Unfurled: Artist Stories
FEBRUARY 10 — MARCH 7, 2021
FEBRUARY 10 — MARCH 7, 2021
Unfurled: Artist Stories is an exciting and stimulating online exhibition of work that encourages artists to unfurl their creativity and tell an artist’s tale on a long vertical strip of “fabric”. We have assembled a collection of vibrant banners and other fabricated stories to brighten and invigorate long winter days.
The show includes 29 works by 22 artists — a fabulous mix of banners, deconstructed pieces, sculptural renderings and installations. Each piece is accompanied by a narrative that describes the inspiration for the work.
Exhibition Artists:
Doug Adams, Jane Murdoch Adams, Michael Black, Lucy Erskine, Sharron Corrigan Forrest, Susan Freypons, Peter Friedrichsen, Phyllis Gordon, Elizabeth Greisman, Lisa Johnson, Michelle Letarte, Ruth Maude, Pria Muzumdar, Doris Purchase,
Dominique Prevost, Janet Read, Susan Ruptash, Kristen Stephen, Natalia Tcherniak, Tracy Thomson, Gwen Tooth and Jacqueline Treloar.
The show includes 29 works by 22 artists — a fabulous mix of banners, deconstructed pieces, sculptural renderings and installations. Each piece is accompanied by a narrative that describes the inspiration for the work.
Exhibition Artists:
Doug Adams, Jane Murdoch Adams, Michael Black, Lucy Erskine, Sharron Corrigan Forrest, Susan Freypons, Peter Friedrichsen, Phyllis Gordon, Elizabeth Greisman, Lisa Johnson, Michelle Letarte, Ruth Maude, Pria Muzumdar, Doris Purchase,
Dominique Prevost, Janet Read, Susan Ruptash, Kristen Stephen, Natalia Tcherniak, Tracy Thomson, Gwen Tooth and Jacqueline Treloar.
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Doug Adams
Trying to Stay Optimistic During a Lockdown, Part 1 Mixed media on Seikosen Mitsumata Long HM 25.5″ x 70.5″ $1000 I intended to make a banner filled with 4" x 9" collages. The backing fabric that I sewed together overwhelmed them. I ordered large sheets of Japanese handmade paper, only to find that the paper was not stiff enough to support the proposed grid. It also would be tedious to align. I shifted plans again. What about monoprints? I discovered that the paper was an ideal conduit for monoprints. Each successive print made along the length of the paper established a foundation upon which I added fabric, paper, objects, thread, other monoprints and several 4" x 9" collages. Trying to Stay Optimistic During a Lockdown, Part 1-2 are expansions of the series Out for a Walk, 2020. A recent interview with infectious disease specialist Dr Isaac Bogoch (CBC Jan. 16, 2021) about safely exercising outside during the lockdown also was inspiring. I wanted to reflect the joys of physical well-being and mental health while walking outside during the pandemic. |
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Doug Adams
Trying to Stay Optimistic During a Lockdown, Part 2 Mixed media on Seikosen Mitsumata Long HM 25.5″ x 70.5″ $1000 |
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Michael Black
Banner Acrylic on unstretched canvas 60″ x 12″ SOLD Much of what I do relates to the construction of visual metaphors for our current place in cultural history, and this banner project is no different. Banners and flags are weighted with symbolic meaning from a wide range of contexts, and I hope that this one remains broad enough for a variety of interpretations. 
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Lucy Erskine
Expressions Through Decades in Four Parts Sterling silver, leather, woods, gemstones, glass, Plexiglas, glass beads, beans, and polymer clay 38″ x 16″ NFS I just finished 'Comic Cartoon' with sterling, gemstones and stabilized burled maple. 'Origin of Print' suggests jewellers were the source. Shield Engravers may have records, becoming Intaglio. Horse tack gear is recalled in the use of leather with riveted caps. I engraved a pear, using that metal to produce prints. One is held in glass within a silver frame I'd embossed and riveted to walnut. "Autobiography" made in 1978, used Plexiglas for a movie marquee, and holding a negative of my cat, developed in my home darkroom. Sterling silver representations of: macramé (first craft business), beadwork and weaving, astrology, also some beans I hand-painted. Sawed-out van going through Rocky Mountains (lived, worked and travelled in it) and spiritual leanings always with me. Because of needing heavy fabric weight to hold the metals, I used another work of art I had saved from 1970: my embroidered and patched blue jeans. 
