COMMON THREADS
Show runs til July 1st
Artist talk - Saturday June 3rd 2pm. Refreshments. Raffle. Free event
Gallery open Wed-Fri 9-5, Saturday 12-5
“WHELKS” BY MARY OLIVER
Here are the perfect
fans of scallops,
quahogs, and weedy mussels
still holding their orange fruit -
and here are the whelks -
whirlwinds,
each the size of a fist,
but always cracked and broken -
clearly they have been travelling
under the sky-blue waves
for a long time.
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.
When I find one
I hold it in my hand,
I look out over that shaking fire,
I shut my eyes. Not often,
but now and again there’s a moment
when the heart cries aloud:
yes, I am willing to be
that wild darkness,
that long, blue body of light
Oliver, Mary, Wild Geese, Selected Poems, Bloodaxe Books Ltd, (2004)
Please join us this Saturday June 3rd at 2pm as we talk about about how our exhibition "Common Threads" came together and discuss our artwork: forms, techniques, and inspirations.
Jo Roszkowski and Juliet D Collins at the Opening of "Common Threads"
Jo Roszkowski and I worked together for several months from February to April this year
Jo at work in The Laundry Studio
We experimented together, sharing a wide variety of techniques ranging from freehand machine embroidery, to encaustics, printmaking and more
Juliet encaustic experiments in progress
Jo Printmaking
We explored the common threads in the things that inspire us both as artists....
Juliet - a collection of sketchbook pages and found objects
a shared love of special places...
Wilson's Promonotory, photo by Juliet
....different art forms and artists.
Detail of a sculpture by Bronwyn Oliver from recent exhibition The Sculpture of Bronwyn Oliver at Tarrawarra Museum of Art. Photo by Juliet
As we worked together, our own artwork evolved in new exciting directions
Juliet, work in progress (plaster, found wood, thread)
Jo Roszkowski, detail from one of her exquisite artist books
And we loved the challenge of creating our three large collaborative mixed media textile artworks together
Jo at work on one of our collaborative textile artworks
Juliet working on one of our large collaborative textile artworks
Bringing it all together in the beautiful gallery space at Kingston Arts G3 Artspace in Parkdale was amazing!
Jo and I would love you to join us this Saturday in the gallery as we chat about our artwork, share a glass of bubbles and answer your questions. And there's even going to be some free giveaways!