the Mark, the Thread, the Hand at Leighton Art Centre

This is at the Leighton Art Centre, near Millarville, Alberta. Our theme was based on responding or reacting to work done by Barbara Leighton, and Marion Nicoll from the Leighton archives, work done in the 70’s by these two talented artists.

For the contemporary fibre artists of Contextural, the experience of creating fine craft is an important element to understanding it. Our constant experimentation, planning and preparations allow us to rework ideas and techniques – and “the hand of the maker” becomes evident in each step along the way. It’s during this making process that we learn about ourselves, and how to bring out the best in our chosen media. Our time, effort and passion leave a personal mark that is an integral part of our work.

The large piece in the centre of the third photo is a large, graphic batik by Marion, the one that struck me for inspiration. I love that moon and the crackling around it caused by the batik process, and responded to that.

And apparently, though you can’t see them in the photos, there are Red Dots by some of my work, always a lovely thing 🙂

EDIT: Nice write up by one of the smaller local papers, the Western Wheel. Note though, our group name is “Contextural_ and we are textile artists, not “textural” artists 🙂 (Though some of us do have more texture in our works…)

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