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Sharron Corrigan Forrest
Lake Meditation Sumi-e & other Inks on Haruki & Tengu-jo Washi 68″ x 15″ $900 Lake Meditation is a playful documentation of the lake and river systems of various regions in Northern Ontario. As a child, living in a remote saw mill town near Chapleau, I was asked to colour the lakes on old maps of the area. The beauty and complexity of their patterns became an important component that continues to have a profound influence on my work. In this particular piece, I used Washi to create a relief sculptural quality related to the topographical features of the regions. The layering process, the shaping of the Washi and the choice of medium purposely plays with the light and shadows cast at various times of the day. The basic concept of my artwork invariably remains with my impressions of nature with images connecting past and present reworked within a labyrinth of textures and patterns. 
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Susan Freypons
Untitled Oil, charcoal, graphite 56″ x 23″ $500 A work in oil, oil stick, and charcoal. A gestural and visceral expression about the passing of time and the human body. 
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Peter Friedrichsen
Winter Tree Cyanotype on fabric 72″ x 24″ $190 This was my first foray into printing onto fabric and I took this opportunity to attempt to capture the long December shadows cast from outdoor trees and shrubs. I used the cyanotype process for this piece using sunlight as a light source for a direct exposure. I waited 15 days for the sun to appear which is not uncommon near the Lake Huron shoreline in December. On that first sunny day, I made my first attempt by laying the sensitized fabric over tarped snow-cover capturing the shadows of a small tree. The wind was gusty and made it very difficult having the fabric and loose snow blow around. I tried again the next day indoors, laying it on the floor and capturing the shadow of the Christmas tree using the cast window light. It was done, a recording of that tree now lost. 
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Phyllis Gordon
My Troubled Heart Woodblock relief print, Sumi ink on Gampi paper mounted on Kozo paper 60″ x 33″ $1000 My Troubled Heart is a handprinted woodblock relief print that I made in 2013, part of a series of drawings and prints depicting barb wire. The imagery arose from my experience in Honduras, where wire and glass shards keep the poor away in order to protect the property of the middle class and wealthy. Currently, the use of wire to keep migrants out and the imprisoned in is mostly uncontested public policy. And now, in this new order of isolation we are living, kept away from each other to avoid the illness and defeat the pandemic, my heart is further troubled. I also worry about my own bout with the virus and what it will mean in the future. I think we all know what barbs trouble our hearts. 
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Elizabeth Greisman
Le Ciel Fabric paint on Damask velvet 96″ x 36″ $2,000 This fabric piece was created on yardage purchased from Marche St. Pierre, in Paris, France. I purchased the fabric to hand paint and work into an art piece. I envision the fabric worn majestically over a medieval gown as a cape, with the train unfurled behind. I named the piece Le Ciel because the store of purchase of the velvet was situated geographically at the highest point in Paris. The design that I created mimics the Damask pattern of the fabric. 
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Elizabeth Greisman
Derived From A Bridal Gown Banner Fabric paint on silk and Maribou feathers 60″ x 36″ $2,000 Derived From A Bridal Gown is one in a series of Bridal Gowns Created into Sculptures. Through generous donations of gowns from the Bride's Project, in Toronto, I have created a series of gowns as art pieces. The series has been exhibited in the Canadian Embassy in Dublin Ireland, at Nuit Blanche at Spadina Museum in Toronto, at The Art Gallery of Mississauga, and at the Botanical Gardens of La Maison Verte in Marnay sur Seine, France, for the "Sensual Epicure" cookbook vernissage. 
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Lisa Johnson
Angel in Waiting Sculptural installation: Liquid inks, charcoal, pigment powder, acrylic gel on fabric draped over floor lamp. 88″ x 45″ NFS During the last year I wanted to explore other ways of making art as a counterpoint to my usual practice of oil painting. This was, in part, inspired by the "Unmade" workshop at Propeller and the ideas of deconstructing one's usual practice. I decided to work on a piece of fabric suspended from the ceiling, so it was moving and billowing as I rubbed pigment powder mixed with acrylic gel with my hands, spattered watered down inks with large brushes and drew with charcoal. I also recorded the process of creating this piece which I think fits with the idea of "moving art". For this "Unfurled" sculptural installation, I hung the fabric from the ceiling and shaped it over a rice-paper floor lamp to animate the form. 
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Lisa Johnson
Erosion Mixed media: inks, oil paint on canvas, sisal, leather 55″ x 44″ NFS This piece is a combination of 2 experimental pieces in the past year -- in keeping with the theme of "Unmaking." I decided to remove a thickly impastoed oil painting from its stretcher, feeling as though it had too many layers to try to solve what I saw were its flaws. As I took it off the stretcher, it began to crack and then I started to purposefully crack it by bending and folding the canvas. I liked the way it looked when I started to peel its many layers away with a scraping tool. I combined this eroded painting with another experiment that began with a wrinkled piece of canvas. Working on the floor I poured , rubbed and brushed on earth-coloured inks, pigments and acrylic medium, then used a brayer to roll black printer's ink on top. 
