The two wool bundles from In the Middle of the World return to private collection

Her Arms Wrapped Round and My Heart,
 bundles of broken branches wrapped with dyed wool hanging in front of
Underfoot the Earth Divine, Judy's dyed linen and wool quilt.   
As they were installed in Artsplace, Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia, September 2024

These two wool bundles entered private collection in 2021 after the collector visited In the Middle of the World when the exhibition was installed at The Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte, Ontario.  In The Middle of the World is a two part exhibition of stitched art by Judy Martin and Penny Berens.  (curator Miranda Bouchard). The bundles are an important part of the show.   . 

My Heart with The Forever at the World of Threads, Oakville Ontario, October 2023

The exhibition went on tour in Canada during 2023 and 2024 and the collector kindly loaned the pieces back to the artist for this period of time..  

Her Arms Wrapped Round with Eternity at the World of Threads Festival, Oakville Ontario in 2023

The two bundles installed in the Douglas Family Art Centre, Kenora , May 2023
background is Penny Berens' Waiting Between Night and Day, hand stitched linen

Now the tour is over and the bundles are being returned to the collector who lives in Quebec.

Judy is full of gratitude.  

The titles of the two bundles come from this poem by WB Yeats.

When my arms wrap you round I press

My heart upon the loveliness

That is long faded from the world

W B Yeats  

Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant

Announcement:  Judy Martin was awarded an Ontario Arts Council Exhibition Assistance Grant

The grant will help cover the return shipping costs for her body of sculptural work from Annapolis Royal Nova Scotia to Manitoulin Island Ontario.   The two person exhibition with Penny Berens and Judy Martin curated by Miranda Bouchard was entitled In the Middle of the World.  It was exhibited three times, twice in Ontario (Almonte and Kenora) and once in Nova Scotia.  The Nova Scotia show ran from September 7 until October 26, 2024.

The artist wishes to acknowledge and thank the OAC for the continued support of her work.

 

In the Middle of the World: Artsplace, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia September 7 - October 26, 2024

The naturally dyed, slow-stitched textile works of Judith E. Martin and Penny Berens inspire ways of seeing, sensing and reflection that are simultaneously outwards, at our surroundings; and inwards, at the landscapes within us.

 

Martin and Berens render time visible, and touch tangible, through the hand-stitched marks the accrue, map-like, across the surfaces of layered fabrics, forming worlds within their works.

Martin explores inner immensity, recording and reflecting upon the mutable nature of emotions, thoughts and dreams.

Berens looks outwards at and to nature, creating work informed by experiences with and within her ever-changing environment.

In the Middle of the World ushers audiences into the liminal space between earth and air, ground and sky, mind and body, knowing and sensing, static and shift.

The earth provides material and metaphor, the world is mother and muse, subject and symbol.

It is central to the artists' ways of seeing, making and understanding.  

Stirred by and searching for both meaning and feeling, the artists continue with and convey the gravity of vulnerability, bravery and humility. 

These works of stitch, natural fibre and plant-based colour speak of the intimacy of human connection that many are seeking out and leaning into amidst these turbulent, socially-distanced and tech-driven times; of connections to tradition  and the environment, and the urgency to renew them before it is too late; and of the importance of knowing and accepting one's location in the world.

All text:  Miranda Bouchard’s curatorial statement.  

In the Middle of the World in Nova Scotia this fall

The two-person exhibition, In the Middle of the World, will show in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia this fall.  This exhibition has been on tour since 2021 when it was displayed at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte Ontario as the autumn exhibition.    

The artists are:  Penny Berens and Judith e Martin.  The curator is Miranda Bouchard.  The three of them will speak at the opening reception September 7 at 2 pm.  

There is a catalogue available for viewing online at this link.  It  will also possible to purchase a hard copy from the gallery or from the MVTM. 

My Awakened Heart enters private collection

A personal favourite of the artist, this piece has been exhibited many times since it was finished in 2019.  Cotton, sari silk, silk velvet, natural dyes, wool, cotton and silk threads, hand stitched.       140 x 126 cm   

Sold into private collection through Guildworks Prince Edward County, Ontario Canada October 2023.