Angel Wings

Icaro, 2014,
textile work by Leda Guerra
polyester veil, copper tubing

Textile work by Leda Guerra seen in Padova, Italy.

background work: Battito d'Ali, 2015 (means- beating of a wing)
cotton

Battito d'Ali, 2015
cotton

Icaro 2, 2014
by Leda Guerra
cotton, copper pipe

Painting by Emily Bickell.

Enchantment
24" x 48"
oil on canvas
(I took this picture from a promotional postcard)

Annunciazione
by Carlo Santer in 1630
oil on canvas

Angel wings make me feel so calm...isn't that weird!

Textile, Dance and Music

There is a little gallery underground in a small piazza in Padova.

Prato della Valle, Padova

I like going there. Often they show textile work. This time I discovered the work of Leda Guerra.

Dione e Afrodite, 1992
private collection
cotton

She is a textile artist. The exhibit highlighted her work from the 1990's to present.

Pensiero, 1998

I like the way the soft fabric seemed to turn into stone in some of her works.

Omaggio a Doré- Virgilio e Dante, 2009,
linen

We later returned to the gallery for a ballet which was extremely satisfying for me as my first career was in dance. I appreciated the choreography and its connection to the textile artwork .

A violinist played as the dancer made her way around the artwork. She wore a costume made by the artist.

The audience followed the dancer and the musician around the gallery.

The three artists with Leda Guerra in the centre.

Art for all the senses.

Expression for All Senses

I saw this piece in Paris.

We Stopped Just Here at the Time, 2002, detail,
by Ernesto Neto (1964-)

It's installed in a perfect spot at the end of a hallway at the Centre Pompidou and can be seen from far away.

We Stopped Just Here at the Time, by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto.

The viewer participates in a sensorial experience.

It's a sculpture made of fabric and spices- cloves, cumin, pepper, curcuma. The smells arouse the senses. I feel the weight of it by looking at it. From reading about this artist, I see many of his works are interactive but I saw no one venture into this space.

View of the top of the soft sculpture

You can see an interview where he speaks about another piece he installed, The Edges of the World, at the Hayward Gallery in London, England, by clicking here.

Lunch with a Friend

Barbara is a textile restorer.

Barbara's hand made example

After our lunch together at her house just outside Verona...

...she showed me a few of the samples she made during her textile studies.

This is the pattern for the above piece.
You'll notice it is upside down.

The work was incredible!

If you could see this up close
you would see the tiny stitching!
 It is really beautiful.

All hand done!

This is a piece of embroidery made by her grandmother.
It was never finished.

You can see that this corner is done...

...but this corner piece is not. You can see the pencil circle marks.
That is the pattern she would have followed.
Also not finished is the centre of the 4-sided shape.

Barbara is Austrian and gave me a few suggestions of what I should do in Vienna while I am here. Yesterday, I went to the Wunderkammer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna

Here and There

My son and I dropped in at Propeller, a gallery on Queen Street in downtown Toronto, to see textile works by graduating students from Sheridan College at the exhibit "Here and There".

I liked the idea from artist, Mary Desrosiers.

An excerpt from her artist's statement:

"This piece examines preconceived notions about size and how ones identity can gradually change over time. Whether that change is from the internal or external factors...... I feel knitting is one of the best visual ways to show the passing of time."

Transformation 2012
hand knitting, acrylic yarn, rayon and cotton threads

My favorite piece was by Francie V.

His Twinkling Perch, 2012, detail
cotton, cutwork, natural dyes, embroidery

His Twinkling Perch and other works from students, furniture and textile.

It is great to see such open-minded interest from a 19 year old!

India

Friday my friend Diane Shink, (AQS) certified appraiser, teacher and quilter, and I went to Pointe à Caillière in Montreal to see the exhibit Colours of India.

The photography by Suzanne Held was superb!! She captured the colours so well.

The textiles were nice but the way they were displayed.... Look at these two turbans. They are block printed. Don't you think they could have had them pressed before exhibiting them? Shameful for a museum setting.

This embroidered, quilted, cotton-canvas carpet made in the second half of the 18th century shows evidence of not being stored properly. Notice the cross fold lines.

...plus there are other folds in the border

Diane and I were not impressed.

My husband is in India right now. I hope he can find me a nice piece of fabric.