Preparing for the Botanical Reflections Exhibition

Posted by on December 4, 2016 in Featured Flag, Fibre Art & Quilts | 0 comments

For FAN Botanical Show 2017

Pacific Dogwood for sale at the FAN Botanical Reflections exhibition 2017

This is just an advance peek at what is happening in the studio. I’m battling a flu bug at the moment so haven’t taken the ‘official’ exhibition photos for submission to the Fibre Art Network (FAN) ‘Botanical Reflections’ exhibition and sale to open at Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver on 27 January 2017. These were quick shots taken with my tablet under low light conditions after I completed the framing this afternoon and better images will be forthcoming.

Van Dusen Gardens is an internationally recognized west coast site with 22 acres of gardens and exhibition space focused on native plants and materials. I wanted to work with their focus on local vegetation so for inspiration I revisited my photos and memories of our 2015 west coast travels. We arrived in Vancouver to find the Cherry Blossom festival in full swing and our RV park, near the West Vancouver seawall, introduced us to showers of cherry blossoms as we cycled and walked the adjacent pathways. Later in our travels, another park was full of dogwood. The image of white blossoms against an evergreen background, beauty and light on an otherwise gray day, have remained with me. My cherry blossoms are more abstract, an amalgam of the blossoms we encountered, representing but not replicating the many photos we took.

Research and planning for these pieces began in September but execution had to wait until after our travels in October and my participation in an artisan show in mid-November. I chose to work with cornus nuttalia or the Western Flowering Dogwood or Pacific Dogwood for this piece. A posting on FB elicited the response that dogwood had four petals! I referred the commentator to a reference site that I used that indicated that varieties of dogwood could be found with anywhere from four to six petals.

I was really pleased to note that rigid mounting was allowed for this exhibition. Some pieces look so much better when you ‘paint’ with fibre but display in a more traditional manner. I documented my mounting technique and will share it later. By mounting on canvas covered frames the images can wrap and enhance the viewing from multiple angles.

Watch the FAN web page for updates and to review current and previous group exhibitions.

Cherry Blossoms for FAN Botanical exhibition 2017

Cherry Blossoms for sale at the FAN Botanical Reflections exhibition 2017

 

 

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