Gathering Myself
silk thread,
vintage bed linen

Part of
CONVERGENCE 2010
47th annual juried Exhibition of Fine Art

Jan 22 - Feb 28 2010
Opening Jan 22, 7 pm

Tom Thomson Art Gallery
Owen Sound Ontario

Metaphor and Moi

trunk show



November 19, 2009
7 pm



Mindemoya Community Centre
Manitoulin Island Canada

Here are some highlights from the article that Jackie White sent to the Expositor to promote Judy's talk.

Why does Judy quilt? "I love to stitch. I love the look and power of old quilts. I love the story telling and the many layers of meaning. I love the connection to the bed and all of life's major and minor rituals and passages. I feel that quilts are a woman artist's most honest medium."

At the national level, two of her quilts won top awards at the Canadian Quilters Association's National Juried quilt show in Saskatoon last May. "Twenty Four Hour Care" won first place in the traditional wall quilt category and "Memory of Wikwemikong" won second place in abstract wall quilt.

If quilting doesn't keep her busy enough, Judy is working on a second BA. She already has an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lakehead University (1993). And the current degree is an Honours BA in Embroidered Textiles. Middlesex University in the UK gives creditation to the courses that she is studying with the Julia Caprara School of Textile Art. She participates in this study by email and phone tutorials and sends her work in for assessment every four months. She has been doing this for three years and has three more left.

After quilting for four decades, it is amazing she is still motivated to pursue this hobby. What keeps Judy going? "The next one. I just love to do it. I'm passionate about art and about cloth and about communicating with others through visual means."
Judy Martin's new work reflects her current passion for hand stitching. She's used embroidery before in her quilts, but the new work takes it further to a more powerful level. Judy says that she "has become much simpler in the designs I like to use in my work. Circles predominate, and grids of dots are the favourites. I want to affect people at an emotional level."

If you want to meet this remarkable woman and see her outstanding quilts, please come to the Mindemoya Community Centre on November 19th at 7 pm. Guest admission is $3.00.

Manitoulin Community Circles
Starts Thursday October 29
noon - 8 pm
Little Current United Church

Article by Jim Moodie in the Manitoulin Expositor - October 14 2009

There's a time to rend, and a time to sew. This is one of the latter: On October 29, local fabric artist Judy Martin will be holding the first of many weekly stitching bees for an ambitious new undertaking that will involve the creation of four large tapestries to enhance the contemplative timbre of religious services at Little Current United Church. To realize the liturgical wall hangings - each will measure 90" square - Ms. Martin is counting on the help of many hands.

"It's a little daunting, because it is a very large project," she said. "This is partly why, if the community is willing to help, it will be good for me. And I love the idea of making something for the community, by the community."

The idea grew out of an assignment Ms. Martin had to fulfill for a fine art degree in embroidered textiles that she's taking through the Julia Caprara School, accredited by Middlesex University in England. "Liturgical embroidery is one of my courses, and I asked Reverend Faye Stevens to help me out," she said. "I did a presentation for the congregation and they were excited, so it got me excited, and it's grown much larger than it actually needed to be."

The artist has already completed the designs for each of the four pieces - there will actually be five, as she's also creating a smaller work, known as a 'fall' to decorate the pulpit - by rendering the images in acrylic, ink and watercolour on 24" square pieces of paper.

Each of the bigger wall fabrics will be distinct in appearance, yet follow the same design motif of a circle within a square. Ms Martin explained that the symbol goes back many centuries, reaching further back even than Christianity," yet lends itself to a holy purpose as well as reflect the local landscape.

With the circle representing the sky or firmament, and the square a building, the two together suggest a church - a place in which heaven is brought down to earth and embraced. In two of her designs, the circle is bisected by a lateral line, which suggests a horizon with sky above and water below. "That seemed like a really good thing to have for an island setting,: she said. Three of the pieces will contain a cross symbol.

Along with the minimalist designs, the colours will be relatively simple - white and cream, connoting purity and celebration, will dominate, with some splashes of blue and gold.

The fabrics include recycled damask tablecloths, linen handkerchiefs, wool blankets, and silk, and all of this material will need to be hand-stitched. "We'll be re purposing all these beautiful, domestic textiles into lustrous, meditative, mainly white wall hangings," Ms Martin enthused.

