Common Threads

Kingston Arts G3

May-June 2017

 Jo Roszkowski & Juliet D Collins present “Common Threads”, an exhibition about place, shared experience, rich layers that are a metaphor for the human psyche and a yearning to learn about the creative drive to express. 

From January to April 2017 Jo and Juliet met weekly in their respective studios where they shared ideas, working techniques, methods and materials. 

Following the common threads at the core of their individual artistic practices they worked collaboratively on 3 large textile/mixed media artworks. Initially the pieces were exchanged each week and worked on independently by each artist alongside their own individual work for the exhibition. In time, the artworks began to evolve like a conversation: between each artist and between each of the artworks. As each piece developed its own creative momentum, collaboration increased until all artistic decisions became shared and each artwork journeyed to its own natural conclusion. 

As Jo and Juliet began working together across a diverse range of materials and techniques - experimental textiles, embroidery, encaustics, printmaking, mixed media drawing, sculpture -  many common themes, inspirations and influences bubbled to the surface: 

Thread- its use as a versatile artistic medium, rich in metaphorical meaning and deeply imbued with female cultural significance and history.

“The world is in a constant flux, it is riverlike. It flows, but behind all

this flow, change, flux, there must be a thread running that keeps

everything together. Change is not possible without something

remaining absolutely unchanging. Change can exist only together

with a non changing element, otherwise things will fall apart.”

Osho “Everyday Osho”

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break.” 

Chinese proverb

The natural world-  its fundamental impact on our creativity 

“…on the firm wet sand at low tide your footsteps register clearly before the waves come and devour all trace of passage. I like to see the long line we each leave behind, and I sometimes imagine my whole life that way, as though each step was a stitch, as though I was a needle leaving a trail of thread that sewed together the world as I went by, crisscrossing others’ paths, quilting it all together in some way that matters even though it can hardly be traced. A meandering line sutures together the world in some new way, as though walking was sewing and sewing was telling a story and that story was your life”

Rebecca Solnit “The Faraway Nearby”

The rock formations at Wilson’s Promontory - their recurring imagery in both of our work

“And there is the thing that one does, the needle one plies, the work, and within that work a chance to take thoughts that are hot and formless and to place them slowly and with meticulous effort into some shapely heat-retaining form, even as the gods, or nature, or the soundless wheels of time have made forms all across the soft curved universe”

“Every form sets a tone, enable a destiny, strikes a note in the universe unlike any other. How can we ever stop looking? How can we ever turn away?”

from Mary Oliver “Upstream

A sense of the reveal - we share a desire to portray the mystery inherent in the human psyche and the natural world around us…the sense of discovery through peeling back the layers…

“All my life

I have been restless -

I have felt there is something 

more wonderful than gloss -

than wholeness -

than staying at home.

I have not been sure what it is.

But every morning on the wide shore

I pass what is perfect and shining

to look for the whelks, whose edges

have rubbed so long against the world

they have snapped and crumbled - 

they have almost vanished,

with the last relinquishing

of their unrepeatable energy,

back into everything else.”

from Mary Oliver ‘Whelks’

Our personal Creative Journey

“I want to think again 

of dangerous

and noble things

I want to be light

and frolicsome

I want to be improbable

and beautiful

and afraid of nothing

as though I had wings”

from Mary Oliver  ‘Starlings’

What the Artists said about the experience of working together:

“I came to know Jo through an informal group that we belong to: a circle of like minded, strong, gentle, beautiful, creative women. Over the past 8 years we have met regularly to create together and are now close friends.  Jo has always inspired me with her expert textile skills and beautifully crafted creations, imbued with an aesthetic quality that I also strive for in my work. It has been a joy to work closely with Jo, connecting with her on a much deeper creative level as we follow our common threads to connect with themes important to us both in our work” Juliet D Collins

“When you have a deep conversation with Juliet you know the intelligence present is of a true artist - someone who is fearless, always dancing with new ideas and innovations and someone eager to share them. Her daily commitment to her art is monumentally inspiring to me. I have learnt so much from working with Juliet, not just about techniques and a genuine collaboration over the work, but I have understood how profound it is to be heard and supported in each step of the creative process. The stories we’ve told, the conversations we’ve had, the challenges we’ve faced together are all there in the interlocking threads of the work.” Jo Roszkowski

Along with their 3 collaborative works, each artist presented pieces from their own individual creative journey.

Juliet exhibited studies in mixed media exploring concepts and experimenting with combinations of materials. She says this about her body of work:

Through my art I seek to express my love of natural forms, including the human form, and my wonder at the processes of nature. I am fascinated with the idea of discovering mysteries exposed in the layers and structures within forms and I am interested in this as a metaphor for considering the human psyche from a female perspective and our connection to the natural world. Working with Jo towards this exhibition has afforded me valuable time to further explore these themes. We share a love for the poetry of Mary Oliver and through revisiting her words I came across her poem “Whelks”. The powerful concepts in this poem instantly struck a cord deep within me and I began working with the imagery of whelk shell remains using a collection of my own whelk fragments. I am drawn aesthetically and metaphorically to the particularly feminine vulvic natural form that remains when all else is washed away and I am fascinated by the interaction of thread with these forms. I feel I have only just embarked on a rich vein of expressive imagery which I am really excited about!

Jo says this about her work:

This current body of work expresses a journey for me that began some time ago with botanical dyeing as a starting point which then moved into artist’s books. The natural world is always an underlying inspiration for me and through conversations with Juliet and reflection on particular places that hold meaning and connection for me such as Wilson’s Prom, there has been a greater synergy and interaction between how the work speaks to me and how I act on responding to that. There is a mystery in that relationship and a continual unfolding that I look forward to developing.