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Michelle Letarte
Arabesques Virales Mixed media on raw canvas 62″ x 23″ $500 UNFURLED : ARTIST STORIES met working daily on a piece of artwork to occupy moments of the pandemic confinement and recycle supplies available in my studio. Materials used were mostly the products of previous workshops or leftover resources: raw canvas, gauze and string previously dyed in indigo, rust or paint, wool dyed with Coccinella in Oaxaca, plastic mesh, Japanese papers and acrylics. The banner began with a painted deep blue and indigo sea-like background on which magenta DNA double helix-like lines were loosely painted. From then on, the narrative evolved daily to better define the emerging arabesques by stitching the dyed strings and wools, incorporating the gauzes, plastic weaves and grid papers. Imaginative creatures transpired, floating in the sea, with large fishing nets ready to engulf them. Colours were accentuated with acrylics including silver to render the banner more festive and celebrate the 25 years of Propeller. 
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Michelle Letarte
Deconstructed Christmas Tree Tibetan paper on raw canvas 62″ x 23″ $400 My daily walk around the neighbourhood during December was enlightened by all the tree decorations, including lights and “Boules de Noël” of all sizes. As a topic for the second banner of UNFURLED: ARTIST STORIES, I decided to build a “Deconstructed Christmas Tree”, made up of materials available in the studio. It started with painting a raw canvas with turquoise acrylic and selecting bright Tibetan papers. Then it was time to cut those 5 selected sheets of paper into circles, strips and shapes, and play with the pieces creating patterns resembling garlands, boules de Noël and ornaments. The possibilities were endless and after a few trials and errors, I opted for some form of symmetry based on pattern recognition, while maintaining freedom and variance of the repeated elements in the different sections of the banner. This deconstructed Christmas tree is clearly pandemic-inspired and occupied my mind for several days. 
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Ruth Maude
Opening Up Encaustic on paper 140″ x 11″ NFS This work is about social anxiety and my fear of the world starting to open up again as COVID restrictions are lifted. In my home with my family close, I feel safe. The idea of opening up to the world again is frightening. When I hung my scroll in the tree in our backyard and let it unfurl the wind grabbed it and pulled it back into the fence where it caught and tore, reinforcing the feeling that opening up to the world can hurt us. But if the scroll stayed rolled up in my studio, no one would see its beauty and it wouldn't hang in the sunshine. 
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Jane Murdoch Adams
Here’s A Quilt #1 Washable new material cotton and batting handmade 60″ x 52″ $699 HUG DEPRIVED! That’s what people in my life are saying about being in lockdown. They can’t give or get hugs from the people they love. We know that from earliest babyhood a blanket is a comfort and a cuddle. And some people feel restored by a family heirloom quilt. So I started to make what I hope are heart-warming quilts for my family, friends and also young people in a neighbourhood shelter. But what about you? Maybe you would love to have a very soft, personal, colourful quilt? This is a very large lap quilt and bed coverlet. It is not a thick, large duvet. It is made by a painter (me) so what it lacks in absolute precision and straight lines is made up for in joie de vivre. OR – this quilt could be a Valentine gift for someone you would LOVE TO HUG! P.S Personalized commissions possible 
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Jane Murdoch Adams
Here’s a Quilt # 2 Washable new material cotton and batting handmade 60″ x 52″ $699 
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Pria Muzumdar
Sunshine and Rainbows Mixed media 75″ x 25″ $650 My grandchildren, Miro and Roisin, are the sunshine of my life. This banner tells the story of my colourful, joyous walks with two-year-old Miro. Together we have fallen in love with sticks, examined pebbles and made friends with flowers, birds and ants. No fresh snow or chunk of ice has been left untouched or lonely. Everywhere we wander, we look for the ribboned rainbows of hope tied around trees and wrapped around posts. Though these champions of spirit have faded and frayed over the months, they have remained bright in our memory. On a good day our long walks are also often enlivened with ladders belonging to construction crews. Miro whoops with delight as he spots ladders leaning tall against walls, reaching high onto roofs, and soaring skywards with purpose. The coloured silk in the banner is of especial delight for eight-month-old Roisin who loves pulling on them gleefully. Such fun! 
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Pria Muzumdar
Fragility and Hope Mixed media 27″ x 17″ $350 This fibre sculpture is a deconstructed assembly of a banner’s worth of fabric. Bush twigs, yards of tulle and “baubles” of shredded Saree silk create a tribute to all our neighbours who have decked their trees with ornaments of cheer. Full of twinkle and wonder, these dangling “friends” bring joy to our neighbourhood walking paths, reminding us that there is always something to celebrate and find “beautiful” just around the next corner. 
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Dominique Prevost
Abundance Fabric, acrylic, canvas 109” x 40” $1500 Right now, everything feels so intangible. Repurposing past artwork and old fabrics takes me back to a time of abundance, evidence of my enduring love of colour, pattern and texture. Will this exercise help me find firm ground from which to take my next step? 
