Past exhibitions
Group exhibit: I had a piece in the All Guilds Show at the Art Gallery of Burlington in May 2023. This piece is called “Just Desserts” . Clay, copper wire, martini glass and spoon.
Group exhibit: I had a piece in the All Guilds Show at the Art Gallery of Burlington in May 2022. It’s a mixed media piece called “Emergence” that incorporates fired clay, as well as wet and needle felted wool.
Group exhibit: I had a piece in the Burlington Potters’ Guild 50th Anniversary Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Burlington from August 30- October 7, 2019. This is a functioning chess set that I created back in 2004 for an exhibition that was garden themed.
Group exhibit: I had a piece in the All Guilds Show at the Art Gallery of Burlington. It’s a mixed media piece that incorporated fired clay, copper wire wrapping, wet and needle felted wool. The exhibit’s theme was year is “Lore: Myths, Legends and other stories” and mine falls into the latter category. It’s a life-size half of a goat. (yup, you read that right.) Here’s a few pics. I was fortunate to win the award of “Best Adaptation of the Theme” for this piece. What do you think of it? The Show ran to April - May, 2019.
Here’s the whole (half) GOAT
closeup of wire wrapped horn and clay horn
3D felted red heart inside a copper wire heart-shaped cage dangles inside
close up of the felted hide. Those lovely locks!!
My solo exhibit, "What Lies Beneath" a study of depression through colour, (see info below) had a second run in Milton
Exhibition ran from March 6 - May 29, 2019
Milton Town Hall, Milton Room
Grimsby Public Art Gallery, July 3 - August 31, 2018
What Lies Beneath
Moment by moment.
Let me rise. Fall. Rise again.
Reach for colour, the surface, the healing light.
I fall. Rise. Fall again, into the darker underneath.
Where tears are windows into the broken raw despair.
Drowning in the red soul tapestry, while chaos lays its gifts upon the ground.
Let me, rise again.
Many people close to me suffer from or have suffered from depression. It is very difficult to understand for those who are not afflicted with this debilitating illness. Further to the piece that was in the All Guilds Show in the spring of 2018, this show expands on my interpretation of this theme.
Colour has always elicited an emotional response from me. I have chosen to interpret my view of depression through the mixing of colour, rising and falling emotions conveyed through the use of light and dark wool & silk fibres, from soft pastels to searing reds to brooding deep hues, letting them interweave in the felting process, similar to the mingling of complex feelings and emotions. Rips in the surface fabric often reveal the turmoil beneath. Being an optimist at heart, I have incorporated light colours in each piece in a hope to convey that there should always be hope and out of darkness, courage will bring light. It is a journey.
This article appeared in Niagara This Week about the show on July 11, 2018
All Guilds Show, AGB, 2018
The theme for the All Guilds Show was Journey.
My piece combined both fibre and pottery that depicts a mental journey.
I'll let the words of this poem explain:
Moment by Moment
Let me rise. Fall. Rise again.
Reach for colour, the surface, the healing light.
I fall. Rise. Fall again, into the darker underneath.
Where tears are windows into the broken raw despair.
Drowning in the red soul tapestry, while chaos lays its gifts upon the ground.
Let me, rise again.
Close up, Moment by Moment, 2018
Moment by Moment, 2018
All Guilds Show, AGB, 2017
The Escarpment Blues by Sarah Harmer was our theme that year. My piece is of 3 vultures, clay, that hang from the ceiling, keeping a vigil over the escarpment.
Vigil, 2017
All Guilds Show, AGB 2015
The Potters' Guild chose the book of poetry, A Bee Garden, by Marilyn Gear Pilling, which was to be our inspirational springboard to making a piece for this exhibit.
The poems dealt primarily with the suicide of the Author's niece and her father who suffered from dementia. I had a really difficult time with these poems. They are beautiful, but they hit close to home. I too, had a loss due to suicide. In 2006 my nephew hung himself. He was just 15 years old. I also watched my father in a long decline with dementia.
But, when I read "V Threnody for Bethany" one line jumped out at me: "She asks the poppy and it gives her a small box of black seeds." In the poem, the girl’s mother is asking why. Why did this happen? No one has answers.
I am rather a literal person and almost immediately I envisioned the box, the seed heads and a felted piece of flowering poppies. I wanted to represent the full circle of life with my piece: the seeds, the buds and flowers, the dead seed heads and back to the seeds. She asks the poppy and it has nothing to give her but seeds. Seeds of hope, of new life. Not to replace, but to honour what came before. The poppy is the flower of remembrance. It's red petals also symbolize blood. I used a lot of red, yellow and orange silk fibres in the flowers so they would look shimmery and alive, in stark contrast to the box and seed heads.
Clay box with sliding lid, filled with poppy seeds and 4 clay poppy seed heads, mid-fire porcelain with stains, 2015
Exhibitions
2002, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: In the Garden
2006, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Hog Wild
2007, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Bent out of Shape
2010, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Variations
2011, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Year of the Forest
2012, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Cluster
2014, Burlington Potters’ Guild, Celebrations in Clay: Texture
2014, Potters' Guild of Hamilton and Region, Biennial Exhibition: Glazed Over, Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, ON
2015, Burlington Potters' Guild, All Guilds Show, Theme: In the Garden: A bee Garden, AGB Burlington
2016, Burlington Fibre Arts Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
2017, Burlington Potters' Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
2018, Burlington Potters' Guild & Burlington Fibre Arts Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
2019, Burlington Potters’ Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
2019, Burlington Potters Guild, 50th Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition, AGB, Burlington
2022, Burlington Potters’ Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
2023, Burlington Potters’ Guild, All Guilds Show, AGB Burlington
Awards:
2006 Celebrations in Clay: Hog Wild; Best Adaptation of Theme
2009 Kaleidoscope of Art; Honourable Mention
2011, Celebrations in Clay: Year of the Forest; Best in Show, OCC Design Award
2012, Kaleidoscope of Art; Honourable Mention
2014, Celebrations in Clay: Texture; Best Functional Award
2015, All Guilds' Show/Celebratons in Clay, Theme: A Bee Garden; Best Non-Functional Award
2016, All Guilds Show: Best Adaptation to Theme.
2017, Kaleidoscope of the Arts, Honorable Mention for Fibre body of work.
2019, Kaleidoscope of the Arts, Honorable Mention for Felted Scarves
2019, All Guilds Show, Theme: Lore - Myths, Legends & Other Stories, Best Adaptation To Theme
Poppies Tapestry, 12" x 66" Wet felted wool and silk fibres. 2015