Anyone is welcome to don a thimble and lend a few fingers. "It will involve a lot of embroidery stitching as well as foundation piecing and reverse applique," said the artist. Later, once the tops are done, I want them hand quilted, and some people might like to come for the quilting part." she added.

While the focus will be on completing this time-consuming installation, Ms Martin said the experience should also allow for an exchange of ideas and techniques. "I'll teach some skills as needed, and I hope that during lunch breaks I can also look at other people's work and give feedback," she noted. "I'm sure everyone will have a lot of ideas, and there are a lot of women in Little Current and the surrounding area who are technically better than me, so they will teach me something too."

Helpers need not be sewing pros or even United Church parishioners, although many of the latter will likely be the most inspired to take part. "It can be experts or beginners, and it's open to anyone in the congregation as well as the wider community," said Ms Martin.

Stitching sessions will be held each Thursday, beginning October 29, from noon until 8 pm at the United Church hall, although it isn't essential that volunteers ply a needle and thread for that whole eight hour period. "I'm committed to be there for that time, but I'm just asking people to spend an hour or an hour and a half, whatever they can" said Ms Martin.

The artist feels the collaborative process will be a new adventure for her. "I work alone, so this will be different for me," she said. "It actually may be a break through for me personally. As much as creating a product, this will be a process of being together and the labour we all put into it."

The realization of these spiritual art pieces will not occur overnight. Hand stitching is a painstaking process, as is hand-quilting, and the works are anything but small. Accordingly, Ms Martin expects that it will be June of 2011 before the hangings are complete.

Her thought, subject to input from the church, would be to install the finished work at Little Current United for the summer and early fall of 2011, then exhibit them at a gallery in Thunder Bay and possibly at other galleries through 2012. Ultimately, she expects they would find a permanent place on the walls of the local church that inspired their creation and for which they have been conceived.

Those interested in contributing to this project are encouraged to contact Faye Stevens at 704 368 0835, Julia McCutcheon at 705 368 3101, or Ms Martin herself at 368 3819.

A Common Thread
World of Threads Festival
Oakville Ontario

Sept 19 - Oct 4

There are three
venues for this
juried exhibition.

Memory Of Wikwemikong
will be showing at
the Towne Square
Gallery

Manitoulin Community Circle Project

On September 13, I made a presentation about this project to the Little Current United Church congregation during the Sunday service.

The project is to make four large square pieced
and embroidered textiles, each
with a large circle contained
within a large square.

These are to be liturgical pieces to aid with meditation during a formal religious service. They will be made over a period of nearly two years by Judy and members of the community of Manitoulin.

Most materials will be recycled domestic textiles such as damask tablecloths, wool blankets, linen handkerciefs. New silk will also be used. The method of construction will be hand stitching.

Every Thursday
noon till 8 pm
Little Current United Church Hall
Begins October 29, 2009
Continues until 2011.

Phone Judy, Faye Stevens or Julia McCutcheon for further information.

ART QUILTING

We will spend four hours together, once a month.
We will produce our own painted and dyed fabrics.
We will study contemporary quilt artists.
We will use journals and sketchbooks to find our personal voice.
We will bring our work to the group and receive feedback.
We will do hand work.

Tuesday during the day 11 am to 3 pm (bring snack)
Tuesday during the evening 5 pm to 9 pm (bring snack
Six sessions: September, October, November 2009
January, February, March 2010

The classes will take place in Judy’s studio above the Post Office in Little Current

Tentative outline for the first three months:

September 22
Introduction to wax batik with procion dye (single colour)
Introduction to reverse appliqué (single colour)
Canadian artist, Dorothy Caldwell
Overview of art quilting.

October 20
Block printing
Hand embroidery: Blanket stitch, stem stitch, running stitch
Canadian artist, Anna Torma
Using a design wall.

November 24
Metal techniques including gold leaf
Cloth books
Canadian artist, Joyce Wieland
Finding a personal voice.

Please bring the following to the first class:
A piece of your own creative work
A blank book or journal, pen or pencil.
Two different 12-inch squares of cloth for reverse appliqué
Needle and sewing thread to match.

The cost of $50.00 for each four-hour session includes materials.
Classes are limited to five participants each.

Fresh Water Art Show
Last night I judged the
paintings and photographs
in this art show
sponsored by Manitoulin Streams.

There were forty five artworks
and the quality in every single
one of them was very high.


Mary Nelder and Moira Elsley
were the other judges.
On view for the last two weeks of August at the Providence Bay Interpretive Centre.