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.

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.  

Poet in Love selected for Renewal exhibition

Judy Martin's entry Poet in Love was one of 33 pieces selected by jurors David Kaye, Leona Herzog and Brandt Eisner for the SAQA Canadian Regional Juried Exhibition Renewal, from among 187 entries.   The exhibition will debut at the Homer Watson House and Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario from July 5 to September 8, 2024.  The exhibition will tour until early 2027.

Congratulations to all of us (see list below) and thank you to the jurors and to the hard-working SAQA committee who organized this opportunity. 

Terry Aske - Witch Hazel Magic

Susan Avishai - Rise Again

Heather Bennett - Covid Spring

Sabrina Capune - A Chinook Renewal of Winter

Victoria Carley - Blakiston 2023

Robynne Cole - Life Rings True

Mary Cope - Beneath Our Surface

Millie Cumming - Please, Please

Donna-Fay Digance - Forest Renewal

Lori A. Everett - Forest Hope

Kristi Farrier - My Mother’s Garden

Mita Giacomini - Bovinity

Heather A. Hager - Urban Renewal

Margaret Inkster - Frosty Fronds

Joan Flett Kilpatrick - Celebrate

Steph Kincaid - Can’t Keep Me Down

Tracey Lawko - Harbingers

Toni Major - Leaving the Dark

Judy Martin Poet in Love

Marie McEachern - First Blooms

Beth McKay - Making Peace

Lee McLean - Reclaiming Joy

Diane Nunez - Twister 2

Jenny Perry - There is a Crack in Everything

Lorraine Roy - Germination

Helena Scheffer - Kiribati

Susan Selby - Winter Solstice

Linda Strowbridge - Long Street Legacy

Maggie Vanderweit - Find Your Way

Kit Vincent - Tri-Colour White

Anna Wagner Ott - Shroud

Lynda Williamson - Passing On

Beth Susan van Wyngaarden - Kim’s Pine Cone 

Celebration of Women's History Month

paradise is what lies beyond the horizon  2012  Judy Martin, domestic linen, acrylic paint, thread on paper

time, dream, memory: dream  2014  Judy Martin  re-purposed wool blanket, red thread, vandyke print, vintage frame 

Four of Judy Martin's framed pieces (2 shown above) will be shown in the exhibition in celebration of women's history month, 9th floor, Capital one North York campus, 5140 yonge street, Toronto from August 2017 until November 2017.

Tracey Capes fine art consulting arranged the exhibition through the David Kaye Gallery.

Other women artists in this small exhibition:  Susan Warner Keene, Valerie Knapp, Loree Ovens, and Sylvia Ptak.  The opening reception - meet the artists is scheduled for October 30, 2017 from 4-6 pm.