to the hanging sleeve that blended with the stitching on the back of the quilt.  For more images of the finished quilt, visit Judy's website.  judithemartin.com  

Poet in Love goes to Kitchener for the Renewal Exhibition

Poet in Love was juried into the Renewal show, organized by SAQA for Canadian members.

To install the hanging sculpture, Judy provided a wooden hanger that she padded and covered with white velvet. 

The inside of this cloak is colourful and soft.

The back is interesting.

Judy Martin followed the quilting lines left by the original maker.  Poet in Love is a mended quilt.

The back is new naturally dyed rayon layered over a brand new polyester batt in half of the quilt, and a piece of wool pre-felt in the lower half.   When the piece was laundered in hot water, the wool shrunk and a natural shirring occurred.  This shrunken texture distorts the quilt and gives it an odd kind of sensuality.  

When Martin shipped Poet in Love to the Homer Watson Gallery in Kitchener, she forgot that artworks were not able to be hung from the ceiling.  You can see the slanted ceiling of the gallery space in the photo below (credit: Sue Sherman).  You can also see the beautiful skylight.    

Poet in Love (left)  installed in the main gallery of the Homer Watson Gallery for the Renewal Exhibition.

Poet in Love was installed hanging from a small wall bracket at the gallery.  Cathy Masterson, the curator, has indicated that she may be able to acquire a larger shelf bracket and lift the piece away from the wall.     

Poet in Love by Judy Martin (left)  and Find Your Way by Maggie Vanderweit (right)

Thank you to all involved for putting this show together and for doing your best with the installation. 

For more photos and a beautiful insight on the Renewal exhibition have a look at Sue Sherman's blogpost on art cloth network.   

After the installation, Martin sent a hanging cord made from silk fabric and metal rings to the gallery in case the gallery is able to re-install the piece with a larger shelf bracket.  The sketch of how the cord can be used is below. This cord is now part of the hanging device and will go with the velvet hanger as the Renewal exhibition tours the country. 

Renewal, a group show juried by David Kaye, Leona Herzog, and Brandt Eisner, will remain at the Homer Watson House and Gallery until September 8.  After that, it will tour museums and galleries across this big country of Canada until late 2026.  If this exhibition comes near you, Judy would appreciate seeing a photo of how the gallery was able to install this sculptural piece.  

The edges of this quilt were worn, so I covered them with white velvet. The

back was in tatters and the batting had fallen out so I layered new wool and

pre-felt first, then a new backing of naturally dyed silk and rayon. The blue

thread in the original heart-shaped design was still strong so I followed it

with new quilting stitches. Renewed with brightly coloured velvet patches

and wet felting, the old quilt is now greener than grass but at the same time

it is wrecked. Like a poet in love.

Exhibition in Print : SAQA journal

Sacred Ground     wool stitched with cotton and silk threads, 163 x 95 cm, a two-sided quilt by Judy Martin, 2024

Selected for the first exhibition in print with SAQA by jurors Nancy Bavor, Linda Colsh and Alice Beasley.

red sky, red water side b of sacred ground by Judy Martin

Informed by solitude and by the earth, and the plants that grow wild, 

Quieted by the slowness of hand stitching, and the dreamy place it sends me.

Comforted by the peaceful horizon line I look at across the water

Inspired by trembling grasses and by birdsong, by every day and by every evening, 

By the view of sky and water that I wake with, 

A reverence for moments briefly glimpsed but always there.   Judith e Martin 2024

One of 40 pieces juried for the first ever SAQA exhibition in print.  This exhibition will be included in the SAQA journal 2024 Issue #4  (available in December) 

Back Stitch with Zak Foster went live June 27.

Zak Foster and Judy Martin had a second interview in early June for a BACKSTITCH podcast.  It is now live and you can listen to it at this link.

Renewal

Renewal 

an exhibition of Canadian quilt artists organized by SAQA  (Studio Art Quilts Association).

The show begins its two year Canadian tour at the Homer Watson House and Gallery in Kitchener July 5 - September 8 2024.

There will be an opening reception on Sunday July 7 at 1 pm.

A catalogue is available for purchase from the gallery.  Click here to find out more information including a list of the 33 artists.    

Judith e Martin's mended quilt - cloak, Poet in Love, is part of this exhibition.  

Friday Feature Artist - Judith E. Martin