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Doris Purchase
Unfurled x 2
Mixed Media
NFS
My pieces are about un-making and making and also about our emotions – as in an un-furled and furled state.
Sometimes we get wound up (we are focused) but sometimes we need to wind down.
Unfurled x 2
Mixed Media
NFS
My pieces are about un-making and making and also about our emotions – as in an un-furled and furled state.
Sometimes we get wound up (we are focused) but sometimes we need to wind down.
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Janet Read
Reading the wave Acrylic paint on hard surface Tyvek 144″ x 60″ $5,000 This work developed as part of an exhibition titled Reading the Wave, was exhibited at the Aurora Cultural Centre a few years ago. My work references water and oceans. One curator calls them "landscapes of consciousness." Residencies in Newfoundland, Ireland and recent travels to the Arctic prompt my continued response to the processes of wave, storm, wind and rain. Drips, splatters, washes of thinned paint, and a process of painting the front of the Tyvek then lifting from the back to make the paint run, incorporated accidental and improvisational processes in the piece. Tyvek was chosen to be rolled up easily and was hung from a dowel equipped with rare earth magnets. 
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Susan Ruptash
Amend Linen fabric with Sekishu-banshi Tsuru washi 60″ x 21″ $395 This piece explored the process of removal and replacement of two materials in search of an expression that highlights them to a higher level. The work involved a patient and methodical removal of some of the linen threads and replacement with undulating strips of Sekishu-banshi Tsuru washi - chosen for its incredible strength, lightness, translucency, and beautiful kozo fibres. This intervention sought to reveal the similarities and difference between the two materials. I was struck by the affinity between the linen threads and the washi - both have microscopic variations typical of natural materials, each with a unique subtle colour. The texture of the linen threads gently grip the fibres of the washi to hold the elements in place. 
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Kristen Stephen
Glitter Cape Inks, acrylics, oil and glitter on canvas 50″ x 43″ $300 My work, Glitter Cape, acts as a protective barrier from any unpleasantness that can occur in the outside world. I wanted my work to metaphorically wrap and protect the viewer in a cloak of love and kindness. The work was dyed in India inks, stretched over a canvas, stapled and then painted. I then unfurled the canvas from the stretcher and made the work into a cape of glitter and love. I especially wanted to capture the work in snow to highlight the happiness of being protected from the elements in joyful colours. 
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Natalia Tcherniak
A Long Journey Cyanotype on watercolour paper 15″ x 2″ $40 A Long Journey Walk into the sea: face and embrace the turmoil of your own thoughts, constraints, and beliefs. Swim through the memories, sorrows, and joys. Float on the ideas, rumours, and hopes. Sail into the stars. 
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Tracy Thomson
Reconstruction 1: Family Tree Mixed Media: Fabric, felt, paint, charcoal, paper, graphite 78″ x 40″ $2500 Family Tree honours my family, who supported me in all of my art endeavours, no matter how strange. Trees figure prominently in our family story. At age 4, Mom would send me under "that nice shady tree" to draw, with sharp pencils. She saved those drawings, some integrated here. Dad (Commissioner of Parks and Recreation), loved nothing more than the chance to convince a resident not to cut down a "dirty" tree. Grinning, he'd proclaim "I saved another tree today!" My great Grandfather and my Great Great Uncle painted the trees and the Canadian landscape in such a profound way, that it forever shaped my perception of art, setting the bar high. Though I've followed my own path, I've included some fragments of their works, interwoven into this one (family) tree and for the first time I felt as though they were working along with me. That is a gift. 
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Gwen Tooth
Tool Memories Acrylic on primed canvas 61″ x 40″ $4500 As a child, I was surrounded by tools. My mother taught carpentry in "Manual Training" in elementary school. Her father was a carpenter and farmer. One Christmas, she and I made wooden furniture for my new doll house. We each had a coping saw, a file, and some sandpaper. We made a couch, chair, table, bed, and much more from plywood. Recently I revisited these memories by drawing several tools from memory for The Sketchbook Project for the Brooklyn Art Library. In this banner, I randomly placed and drew memories of these tools and then animated them with bright and metallic colours. The results were an evolution of many layers as I remembered other tools I knew, a wrench, multi-purpose outdoor knife, sander, plane, and also some imaginary tools. This became a walk through my thought box of tool memories. 
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Jacqueline Treloar
Corona Puer Fabric based with plastic support and mixed media 30″ x 62″ $500 The piece is the cut off base of one of four huge elaborate crowns exhibited at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Toronto. The four crowns are related to the seasons of man and nature. This is the children's crown and holds portraits of the children of dear friends. |
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