cherished
threads waiting to be carried to the back of ‘and the sky was soft like cloth (juxtapositions #4)’
Thank you for joining me here in this week's quiet little conversation...a place to reconnect with your center, to slow down, to welcome the peaceful and serene energy available to us all.
Cherished….that's how someone recently described their sense of how I create my cloth paintings.
I love this idea - it's a beautiful recognition of my commitment to hold the work in the highest esteem, cherishing it enough to use the best elements, taking as much time as each painting needs to reach its finished state.
I used to be part of a shared studio space where I envied the painters, how they could create a painting in a few hours, and I would think why does my process have to be so many steps and take so long.
And then I realized the gift of savouring the pace and honouring the outcome of the process is the infusion of the qualities of tranquility, serenity and grace in to each art work.
At every single moment in my processes, I consciously choose ways to elevate and honour the work: by choosing high quality cloth to paint and dye, using natural products like Japanese seaweed to thicken the paints, twigs to make marks, by sourcing European hand dyed threads, by taking the time to stitch in meters upon meters of thread to create exquisite texture, by adding a final layer of colour and texture with meticulous hand stitched threads. All of this complemented by the beautiful metal frame I designed to give the art an elegant and refined presence as it hangs on your wall.
Below: the back of the frame for 'sea dreams (beaches #6)'
This stunning metal, shining like the sun on the water, textured like little ripples on the sea…this is what each cloth painting is mounted on, each frame custom fabricated specifically for the painting whose graceful home it will be.
Below: Installation view of the 2019 'Water's Edge' show at the Gallery at Queens Park - when you look closely just above each painting is a 'halo' where the overhead lights shine down on the top of the metal frame. You can see how elegant the work looks as it appears to float off the wall. The open space behind the work enhances the feeling of having space to breathe.
2019 'Water's Edge' show at the Gallery at Queens Park
The idea of cherishing something isn't a message we are used to hearing in our modern life. Instead we are surrounded by messages pushing us to hurry up to do more to be more…
I invite you to join me in choosing to step out of that context…to choose your own lane…your own pace…to honour and cherish your own way of being in the world…wherever and however that looks for you is yours to decide, yours to create, yours to choose.
And as always, I want to express my gratitude to be living and working on the ancestral & unceded territories of the hən̓̓qəmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples.I honour the incredible depths of grace, courage and perseverance of Indigenous Peoples.
until next time,
Mardell